Beauty vs Truth Essay

Is truth or beauty more important when communicating information. It is my argument that beauty is more important when communicating information. Beauty is defined as The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of formation or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality. How does this relate to communication? †¢ Communicating information is more than just exchanging words. Just as in the definition of the word â€Å"beauty†, when communicating with a certain amount of eloquence it paints a mental picture that gives pleasure to our minds and wakes up our senses. The way words are used in the process of communication is what holds attention and causes an audience to become engaged. It’s the beauty in a message and the expression in the words which we tend to remember. This is not to say that truth is not important in communication but mere stating mere facts may not be enough to get the point across or keeping the attention of an audience. †¢ Beauty is more important in communication because it is what leads us to the truth. Sometimes the truth is too ugly and mind blowing and in some instances too much truth all at once can cause pain. Everyone should know the truth but using a certain diplomacy and finesse with one’s words can make all the difference in how the truth is received. That is why beauty in communication is important . ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE ON TRUTH AND BEAUTY †¢ A story doesn’t necessarily have to be true to be entertaining, or to teach a lesson. How many of us as children or have even possibly told our own children about the tortoise and hair? ? A tortoise and a hare enter a race, the hare boasting about how he is faster, and will therefore win. The hare foolishly over-estimates his speed, and it ends up costing him the race. With the moral of the story being that over – confidence can sometimes back fire. or the boy who cried wolf? ? The story of a boy who thought it was fun to alert the town of a wolf when there wasn’t really one. And when he finally does see a wolf no one comes to help him. The lesson being that telling too many lies will cause people to stop believing anything you say. My point is that these stories may not necessarily be true but such tales have been told for centuries for the purpose in teaching life lessons. †¢ When listening to a story, I personally always remember the characteristics and tidbits of a story which brought the message to life. An eloquently told story, whether it is told for entertainment or simply for sharing information draws a person in to want to hear more. When you’re listening to a story filled with grandeur and elaborate details, it’s easy to become captivated and interested. Why is being drawn in by the beauty of a message important? †¢ How many of us have tried a product not because of what the announcer on the commercial said the product could do, but because we were drawn in by something appealing we saw in the commercial. o An example of this would be weight loss commercials †¢ It’s what grabs your attention enough to the truth. Another perspective†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. The Boy Who Called Wolf This fable is about a small boy who thinks it’s fun to alert the town of a wolf when there is none. When a wolf actually appears, no one comes to the boy’s aid. . Eloquence added to an ordinary story is keeps interesting. . It’s the initial phase of the communication process in which your senses become engage. When communicating information to be interesting to capture the audience’s attention. . Once your attention has been grabbed by an interesting, story, or some form of communication, you can then decide if what your listening to or looking at is worth your time.. Tell all the Truth but tell it slant — Success in Circuit lies Too bright for our infirm Delight The Truth’s superb surprise As Lightning to the Children eased With explanation kind The Truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind — A funny TV commercial or a commercial that endorsed by your favorite actor is more easily remembered than serious, factual ones that constantly appear. images, stories and songs much easier and find them far more enjoyable than just listening to words.

A Dream Within a Dream

A dream within a dream 1. Good morning today I will be talking about the poem a dream within a dream written by Edgar Allen Poe, first published in 1827. The poem is a two stanza lyric poem. The poet asks himself if a person can determine the difference between reality and fantasy by asking † is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream†. The poet is reflecting his feelings of the time and exaggerating his confusion as he is watching the important things in his life slip away as if they were grains of sand held in his hand, finally he comes to the conclusion that all the things in his life is part of a dream. . Poe uses the form of poetry called a lyric poem. A lyric poem is a form of poetry which can be categorized into other forms of poetry such as ballads and odes. Lyric poems are used to express deep feelings and thoughts. Because the poet has used the form of a lyric poem emphasizes the fact that the narrator is going through difficult times and is conflicte d by confusing emotions. 3. It begins at the moment of parting—a clean kiss on the forehead that shows the passion between them had been stopped. His beloved has accused him of living in a dream, with his head stuck in the clouds.Presumably making him far from marriageable material. 4. His joy in the love they shared was not returned so his hope has, as he says, â€Å"flown away†. But he wonders if his love has really gone and asks what really exists in his life. The continuous rhyme has a strange sweetness, with couplets and triplets sending us tumbling effortlessly through the lines. The repetition of the word dream throughout the poem gives the poem a glaze like effect because we delve deeper into the different emotions and thoughts of Poe's mind. . In the second stanza we are moved from a civil society to an unruly sea side, the water and waves are used to represent the tides of thoughts, feelings and reactions that flow endlessly in and out of our mind each day. 6 . The two stanzas appear to be completely different but they are connected through the aspect of the end of love and time. The grains of sand symbolize an hourglass which shows the route of time and as the sand keeps flowing the time disappears and at the same time the narrators loves also disappearing. 7. And I hold within my hand Grains of the golden sand-How few! yet how they creep Through my fingers to the deep† this is a metaphor used in the second stanza where Poe compares the few grains of sand in his hand to the few important things in life he has left. He says that even though there are few left they can slip away from our minds into the forgotten. He wants to know why he can't hold onto the things that he believes to be so dear to him. It relates to life in the way that it is so easy to forget things that are important to us. 8.

The Multi-dimensions of Art & Milk

The concept of art has been an ever changing forefront of movements, development, evolution and a pending example of how the human race has delved into different realms of expression and exploration into their surrounding environment.   There are varying theories as to the worth of art, pop art in particular and its legacy to the human race; or, all art in general may be examined through critical eyes and have the same question presented in such scrutiny.   The purpose of this paper will be to examine the worth of The Milkproject and how it aids in examining people and products in their everyday life.There has been much debate as to the purpose of; in Oscar Wilde’s famous quote he says, â€Å"All art is completely useless† and while this may be the case in fact, since art does not serve some rudimentary purpose in propelling the human race forward into any evolutionary or revolutionary states, art must be approached from a different angle.   The theorists Dick Hig gins states that,Pop Art?   How could it play a part in the art of the future?   It is bland.   It is pure.   It uses elements of common life without comment, and so, by accepting the misery of this life and its aridity   so mutely, it condones them.   Pop and op are both dead, however, because they confine themselves, through the media which they employ, to the older functions of art, of decorating and suggesting grandeur, whatever the detailed content of their artist’s suggestions (Higgins 49).Thus, with this definition of the death of art through the lack of evolution it is willing to play in progressing forward into a new age of media a viewer may rightly surmise that the endeavors of the Milkproject are far more revolutionary than any other artistic movement being designed in this century.   It is with the inclusion of technology and the approach of applying the common life with something integral to the world such as milk and how and where it travels that this project will have a lasting impression in the art world.It is through diversity of art and the inclusion of different medias into a conglomeration art project that the Milkproject is able to transcend the usual boundaries of art and to delve into something more important, more human.   The project used photographs, sound recordings and live models and life to portray the transportation of milk from a farm into the houses of the general populace.   The integration involved in this journey is what beckons Higgins to recollect the diversity of Duchamp in his theory and to state that it is only through this mixture and inclusion of media that art is able to evolve, and evolve it does with the Milkproject.The true genius of the Milkproject is that is it interactive; with the audience as well as the participants.   The beauty of the project is that is focuses on something common in everyone’s lives so that everyone has a basis for an interest in the project.   As this paper has previously quoted art seems useless:   from the dowdy baroque pieces to the overly large pop art media pieces, there seems to be no real connection between the lay person and art.With the Milkproject this foreignness is bypassed as milk is the main ingredient in the art, and the reactions of people to milk, its journey and process is all a part of the final project.   In Kaprow’s article â€Å"Happenings† in the New York Scene he describes how ‘Happenings’ is an interactive based art experience, â€Å"You come in as a spectator and maybe you discover you’re caught in it after all as you push things around like so much furniture† (Kaprow 84).   This same process of being involved in the Milkproject despite not being the artist of the muse, is what propels the fundamental interest of the viewer.The idea behind the Milkproject as an artistic expression is only defined as such by the intermingled use of photography and voice.   This is why the project is such an important piece; because in most art pieces, the movement is static, the flowers remain the same through time, but with the human voice and the interaction of the product with the audience, the viewer or participant is able to relate on a more humanistic level with the project and thus transform it from a Happening into a thing of real life consequence: from the farm and whatever happens with the farm (financially, weather-wise, etc) to the mouth of the consumer.   Thus, the Milkproject transcends Kaprow’s Happening as he defines it,Happenings are events that, put simply, happen.   Though the best of them have a decided impact—that is, we feel, ‘here is something important’—they appear to go nowhere and do not make any particular literary point.   In contrast to the arts of the past, they have no structured beginning, middle or end.   Their form is open-ended and fluid; nothing obvious is sought and therefo re nothing is won, except the certainty of a number of occurrences to which we are more than normally attentive.   They exist for a single performance, or only a few, and are gone forever as new ones take their place. (Kaprow 85).Thus, the Milkproject is not so clearly defined as art that has no ‘structured beginning, middle or end’ (Kaprow 85) but rather to the extent of the milk’s journey from teet to mouth of the consumer is found these three parts; excepting in the idea that the project itself is a continuation of the milk’s journey transform by the project into art.It is now clear that the Milkproject is a transformable art.   Thus, the art behind the project is not limited to the process of the milk traveling but extends to the reactions of the farmers and the consumer as is proven with the voice recorded tapes.   The audience in turn at the exhibition becomes part of this process as well, which makes the integrated media of the Milkproject evo lutionary in its concept.   This concept of mixed media and the extension of art into the audience is portrayed in Aarseth’s theory on literature,Where this new adaptation might prove to be a radical departure is in the way we shall use it to define textually independent of its traditional associates, the reader/receiver/audience and writer/sender/author.   This move, which might be seen as self-defense†¦A text is not what we may read out of it, nor is it identical with what someone once wrote into it.   It is something more, a potential that can be realized only partially and only through its script (Aarseth 59).One must merely substitute the word literature and text with art and this passage clearly defines the purpose and impact of the Milkproject.Another interesting dynamic to the Milkproject is its use of the narrative.   As was mentioned with Higgins, art does not transcend itself often; that is to say that art does not cross from a painting into a sculptur e, and that is why media is such an important tool for this new era of art.   Most art does not speak for itself, does not lend the viewer with a cemented impression or underlying theory to its own existence as was illustrated in Kabrow’s Happenings.   With the inclusion of a running narrative in the Milkproject, a new dimension of art is being presented and very well incorporated into the integrity of the project.The inclusion of a narrative is not the only aspect of the genius of the Milkproject but the way in which it is included is what makes the narrative a work of art.   The narrative is typically thought of as a story telling device through literature.   In the dynamic of the Milkproject the narrative becomes a palpable part of the exhibition in that it is presented not through written words but electronic devices and thus remaking the project a part of a long lasting tradition of oral story telling, something the native Americans of other cultures pass on stor ies from generation to generation (de Certeau 95).   It is with this oral tradition being included in the project that a sense of human identity and connectedness from the Netherlands to America and further can be appreciated, as Landow expresses of the narrative and technology,Electronic textuality brings with it many changes, but not all concern loss, as so many critics of culture seem to believe.   Lyotard, for instance, claims that the new information technologies produce effects much like the journalist’s rewriting†¦but the evidence of hypertext works thus far created, both instructional and literary, suggests that on the contrary electronic linking graphs idiosyncrasy and personal association in particularly liberating ways.He grounds his charge on the doubtful claim which hypertext linking would seem to contradict, that the â€Å"new technologies †¦submit to exact calculation every inscription on whatever support:   visual and sound images, speech, mus ical lines, and finally writing itself,† and he argues that â€Å"the noteworthy result of this is not, as Baudrillard thinks, the constitution of an immense network of simulacra† but rather the great â€Å"importance assumed by the concept of the bit, the unit of information† (Landow 32).The importance then of the inclusion of the narrative through a technological device then is proven to be a necessary part in the Milkproject not only in a traditional art sense but in a cultural sense as it propels the human story forward by the means of the human ingenuity:   through the bit, through oral tradition by way of a story that is significant to the human race, and its progeny:   a farmer’s milk into the mouths of the consumer, is something that will always be of importance because of its nutrition as well as this project’s ability to show that the world, the economy, cultures, are working in a globalizing fashion to sustain human life in all parts of the earth, thus art imitates nature (Guattari & Deleuze 2).The Milkproject extends the visual world and enters the verbal world so that the audience may better understand the significance of the work.   The emphasis of the verbal, or oral storytelling in this project is what makes the project all that much more human.   The implementation of the digital voice recordings along side the still motion shots taken from video footage is what humanizes the project and for the audience its what makes the project real, and strikes a cord of commonality, thus, not only is the audience member intrigued because of the element of milk, a product used by a large portion of the world’s population but also the voiced concerns of the farmers and consumers are juxtaposed with the audience reactions as de Certeau states ,We could moreover extend this problematic to the relations between the act of writing and the written text, and even transpose it to the relationships between the Ã¢â‚¬Ë œhand’ and the finished painting.   AT first isolated in the area of verbal communication, the speech act turns out to find only one of its applications there, and its linguistic modality is merely the first determination of a much more general distinction between the forms used in a system and the ways of using this system, that is, between two ‘different worlds,’ since the ‘same things’ are considered from two opposite formal viewpoints (de Certeau 98).Thus, the use of the narrative becomes a part of the exhibition in an intrinsic fashion.The focus of this paper has been on the inclusion of several styles of art in one artistic piece, the Milkproject.   Through the use of verbal narrative, mixed media, photographs, technology, and video the ‘artists’ of this project have been able to create a Happening which goes beyond the open-ended suggestion of Kabrow and into a story which develops through the journey of milk from udder to con sumer across continents.The use of GPS in this project was also a major player in extending the static components of art being non-transcendental (i.e. paintings can’t be sculptures and vice versa) and allows the project to be multi-dimensional and thus long lasting.   However, the stroke of genius in the Milkproject is the inclusion of various media in order to engage the audience in the reality of the milk’s journey.It is with this final statement of the project that the purpose of the project becomes apparent:   the audience’s interaction, and reaction to the project is a part of the project if not the main purpose.   Thus, the journey of the milk does not end with the consumer but carries on into the audience and this is what allows the Milkproject to not be a stagnant art form but an interactive exhibition whose genius rests with the reality that the journey’s participation hinges upon the viewer.   Thus, the journey of milk is found in its e nd with the art viewer.Work CitedAarseth, E. â€Å"Nonlinearity and Literary Theory.† Hyper/Text/Theory Landow,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   George P. (Ed)   Baltimore & London: John Hopkins University Press, 1994  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   excerpts 51-86Burroughs, W. The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin. The New Media Reader Nick  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Monfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin (Eds) Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 2003 83 88.De Certeau, M.   Walking in the City.   The Practice of Everyday Life.   Berkley.   UniversityOf California Press.   1988.Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. Rhizome. in A Thousand Plateaus Minneapolis and  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   London: Minnesota UP, 1987 excerpts 2-25;Higgins, Dick. Intermedia. Leonardo 34:1 49-54Kaprow, Allan. Happenings’ in the New York Scene.The New Media Reader Monfort,  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nick & Wardrip-Fruin, Noah (Eds) Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 203 83-88Landow, G. P. What ’s A Critic to Do? Hypertext. George P. Landow (Ed) Baltimore:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   John Hopkins UP, 1994 32-46Marek, K.   Bizarre New World. (The World May Be) Fantastic, Biennale of Sydney  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Catalogue 2002 217-20.Plant, S. On the Matrix. Cybercultures Reader London & New York: Routledge, 2000   325-336

Employment law in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Employment law in UK - Essay Example The author has rightly presented that procedures of termination of employment in terms of poor performance vary from country to country, state to state around the globe. In the United States of America, it is very convenient for an employer to terminate the employee without taking into consideration any specific pre termination procedure. However, in the case of an expatriate employee who is on an assignment in the UK, the employer has to comply with the pre termination procedures irrespective of the fact that the pre termination procedures are in existence in the host country of an employee or not. In the UK believe that the relationship between the employer and the employee is always contractual in nature whether written contract between the employer and the employee exists or not. The other distinctive factor is that in the UK employer is bound to serve show cause to an employee as a first step of pre termination process. In the American law there is no concept of serving any noti ce to an employee before termination of employment. In England notice is a pre requisite of termination process. The employment of contract should contain the notice mutually agreed upon by the stakeholders of a contract employment. If contract of employment lacks notice period then the competent court of law comes forward to determine that period. Usually it should be at least one weak for each and every completed year of employment that culminates up to twelve weeks at a maximum. (Holland and Burnett, 2008). As per UK law, termination or dismissal of employment of an employee without any cogent reason and without serving any notice may attract penal action / damages claim against the employer. The damages claim depends on the length of service of an employee. If the period is longer the claim is bigger and if the tenure is shorter the claim would be shorter. Under the mentioned situation the employee should knock the door of the competent court of law to claim compensation (Taylor and Emir, 2009). Unfair Dismissal In England, if an employee performs satisfactorily the whole year he or she may have the statutory rights. It means that he or she cannot be dismissed or terminated. The burden of unfair dismissal lies on the shoulder of an employer. The deficiencies of an employee which may lead to his or her dismissal are a) incapable b) less qualified c) misconduct and d) breach of statute (Holland and Burn

Compare, contrast and summarize the information from 3 article Essay

Compare, contrast and summarize the information from 3 article together - Essay Example Short term use of stimulants known to be an effective intervention strategy, Corkum and associates (2010) investigate the long term impacts of methylphenidate (MPH). 85 children with ADHD were initially assessed with Wide range achievement test-revised (WRAT-R), parent and teacher rating, estimated intellectual ability, OCHS academic and psychosocial ratings, duration of medication and academic support. Children were randomly assigned to MPH treatment and placebo group in a double blind trial, with former administered a gradually rising dose of 5mg/administration to reach a target dose of 0.7mg/Kg body weight. 12 months later baseline assessments were repeated and using regression analysis academic performance was estimated, one for each subset of WRAT-R and for parent and teacher ratings with baseline covariates, and total treatments as variables. The results indicated that both medication and academic interventions were insignificant in academic improvement. II. Clarfield and Stone r (2005), explored the efficacy of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on ADHD. The study specifically explored the role of headsprout reading basics; an internet based reading program as a CAI tool in improving the reading and task engagement. 3 children, selected using BASC (behavior assessment system for children), ADHD ratings; and parent, teacher & psychologist interview; received Reading Recovery instruction as part of their curriculum, along with two of them receiving stimulants and one consulting psychologist as part of prior interventions. The frequency of sessions (20-30 minute) was thrice a week with participants completing 27, 24 and 21 sessions. They were assessed using DIEBELS (Dynamic indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) oral reading fluency (DORF) and BOSS (Behaviour observation of students in schools). An improvement in reading fluency was observed in all three students, along with reduction in off task behaviour. III. Shalev et al (2007) tested that a systema tic individualized computerized progressive attentional training (CPAT) can at least partially overcome the lack of attention characteristic of ADHD. CPAT was designed to train each of the four attentional networks, i.e. sustained, selective, orienting, and executive attentions. A double blind randomized control trial (RCT) involving 20 children in treatment and 16 in control group, with baseline similarities in age and intelligence and meeting the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD was conducted. The training schedule was two one hour sessions per week continuing for eight weeks. Pre and post assessments tests relevant to the grade of the child assessing reading, writing, mathematical skills and parental ratings were used for evaluating results. The results specifically showed improvements in all the above fields within two weeks of initiation of CPAT. Critical Evaluation I. 1. What claims are being made? Lack of long term and cumulative impact of MPH on ADHD related academic underperformanc e. 2. What evidence has been provided to support the claims (research study, expert opinion...) The evidences include research study with exhaustive assessments and naturalistic trials. 3. Is the evidence credible (are the tests relevant, can they be repeated, examine validity and reliability)? Assessments are subjective as well as objective enabling repeatability, reliability and validity.

Assessment 3 Training project (K) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assessment 3 Training project (K) - Essay Example Not only this, it might also be use to introduce varied types of inventive and technologically advanced products and services thereby fascinating wide array of customers. As a result of which, the range of profit margin and total sale of the organization might get enhanced thereby boosting its recognition to a certain extent among other existing contenders (Schneier, 1994). Due to these above mentioned reasons, training programs are offered high concentration as it might increase the skills, attitudes, working behaviors and performance of the executives or managers of a hospitality sector. As best attitude and working behaviors are the two prime requisite of the top managers of a hospitality industry (Saks & et. al, 2010). In a hospitality industry, excellent behavioral skills and attitude are extremely essential for the human resource manager or top management employees as analyzed from the interview of their departmental heads. This is because; the top management employees act as the backbone of an organization operating in hospitality segment (Janakiraman, 2007). These employees are not only responsible for recruiting experienced and talented staffs within the organization of Hilton Al AIn but also liable to offer all sorts of required or desired facilities to the customers residing in the hotel. This is done, in order to enhance the quality and quantity of the services thereby amplifying the brand image and reputation of the brand in the market among many other rival players (Davenport, 2005). Apart from this, with the help of these training programs, the human resource manager might successfully introduce the new staffs with the other co-workers or co-members of Hilton Al AIn hotel (Martin, 2006). As a result of which, the interpersonal relationships of the employees get enhanced thereby amplifying the inner skills and talents to a certain extent. Along with this, proper orientation program might enhance the coordination among the top

Public Awareness and Human Diseases Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Public Awareness and Human Diseases - Essay Example With an increasing incidence worldwide, DM will be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for the foreseeable future. DM1 is classified on the basis of the pathogenic process that leads to hyperglycemia, as opposed to earlier criteria such as age of onset or type of therapy. The two broad categories of DM are designated type 1 and type 2. Type 1A DM results from autoimmune beta cell destruction, which leads to insulin deficiency. Individuals with type 1B DM lack immunologic markers indicative of an autoimmune destructive process of the beta cells. However, they develop insulin deficiency by unknown mechanisms and are ketosis prone. Relatively few patients with type 1 DM are in the type 1B idiopathic category; many of these individuals are either African-American or Asian in heritage. Type 2 DM1 is a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by variable degrees of insulin resistance, impaired insulin secretion, and increased glucose production. Distinct genetic and metabolic defects in insulin action and/or secretion give rise to the common phenotype of hyperglycemia in type 2 DM. ... Likewise, prevalence rates of IFG3 are also increasing. Although the prevalence of both type 1 and type 2 DM is increasing worldwide, the prevalence of type 2 DM is expected to rise more rapidly in the future because of increasing obesity and reduced activity levels. DM increases with aging. In 2000, the prevalence of DM was estimated to be 0.19% in people 20 years old. In individuals >65 years the prevalence of DM was 20.1%. The prevalence is similar in men and women throughout most age ranges but is slightly greater in men >60 years. The prevalence of type 2 DM and its harbinger, IGT2, is highest in certain Pacific islands, intermediate in countries such as India and the United States, and relatively low in Russia and China. This variability is likely due to genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors. DM prevalence also varies among different ethnic populations within a given country. In 2000, the prevalence of DM in the United States was 13% in African Americans, 10.2% in Hispanic Americans, 15.5% in Native Americans (American Indians and Alaska natives), and 7.8% in non-Hispanic whites. The onset of type 2 DM occurs, on average, at an earlier age in ethnic groups other than non-Hispanic whites. Mortality rates in people with diabetes exceed those in the general population despite many recent improvements in care. Diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the young, and is a substantial cause of morbidity as well as mortality at all ages. After the introduction of insulin in 1922 it was hoped that adverse consequences of diabetes might become a thing of the past, but mortality rates are still higher than those in the general population and, in addition,

Week 4 class discussions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 4 class discussions - Essay Example You can then figure out how that point moves based on different decisions (say, price point). I like it because it’s a very easily understood concept, and can be easily visualixed and internalixed for decision making purposes. I do agree to the post of the student regarding breakeven analysis. As the student has written the post in his own words, therefore, he has not able to represent the exact concept of the breakeven analysis technique. I think I will choose Breakeven Analysis.   It is a technique used by accountants and management.   It determines the point which revenue equals the costs that are associated with receiving revenue.   Break-even analysis analyzes the costs of the sales.   If something costs $50 to produce a widget and the fixed costs are $5000.   The break-even point will be: From what I have read in the book, and from what I have learned in previous classes, the difference between a procedure and a function is the fact that a function will return a value while a procedure does not. In my previous classes, we just called them all functions. If I am missing some finer point of the difference during my discussion on them, Professor, please let me know. A procedure is a piece of code that will, when called, execute a piece of code without returning and values back to the place where it was called from. A procedure may, or may not take any parameters. Example of procedure prototypes (are they called that as a function is?) would be: A function on the other hand would return a value when it is done executing its code back to where it is called from. What we have been writing on every piece of code so far is an example of a function: The above post is well organized description of difference between the â€Å"Procedure† and â€Å"Functions†. The student has clear concept and sound knowledge regarding the topic. The student has discussed the topic with simple and high-quality explanation of the

Negotiation Journal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Negotiation Journal - Research Paper Example There are different pointers of what strategy to adopt in an impending negotiation activity. Before choosing a given strategy to use in a negotiation, it is important to consider three main factors. The first factor is extent of valuation of a product, issues or services that cause negotiation to happen. If a given party values an issue, product or service under consideration extremely than relationship, then a win-lose strategy is appropriate. In a win-lose negotiation strategy, relationship is not important and one party of the negotiation will wish to win and does not care of the other party. Win-lose strategy also applies when a party is discussing a fixed position or idea. It is applicable when a price of a product or an idea is fixed. Second factor to consider is the relationship between negotiators. If both parties perceive that they need each other after the negotiation, then win-win negotiation strategy is the most appropriate. In a win-win negotiation strategy, both parties to a negotiation must cooperate, participate or compromise part of their interest to accommodate each other. Both parties to a negotiation agree and discus mutually profitable actions to take. Consequently, both parties benefits after the negotiation. ... Some cultures may prefer win-win strategy while others may prefer win-lose strategy. Win-win negotiation strategy is always possible. It is also one of the most preferred business negotiation strategies available. The purpose of two parties entering into a negotiation is always to benefit from one another. Therefore, it is possible to pursue win-win strategy especially when both parties can cooperate and compromise without incurring any loss. For example, a supplier may agree to reduce a price by a certain percentage and retain some substantial profits. Both parties win because a buyer saves some money and supplier builds a favourable business relationship. At times, win-lose negotiation becomes the only negotiation strategy viable. This is often applicable where a situation or price product is fixed and cannot be changed further because it will result in a loss. Therefore, there will be no room for adjustments and the other party can either agree to the terms of the situation as the y are or forfeit the matter or the product altogether. Win-lose negotiation is always confrontational and each party tries to take advantage of the other party. The forty-eight laws of power can be helpful when crafting a distributive negotiation strategy and tactics. This applies when the other party to a negotiation is confrontational, short sighted, stereotype, aggressive and uncooperative. Forty-eight laws of power can be useful in disarming the other party’s uncompromising stance. However, if the other party is genuinely willing to cooperate, compromise and is interested in long-term relationship, it may not be an appropriate strategy. Therefore, negotiation strategies should be used according to the

John Locke on Property Essay Example for Free

John Locke on Property Essay Natural reason suggests that human beings have the right to preserve themselves the moment they are born. An individual can utilize everything that he sees around him to preserve himself. He can drink if he is thirsty; he can eat if he is hungry. Nature, which God gave to the world, is the individual’s source of materials for his preservation. Locke emphasized that the world was given to the whole humanity by God. This, for Locke, is nothing but common knowledge (Locke 11). Locke questions how an individual can actually own a thing. He finds it difficult to understand why, when God has given the Earth to His children, men would search for things on earth and label it as their own. Since it is difficult to find a part of the Earth which an individual can own and call it his â€Å"property†, then the only easy way to solve this dilemma is to have the world owned by a universal monarch. This, then, would only be possible upon the belief that Adam owns the world because god gave it to him. As Adam has the world, it also means that his heirs own the world, too (Locke 11). Since this clearly is not the case in today’s world and in today’s society, Locke promises that he will explain how an individual claim a part of what God has given mankind, and that, with no single express compact of all people (Locke 11). As God has given mankind a whole world, it also means that along with this, He has given mankind a reason to use this world to their convenience and best advantage. The world are has everything that a man needs to survive. It has air, water, food and shelter. It contains that things that an individual needs to live a comfortable life. Whatever is found in this world all help in supporting the life of an individual (Locke 13). Although the food found on earth, including the animals or the predators that feed on them, are all qualified as properties of mankind (since nature produces all them), the fact alone that they are included as part of the earth means that even the predators are necessary for the survival of mankind – even when these beasts harm the quality of living of an individual. There will always be a way for a man to know how a harmful beast may help him. Whatever way this is, he has yet to figure out, but the fact remains that a harmful beast is indeed beneficial since it is a part of the world that God gave him (Locke 14). For Locke, the meat and the fruit which an individual feeds on are both considered occupants of the earth. No other individual will have the right to own that particular meat or particular fruit before it can support his life. No one has a right to something if the benefits are yet undiscovered (Ishay 116). The earth is indeed common to all the people living in it – to all its occupants. Then again, each individual has a property of his own. He is the only person who can practice his rights on that certain thing since he is the only person owning it. His hands do the working. His body does the laboring. Because of all these, whatever he produces rightfully becomes his property. Whatever thing nature has provided, which he, in turn, takes away from the state, becomes his property, as soon as he mixes his labor with it. Whatever it is that he takes away from the state which was placed there because of nature eliminates the right of other men, as long as he was able to own it through his hardships and labor (Ishay 116). Labor is indeed an important factor in this case, since labor is something that mankind cannot question. Labor is the unquestionable property of the man who is laboring. The man laboring is the only man who has the right to his products (Ishay 116). Whoever is being supported and benefited by the fruits of his labor has definitely appropriated these fruits for him. The question of Locke now, is when exactly did this fruit became his own? If, for example, an individual harvests the apple that came from the tree he himself planted, when exactly did he own the apple? Was it from the time when he digested the apple, since it is believed that as he is nourished by the fruit of his labor, he can start calling this his own? Or was it from the time when he picked the apples from the tree (Ishay 117)? What marks the difference between the common man and himself is labor. Labor defines what nature cannot. If an individual makes use of what nature has given him, and he, in turn, starts to benefit from it, then he owns the fruit. The man is able to own things as he extends what a nature can do to support his life. Here is where the concept of private right comes in (Ishay 118). Another dilemma is realized from this perspective, since will one not have a right to that apple which he appropriated for himself if mankind did not allow him to? Does he need the consent of other men to make the apple his property? Would this be considered robbery, since whatever is found on this earth is a property of all men (Boaz 123)? Then again, John Locke argued that consent from other men is not even necessary in the first place. If an individual always waits for a go-signal from other men so that he can start owning and eating an apple, then he will end up being starved. What is common in mankind, or common in â€Å"commoners†, is the act of taking something away from this world to make it his property. Nature leaves something in the state, and commoners remove it out from there. As an individual removes it from the state, it starts to be his property. Without such property, then the individual will be of no use to the world. Taking something which an individual may consider his property is not dependent on whether or not commoners will allow him to (Boaz 123). The grass is in the lands to be eaten by a horse. A servant sees a turf which he may cut. All people can see ores, and all of them have right to the meat. An individual can do everything that he can, and thus exhibit acts of labor, to produce something that can benefit him. As a product of his labor, his prize is to own it as its property. He does not need to consult other men; more so, need their consent. The moment an individual removes something from the state is already a manifestation of a labor being enacted. There is a struggle, a difficulty, and an action taking place as an individual takes something away from the state. From this point exactly, an individual owns a thing (Boaz 123). John Locke’s main argument when he said that property is prior to the political state; he was referring to the law of reason. This law is what makes the deer a proper of an Indian, only if this Indian went his way into killing the deer. Once he exerted effort and enacted labor into killing the deer, then he has every right to eat the deer. The deer used to be a property of the world, and of everyone. Killing it is also a right of every person. Then again, whoever has the reason to go first and bestow his energy, labor and power to kill the deer, is the same person who owns the meat. Reason is what defines a person’s property, according to John Locke. Whatever it is that is found in this earth is a property of everyone, and everyone has the right to owning it. Then, again, labor, when fueled with reason, is what makes and what allows a person to own something and start calling it his property (Boaz 124). For John Locke, it is effortless to imagine and think how labor can start and prescribe a person’s property, considering the fact and the supposed challenge that may be faced since this property used to be a property of all mankind, and this property of mankind is coming from nature – the nature itself being an entity that belongs to everyone. The limits of a property are defined by how we spend it. For John Locke, arguments and conflicts regarding property and owndership may be eliminated if we see things his way (Boaz 125). Through John Locke’s view in property, he suggests that convenience and right go along together. He has his right which is his reason enough to employ his labor on a property common to mankind. Once he goes through challenges to own it to his convenience, then there should be no room left for conflict and quarrel. Whoever went his way to experience challenges just to reap what he saw, has every right to own the fruits of his labor (Boaz 126). Works Cited Boaz, David. The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Readings from Lao-tzu to Milton Friedman. Free Press, 1998. Ishay, Micheline. The Human Rights Reader: Major Political Essays, Speeches, and Documents from Ancient Times to the Present. CRC Press, 2007. Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Kessinger Publishing, 2004.

The History of the Welfare State

The History of the Welfare State In 1942 William Beveridge published his report on Social Insurance and Allied Services. The report instantly became a best seller of all time. The report was based on eliminating poverty and it has subsequently come to be considered as the blueprint of the welfare state. The Beveridge Report was identified as the core of wartime social transformation. It became very significant at a time when unemployment was at an ultimate high, the report was seen by many people the light at the end of the tunnel of war, and as a promise of social justice for the post war world. (Gladstone, 1999. p39) Beveridge was asked to write a detailed report on how to improve the existing national schemes of social insurance and allied services. The report was built on defeating Want. But Want was only one of the five giants on the road to reconstruction. The others were Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. His recommendations of the system on social insurance were to rectify the poor conditions of post- war Britain and it was an attack solely upon Want which would remove poverty. This essay will look at what are the main features of The Beveridge Report and why they were significant. It will also examine whether the report realistically attempted to tackle all the so-called five giants which is mentioned in the report. The main feature of the report was based on a scheme of social insurance- that is, a system of insurance in which risks are pooled within the community, so that individuals are able to pay flat-rate contributions sand receive flat-rate benefits regardless of the extent to which they are liable to be in need of those benefits. (Hill, 1990, p28) The plan for social security was to eradicate want but in order for this to be achieved there must be co-operation between the state and the individual. Bevereidge said that the state should offer security for service and contribution; by this the state should consider the need for a national minimum, which should provide individuals with the minimum for himself and his family to live on. However, he stated that this minimum should be given as of right and not means tested, so that individuals can build upon it freely. (Timmins, 2001, p23) Taking social insurance as the base of the report, Beveridge boldly made three assumptions which were to m ake it work; a universal scheme of family allowances, a comprehensive national health service, which was financed by taxation and the maintenance of employment. The first two assumptions were part of the insurance scheme of social security, and was the most expensive prerequisites. The third assumption worked two ways; it maximized the number of contributors and minimized the number of people claiming benefits. Beveridges main investigation into social security was to reform all social services and provide a minimum of subsistence and care for the whole population. He believed that to eradicate poverty a reform of national insurance was vital and this can be achieved by provision of benefits and services. His proposal for social insurance and minimum subsistence was supplemented by private and voluntary means. (Thane, 1996, p232) The universal scheme was split into six groups and it was designed to cover people in actual or potential need. He defined these groups as: employees, self-employed, housewifes, those below and above working age, the sick and disable and others of working age fit to work. (Lowe, 2005, p141) Housewives were particularly a difficult group to cover, and this will be discussed further later. The people who fall into these groups should receive the following benefits: unemployment and sickness benefits, disability benefit which also covered injuries at work, maternity g rants and widow benefits, funeral benefits, family allowances and retirement pensions. However, even though this system of social insurance (which was later changed to national insurance) was there to provide subsistence-levels of adequate benefits, Beveridge knew there might be other circumstances where it would not be enough, and he therefore recommended another system of social assistance.(which was also later changed to national assistance) This scheme would work through means test to provide for people whose needs were not met by national insurance. People who qualify for national assistance, for example are disabled people, deserted or separated wives and men who refused to take on work when it is offered to them. The need for assistance could arise for reasons of sickness which meant they were not able to work and get into the labour market. This could be because a person has abnormal needs of diet or care. Along with Beveridges proposal for national insurance and national assistance, he also proposed family allowances. This proposal came from a post-war issue of child poverty and low wages being paid to people who have large families. He said that family allowances were an essential part of an adequate social security system. The idea of family allowances had already been proposed by other economists such as Keynes. Beveridge insisted on family allowances to be non-contributory and financed through general taxation, for it would be too much for people who have large families and low wages to make contributions. This would cause a great burden on employment. He proposed that 8s should be paid to every dependent child except the first. However, the government was reluctant to pay 8s because it exceeded the limit given by the Treasury, so in 1945 the Family Allowances was introduced at a rate of 5s. Beveridges second major assumption was comprehensive health and rehabilitation service which was to cure disease and help workers get back to work when they are sick, and make them available for work when it is offered. This would also prevent the reasons for unemployment and poverty. This service is to be available for all members of the community and free at the point of consumption. This service was not based on national insurance contributions but funded by taxation. There had already been deliberation before the Beveridge Report was published on making a comprehensive, free medical service, but the Beveridge Report got the government engaged into this more and in 1946 the National Health Service (NHS) was introduced. Before the NHS was introduced, medical services in Britain were not fulfilling the needs of people and the service was very poor. One of Beveridges five giants was Disease and the road to reconstruction was to tackle this post-war crisis, and by making the proposal of introducing the NHS which is free for everyone was an attempt to tackle Disease. His third assumption was maintenance of full employment. Beveridge said that unemployment is a crucial problem which needs to be solved and without change, social improvement was impossible. (Thane, 1996, p239) In his Report he defined the need to avoid mass unemployment by keeping the rate of unemployment at an average of no more than 8 and a half per cent. However, by the end of the Second World War and the mid 1970s the unemployment rate was accomplished and what in fact happened was that the unemployment rate fell below 8 and a half per cent that Beveridge had suggested. (Hill, 1990, p30) In the report he based his assumption that full time employment will be achieved, which in theory would tackle idleness. As mentioned before the report on Social Insurance and Allied Services was particularly aimed at proposing a set of recommendations for setting up a system of social insurance, which will be mainly an attack on the giant Want. However, the other giants were also briefly mentioned in the report, but not to a great extent. After World War Two people had no houses to come back to, and the education system was failing terribly, there was an increase in poverty, unemployment and no adequate health care was available. To fight the five giants he gave a vital kick to start the programmes that he thought could give freedom not only from want, but the others too. The report in practice does not mention education to a great deal or detail apart from his trumpet call for the attack on Ignorance. Nor does he talk about Squalor in detail, which involves providing houses. This is due to the fact that Beveridge struggled over how to handle rents within the social security. (Timmins, 2001, p24) He p roposed a comprehensive national health service which was to tackle Disease, but that is debatable as a free medical care would not only prevent disease but it would reduce poverty which will attack Want, so this linked into his main idea of his report. However, the creation of the NHS would cause problems on economic grounds as it was very expensive to run a free medical service at the point of use. Beveridges attack on Idleness was to provide high levels of full time employment. This attack on the five giants is linked with Want, as not having a job creates poverty, which then means people have to depend upon benefits, and to make the social security system work there needs to be more people in employment and less people claiming benefits. This is why Beveridge described the course of arguing a full employment was a prerequisite of an adequate system of social security. (Brown, 1995, p84) Looking at the five giants that Beveridge said must be attacked in order to change post-war B ritain; he did not mention the other five giants in too much detail as he did with defeating Want. He therefore did not realistically attempt to tackle all the five giants, and lets be honest even Beveridge could not stretch his terms of reference that far. It was hard enough trying to implement his main proposals of social insurance, so if he aimed his report on defeating all the giants then nothing probably would have come of it and it would not have been as successful as it was. We have established that the main features of the Beveridge Report which are a set of recommendations for the setting up of a system of social insurance. The crucial elements of Beveridges proposals were that everyone was included; they were covered from the cradle to grave and benefits would be at a level which enabled a family to live without recourse to other means. The six fundamental principles of the report were: flat rate of subsistence benefits; flat rate of contribution; unification of administrative responsibility; adequacy of benefit; comprehensive; and classification. Based on them, and the proposal of national assistance which operated through means test, the aim the report was to eliminate Want under any circumstances. The Beveridge Report was a successful seller and the main features of the report became significant, as it gave hope to the people of Britain who were suffering from poverty and unemployment at extreme highs. Beveridges proposal of national insurance and national assistance, was adopted almost at its entirety. In 1945 Family Allowance Act was legislated, subsequently in 1946 the National Insurance Act was introduced, shortly following the National Assistant Act in 1948. These legislations were significant in what Beveridge had recommended as the main features of his report. He understood that if his recommendations had been enacted then Britain would have an ideal social security system which will provide adequate relief to the people in need and improve unemployment. However, there are many criticisms of The Beveridge Report and why many of his proposals were later abandoned and changed from what he initially proposed. One of the problems of Beveridges proposals was with women, in particularly married women. Beveridge recommended that all married women should be eligible for a wide range of benefits by the virtue of their husbands contributions. (Lowe, 2005, p141) Most married women were not in paid work at that time, but women who worked could opt to pay lower contributions and in return they will qualify for the full range of benefits, though below the standard rate. The feminists were his major critics, as Beveridges explicit assumption of married women should enter into partnership with their husband and remain economically dependent upon them goes against what the feminists stand for. It also does not fit the present day situation, in which nearly half of all married women are in paid work. (Hill, 1990, p33) However, the main underprivileged groups are the non-working single women and even after efforts being made to meet their needs, nothing came of it. He also did not find a satisfactory sol ution for separated, divorced and widowed women within an insurance scheme. Women were generally not equally represented or rewarded in the labour market and they did not choose to not participate, but they were excluded from any competition with men. So when Beveridge recommended a housewives charter which would allow provide grants upon marriage, free domestic help when ill and a separation allowance, it gave hope to the women. However, this was overlooked by critics, as his proposal was dismissed by the government and became a weakness of his Report. This flaw in the implementation of the report has questioned Beveridges aim to change social provision for housewives as it regarded women as dependants of their husbands and not treated equally to men. Beveridges proposals were very significant in what he had promised would happen if they were implemented by the government, which is relieving poverty. But there were many compromises which had to be made in order to adopt his proposals. Many of Beveridges proposals had been rejected by the Treasury on the grounds that it was excessively expensive; this was a flaw both politically and in practical terms. Due to this there was a very lengthy perusal for his recommendations. Beveridge was not liked by Churchhill very much as he also believed that Beveridges recommendations was far too expensive; it would create doubtful prospects for the post-war economy and form hopes for the people of the country which the post-war government could not satisfy. (Thane, 1996, p235) His susten lacked sufficient resourses to respond to inflation or changes in social need or social demand. (Lowe, 2005, p135) Even though the report gained popularity, it also received widespread criticisms like the pension rates are too low and stronger fear that the government will ignore the report. (Thane 1996, p235)Beveridges proposal that retirement pension should gradually be phased in over a period of 20 years was not implemented. This was because it would make arrangements for people who had not contributed to the retirement scheme previously to qualify for very much more quickly than that. Benefits were generally at lower levels than Beveridge suggested. This can be seen with the family allowances, which he said should start at 8s but the government changed it to 5s. Another weakness of his report which critics argue contradicts his main proposals is the principle of universalism and adequacy. If Beveridges main objective was to eliminate Want then why were those in need not targeted for relief? The universalism scheme essentially means that vast contributions will be collected from and benefits will be distributed to those who do not need help from the state. This would then fail effectively to help those who are genuinely in need because benefits will be too widely distributed. The principle of adequacy and universalism was to eliminate means test and not rely on national assistance benefits, but quite the opposite occurred and it was then inevitable that the cost-conscious government would reject the principle of adequacy. Many of Beveridges proposals were contradic ted when they were implemented, and it destroyed the logic of the report. As did the agreement the government came to when they said that the rate of benefit should only be one which provided a reasonable insurance against want. (Lowe, 2005, p144) This automatically meant that insurance contributions was no longer a guarantee that people will be freed from poverty and that would have to result in applying for means-tested national assistance. Rather than diminishing the use of national assistance as predicted by the report, it became increasingly significant. Beveridges proposals became significant, as the main acts of social insurance were accepted by the government, although after some alteration, they were legislated and brcame the foundation of his report. However, a report which was said to be a blueprint of post-war reform was far from revolutionary or logical. Even though some of his proposals were enacted, they were changed vastly from what Beveridge had proposed to begin with. All this did not come without recourse to other measures, which was seeking national assistance. This subsidiary benefit was supposed to wither away, but in fact the number of claimants increased. Furthermore, many of his proposals were abandoned and did not make Along with the fact that it was impractical, the high cost of social insurance emphasises the failure of Beveridges principle of the unification of administrative responsibility. Beveridge hoped that through the establishment of one responsible ministry, which were the Ministry of Social Security, both government and claimants would become the beneficiaries of a greater co-ordination, simplicity and economy, (Lowe, 2005, p141) but this was far from the case as they did not achieve this and Want was relieved by a wide range of means-tested benefits which were administered by other local governments and the NHS. (Lowe, 2005, p159) Several proposals which Beveridge made were either changed when they were implemented or they were completely abandoned. The reason for this was mainly because as mentioned previously, they were illogical, impractical and very expensive. And his proposals were contradicted when people had to rely on means-tested benefits, which was what he was against and wanted to change. In conclusion,

On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Analysis

On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Analysis Referring closely to literary and linguistic features, explore the presentation of hopes and dreams within On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Hopes and dreams are presented as a means of escape and an opportunity for external and internal discovery for the characters of Jack Kerouacs On the Road and Hunter S. Thompsons Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty seek rather juxtaposed dreams; Dean is punished for his lavish and overindulgent wants whereas Sal uses his time on the road to fulfil more rewarding and spiritual objectives. Similarly, Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas takes a journey of discovery to find the true American Dream in Las Vegas, Nevada. To some extent, the pursuit of hopes and dreams is a method of escaping the realities of everyday life for characters from both texts. In Kerouacs novel, the dreams of where the road might take them provide an escape for both Sal and Dean from a mundane East Coast lifestyle, and a way to forget the mistakes of the past. Similarly in Thompsons piece, a voyage of revelation fueled by an underlying desire to understand the American Dream offers a chance to escape for Raoul and his attorney using somebody elses money. Jack Kerouac employs a proper noun in the utterance fifty dollars from old veteran benefits, I was ready to go to the West Coast. Here, the West is presented as a symbol of great opportunity and freedom like it had been for the pioneers who settled there from Americas east and across the world over a century earlier. For Sal, this escape is from a miserable divorce whilst also having recovered from a serious illness. The writer uses hyperbole and plosive alliteration through Deans wants of innumerable girls and sex parties and pornographic pictures suggesting at Deans apparently unlimited thirst for sexual encounters with as many women as possible, and highlight that a reason why he goes on the road is to fulfil his sexual needs and desires as part of his American Dream. These wants contrast with his more simple needs of concrete noun bread and abstract noun love later in the novel which indicate at the aimlessness of Moriartys quest to find it. In contrast, Duke and Dr Gonzo are shown to be more driven in attempts to find truth and happiness. Thompson uses a metaphor and abstract noun in the exclamative I tell you, my man, this is the American Dream in action! to give a suggestion of Dukes belief that the American Dream is about living a hedonistic life of indulgence. Unlike Sal, who is forced at times to ration his food, the pair spend excessively throughout the novel, especially on alcohol and gambling, but despite such wild attempts Raoul is still unable to attain the happiness he strives for. Duke repeatedly indicates at the journeys purpose being a discovery of the 1970s American Dream and is preoccupied with it throughout the book. The writer uses a present and past-tense dynamic verbs were looking for the American Dream, and we were told it was somewhere in this area. This perhaps suggests at Raouls misunderstanding of and confusion with the concept of the American Dream for he appears to believe that it is something tangible, serving to highlight his dreams elusive nature. Throughout both texts, hopes and dreams are presented as ripe opportunities for the characters to capitalise on. Kerouac employs a metaphor and grammatical repetition in the declarative new call and a new horizon, the abstract noun call and concrete noun horizon here present a hopeful new beginning for Sal and a fundamental change in how he will live his life. This is what Dean offers at the start of the book to Sal, an opportunity to leave his life as a newly-divorced and miserable man in the East behind and escape to what is hoped to be a better life in the West. Deans use of grammatical repetition in the utterance man, wow, theres so many things to do, so many things to write! presents the excitement brought on by the allure of the adventures that await once they get out on the road, and the promise of a better life thereafter. This is to show how to truly live you must break free from the shackles of conventionality and day-to-day life, and that the world is rife with opportuniti es for those who can achieve such freedom. An example of litotes from Dean is when he says so longs I can get that lil ole gal with that lil sumpin down there tween her legs highlighting that his one need is a woman with whom he can he can have sex. For Dean, being on the road is a way to achieve his ambitions of achieving as many sexual encounters as he can, with Moriarty growing increasingly sexually sybaritic throughout the book. Similarly but in a far less literal sense than Kerouac, Thompson uses personification in a sexual metaphor of his own when Duke is wandering through at 4:30 AM he notes that the gamblers are still humping the American Dream. This use of vulgar colloquialism indicates how with a luck America will provide the economic and social success that is wish for. These people hope that gambling will be a way to achieve the American Dream through winning big and getting rich, their chance of weakening their finances however are greater. In contrast with Sals attainable and clear spiritual search on his journe y, Raouls quest for the specific whereabouts of the American Dream concludes with a further metaphor used in Las Vegas when Raoul states that weve found the main nerve. The concrete noun nerve here likens the city to the bodys nervous system and Raoul hopes now that he has discovered the true physical American Dream at this location. At this point he will not let his attorney leave yet, because their expectations of the American Dream were that it would be remarkable but soon the realisation sets in that it is not as magnificent as once anticipated. How hopes and dreams are realised varies wildly between the different characters and books. Deans continued equivocation quickly begins to kill off Sals hope of real discovery. He wishes to find answers and meaning to what the American Dream and therefore Dean truly means by his use of the exclamative fragment it!, but Dean cannot provide anything more than an abstract and vague definition. From this point on, Sal begins to see Dean as his true and shallow self has a realisation that it and the American Dream can never be attained for neither truly are real. The use of pre-modifying adjectives in the phrase wonderful Technicolor visions likens the epiphanic moments of spiritual enlightenment that he is starting to feel to being in a movie filmed using the Technicolor colour process commonly used in Hollywood from the 1920s to 1940s, this indicates that Sal has used his travels of the road as a means of self-discovery. His perspectives change as a result and he becomes a changed man u pon realisation of his insignificance as a lone individual in the vast United States. Whilst writing the novel Kerouac increasingly was fascinated by Buddhism after losing the strong Catholic faith instilled in him as a child, this rebellion against religious norms is echoed here. Thompson uses of pre-modifying adjectives contrastingly when Raoul and his attorney are searching for a location called American Dream all they can find is a huge slab of cracked, scorched concrete in a vacant lot full of tall weeds, the burned down physical American Dream that they find is symbolically representative of Thompsons belief that the ideal now has been destroyed, and therefore is unattainable. A further use of the main nerve metaphor is Dukes utterance that were on the main nerve right now. He now reveals ere that he believes that he has found the American Dream here in Las Vegas at the casino Circus-Circus for its manager has his own circus, and a license to steal, too. Here Thompson mocks the concept of the American Dream in a large city like Las Vegas with the only circumstance of successfully achieving it is this small instance, as well as its unconventional nature as for most joining the circus and owning a casino are not the obvious embodiment of the American Dream . To conclude, hopes and dreams are shown to be a powerful force that empower those who have them to search for the truths of life. While Sals search is a more metaphorical and ultimately more attainable one of inner discovery, Raouls instead is a largely futile one. Both Kerouac and Thompson use how the characters hopes and dreams materialise as innate criticisms of American society and its value systems. Through Sal, Kerouac presents how the American Dream is corrupted and how true self-actualisation can come from a better understanding of ones self and the world around us. Similarly, Thompson is critical of the typical capitalist ambitions inherent in the American Dream of great wealth which so few are able to actually achieve. (x words) Bibliography Kerouac, J., On the Road (Penguin Classics, 2000) Thompson, H., Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial, 2005)

Vegetarianism - To Meat Or Not To Meat Essay -- Healthy Lifestyle Essay

As children, one of the first things we learn is to recognize the friendly barnyard animals. We easily can spot the furry cow with the gentle eyes, the feathery chickens who run wildly about, and the pink pigs that roll in the mud. We may also sing about that nice farmer, Old McDonald, and all of his nice animals. The truth is that Old McDonald with a straw hat has been replaced by a business man in the hard hat. Ninety-five percent of the meat we eat does not come from Old McDonald's farm. Hens, chickens, turkeys, and over half of beef cattle, dairy cows, and pigs come from an "animal factory" (Sussman, 95) which is a mechanized environment. This new farming method finds blue skies, tall silos, and grassy hillsides good for calendars but, bad for business. Those pictures are not cost effective. Animals are not treated with the loving care of a farmer but, are treated like inmates on death row. Poultry, pigs, and calves are forced to live in total confinement never to see the light of day until they head to the slaughter house. Hens are frequently crowded into small cages which they may not leave for a year or two. Pregnant sows are often put in stalls that are their homes for three months at a time. After having her piglets, a sow may be pinned to the floor for four to seven weeks in order to keep the sow from rolling over on her babies. Cows may be fed steady diet of molasses laced saw dust, shredded newspaper, plastic pellets, poultry manure, and processed slaughter house wastes in order to gain weight faster. Confinement is so complete that the animals do not have room to move (206). Not only are the animals forced to live in this unnatural environment, they are also pumped full off antibiotics, hormones, steroids, and are dipped in pesticides. Over half the cattle and nearly all pigs, calves, and poultry are fed a steady diet of antibiotics and related Jarboe 2 medications to help control diseases. No o... ...though our bodies are designed to rely on vegetarian foods, modern man has changed his dietary habits to those of the carnivore, or meat eater. We may think of ourselves as carnivores but, our flat teeth are not designed to tear through hide, flesh, and bones. Tenderizer is put on meat so that it will be more easily chewed. Furthermore, the digestive system of the carnivore is designed to get rid of the meat it eats before it decays. The human digestive system is designed to break down complex carbohydrates and fibers like those of the herbivore (Sussman, 300). Taking a look past the cruel treatment of animals and the nutritional value of the vegetarian diet, maybe God did not intend for us to eat meat at all. In Genesis 1:29-30 God said: I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be your for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every plant for food. And it was so.

Abortion In Our Modern Society :: essays research papers fc

I believe that it is a woman’s right to choose whether or not she shall have a child. The issue of abortion is widely disputed in our nation, and is considered taboo because it has to do with sex. Many people are against abortion because of religious or moral beliefs. However, most of the people who argue against abortion have no adopted children. The reality is this: if an unwanted child is born into this world, they will suffer a great deal throughout their life. Also, the abortion is performed when the child is not yet developed. Still, many persons throughout the United States consider abortion to be nothing but infanticide. Of course, there is a risk involved with abortion, but as science improves, so does the safety of such practices. There is a small chance that a woman undergoing an abortion will be subject to hemorrhage (a 1 in 14,799 chance), sepsis (a 1 in 4,722 chance), tetanus, and anemia. Such events rarely happen, though. So, besides health risks and moral and religious beliefs, abortions are a good thing for quite a few reasons.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First of all, in many scenarios, an abortion is necessary and it would be wrong not to let the mother choose an abortion. For example, if a woman is raped, is she expected to keep the child? Of course not! Even if the mother decided to have the baby and support it, for the rest of her life she will be burdened simply because she was a victim of a predator. Also, if a woman was being safe and using protection, and the protection failed, she should be given the chance to choose. Although it was partly her fault, she was being responsible for her actions and practicing safe sex. Finally, there is the circumstance under which tests prove that if the baby is born, it will be deformed or handicapped. Such a child will suffer for the rest of their life, however short it may be. Though the parents may choose to keep the child, if it will suffer physically, they might want to stop its suffering before it even starts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plus, not as many people misuse the practice as we may think. After all, abortions are not cheap, anywhere from $300 to $2000. Surgical abortion in or before the first trimester can be performed by either menstrual extraction or vacuum aspiration.

Informative Paper Essay

Introduction I. Attention-Grabbing introduction: Staple center, Los Angeles, California. Friday November, 4th 2013 1:24PM The Championship match. After a weekend full of ups and downs, twist and turns it all comes to this. 1 week earlier, the previous Friday thousands have flown down to the heart of it all. Crowded around the event hall doors, people everywhere, spectators itching to get the best seats. Players going over in game builds, timings, and strategies just one more time until the doors finally open. 8 teams of 5 players to a team were seated into the week long tournament and now only two remain. Royal Club and SK Telecom are season veterans of League of Legends and now they sit on opposite ends on top of the world championship main stage. Ready to compete head to head for the grand prize of 1 million dollars in front of 1000s right there in Los Angeles and millions watching from all around the world. II. Topic: These millions from around the world have emitted their love for gaming into a hugely popular phenomena known as Electronic sports or better known as of E-Sports. Viewership has seen explosive growth in 2013 and is still growing with no sign of deterrence. Now with the integration of technology into our culture a new type of athlete has risen. One that doesn’t achieve victory heavily based on the bronze that is armed but with the critical thinking and reflex of the mind. An outsider might find this such a concept laughable but these pro gamers are far from any negative stereotypes you may have. III. Ethos & Audience Adaptation: My name is Jonathon Allen and I have been a fan and member of the E-Sports community for nearly a decade. I have had opportunities to play professionally at the MLG North American Regionals in Columbus and New York  in 2012 which I have placed 2nd and 3rd in out of 30 teams. Over the years I have also conducting extensive research on E-Sports ranging from players and teams to the technology side of running and mending events in the industry. E-Sports can be a lot to digest for someone looking in for the first time so I’ll explain exactly what and how big E-Sports really is including the potential E-Sports has to expand and grow. Before we go any further I’d like to present this video to visually show you exactly what E-Sports is and most importantly what it feels like. Visual Aid! Body I.This is E-Sports, competition at its finest. Players competing for cash prizes ranging from thousands to millions. Top players make 6 figure incomes and are even sponsored by big corporations such as Monster, Intel, Redbull, Asus, and Kingston. Pro gamers are locked into head to head combat in games like League of Legends. A DOTA-MMO style game that’s played as a team of 5 people VS 5 people. The object of the game is strategizing on how to win by taking the enemies base while leveling up and generating gold. Most games usually last around 40 minutes. II.You may ask; why would someone watch someone else play a video game? That’s simple; the excitement from watching others play video games stands as the same excitement we get from watching other athletes perform at sports such as football. T.J. Heffer from PC gamer Magazine states â€Å"What makes any competition interesting is watching very skilled individuals struggle for victory in a setting where the outcome is uncertain and the moment to moment back and forth keeps you on your toes.† Heffer continuous â€Å"Rather or not you want to call them sports they showcase people with amazing critical thinking, planning, and decision making skills and frankly inhuman reflexes as well. The level of professional level in a game lie League of Legends is mind boggling.† Professional gamers put their heart and soul into the game. They have drive, passion, hard work and dedication just like any professional athlete you can think of. III.As I’m assuming E-Sports may be alien to many of you but in nations like South Korea games such as StarCraft have already become something of a national sport. Paul Tassi of Forbs Magazine said â€Å"Overseas, top players are treated like professional Athletes.† Though South Korea has become atoned to the notion of playing games professionally North America believe it or not is where the biggest interest for pro gaming lies. In North American E-Sports, leagues and organizations have risen and grown in the past 3 years. In of these leagues the biggest E-Sports organization is Major League Gaming or MLG. Founded in 2002 Major League Gaming features numerous tournaments in a year where various gamers fly out to major cities across the US like Columbus to compete. In MLG’s Annual Viewership Report for the 2013 season they reported 15 million unique viewers tuned into watch online during the 2013 season. As those 15 million viewers tuned in last year it’s clear that E-Sports has already landed a very stable footing into the hearts of Americans across the United States. But perhaps even more thrilling and exciting is the growth that E-Sports has already shown. Between 2010 – 2013 MLG has seen a 733% growth in viewership from 1.8 million to 15 Million. Comparing that to the NFLS record growth of 18% in the past 3 years that’s 715% more than the NFL. Let’s not down play the viewership of the NFL which has recorded a record of 28.1 Million viewers for their 2013 – 2014 season. But you start to understand thus to how much potential E-Sports has when MLG a company that’s only been around for 11 years has acquired a viewership of 15 million. Just a little above half of the NFLS record viewer count 28.1 an organization that has been around for nearly a 100 years. Conclusion With these statistics of expansion and with how overseas treats E-Sports like a national sport and with pro gamers possessing the same set of virtues that any professional athlete has along the millions around the globe that  already are a part of the community only drives E-Sports. It’s not really a question of is it, it’s really a question of when! When asked about where he sees E-Sports going and what to expect of the industry. MLG Co-Founder Sundance DiGiovanni in a position that puts him at the hell of the entire E-Sports industry told Forbs Magazine in 2012 â€Å"that in 5 years he expects E-Sports to be a globally recognized phenomena. A truly established global sport.†

Blue Collar and College

Is College Worth It? Is college the only way to success? If the answer is yes, so why Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are college dropouts and millions of graduated students with degrees from four-year higher education institutions cannot find jobs. Today, a college education does not guarantee you anything. It is not an automatic ticket to get a good job as people believe. These issues are viewed more sharpen via two writers’ point of views Mike Rose and Caroline Bird.Based on their essays, Rose with â€Å"Blue-Collar Brilliance† and Bird with â€Å"College is a Waste of Time and Money†, both suggest college is not the only way to succeed and that society mistakenly overvalues a college education. It is time to rethink the idea about college. By showing that knowledge can be acquired outside the classroom, Rose repudiates that people who spend more time in school, are not more brilliant than those who do not. He says, â€Å"Though work-related actions become routine with experience, they were learned at some point through observation, trial and error. Even if people are not college educated, they can deal with various problems that they face in the work by using their experiences that colleges do not teach them. Rose’s mother, Rosie was a waitress; the restaurant became the place where she studied human behavior, puzzling over the problems. Rose’s uncle, Joe Meraglio, worked in a factory; he observed the factory was like schooling, a place where he was constantly learning. Life experience can teach a person a tremendous amount.True, it would be in a different manner than a formal education would, yet still a very lofty education can be learned through hands-on actives, outside a classroom setting. Everyone is smart on their own level. However, Rose stresses the point that their â€Å"brilliance† is not recognized or, if it is, it is looked down upon by people who are more â€Å"educated. † In the same way with Rose, Bird argues that college is a waste of time because the majority of college graduates do not end up working in the same field as the major they studied.Students waste thousands of dollars for a college education, just to end up with their degree in their hand and with no job relating to it. Instead they have to take classes that have close to nothing to do with their major but are only taking these classes in order to fulfill a general educational requirement. They cannot transform learning experiences to jobs. Bird says, â€Å"Teachers, engineers and others I talked to said they find that on the job they rarely use what they learned in school. † She presents this statement with the evidence of Charles Lawrence, a communications major in college and now the producer of â€Å"Kennedy & Co. † the Chicago morning television show, says, â€Å"You have to learn all that stuff and you will never use it again. I learned my job doing it. † Birds also shows a society's a ssumption that everyone is a fit for college, not knowing that it only comes naturally to a few. Another Rose and Bird’s perspective is that money can be acquired without a college education. Rose shows how Rosie and Joe make money with blue collar jobs. Rosie with excellent management ability on performance helped her earn a lot of tips and good salary.Joe took the advantage on learning about budget and management, he became a supervisor. Those people definitively have a good income. Rosie and Joe are representative people without higher education, but they still get accomplishments and they can define who they are in society. Similarly, Bird states that college education will not help the students to make money in the future: â€Å"if making money is the only goal, college is the dumbest investment you can make†. Bird compares the money that would be spent on education versus money that is put in a bank for interest.Even when the graduates do succeed in having good j obs, Bird says there is no evidence that the higher income is due to their college education as college attract people who are intelligent with good family backgrounds and an enterprising temperament. Most parents are convinced that sending their children to college is a good investment; their children will earn more money. There was a student that really was into cars and was also accepted to Princeton. If he decided to go to Princeton he would pay about $34,181 a year to attend, and when he got out only make $1,000 more than a high school graduate.But if he instead took the money and invested it while working at the local car garage, by the time he was 28 he would have over $73,113. Then with that money he could open up his own business and make a lot more yearly that the average high school graduate. Although there is a huge similarity between Rose and Bird’s idea, there are some different thoughts in their essays. Rose comments that education should not only be measured b y college, but he still acknowledges the value of college. He still has higher education.He says, â€Å"I studied the humanities and later the social and psychological sciences and taught for 10 years†¦ Then I went back to graduate school to study education and cognitive psychology and eventually became a faculty member in a school education. † His points of view which are displayed in his essays are gained not only from his real life but also from his college. If he did not have higher education, he would not have had this essay â€Å"Blue–Collar Brilliance†. On the other hand, Bird devalues college by focusing on money. She convinces readers that college is an investment in order to make money.Therefore, after graduation, students cannot find job and no money; it means college is not worth. She said, â€Å"When most people talk about the value of a college education, they are not talking about great books. † She also claims that college becomes com mercialized: â€Å"They sell college like soap, promoting features they think students want: innovative features, an environment conductive to meaningful personal relationships, and a curriculum so free that it doesn’t sound like college at all. † She gives people a negative image about college.In conclusion, success is the goals which people have set just for themselves. Not to look at anyone or make determination based on social standing. Success in a general sense means happiness. As Rosie and Joe on Mike Rose’s essay and a student who worked at the local car garage on Caroline Bird’s essay, even though they are underestimated on society, they are still success on their path. This is a proven fact that college is not the only way to success. College is just an option. People can choose it or not. It's up to them to decide what they are going to do with the opportunity they are given.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of the Movie 2012?

Nowadays, movies have become the spiritual food which always comes along with our lives. However, because almost all movies have both strengths and weaknesses, there are not only positive but also negative attitudes of the viewers toward them. 2012 has also received such a wide range of mixed reviews about its quality. Being produced in 2009, 2012 is a fiction movie telling viewers about the end of the world on December 12th, 2012.The content of this movie mainly focuses on the reactions of American government officers and the spectacular escape from death by Jackson Curtis' family with his ex-wife's boyfriend before the moment in which the earth is being destroyed because of the greatest disasters in history. Even though there are a few illogic scenes in the movie, 2012 has still attracted millions of viewers because of special effects and the way humanity is portrayed.? Watching 2012, viewers are satisfied the most by special effects.In 2012, the surface of the earth is totally cha nged due to a series of the biggest disasters coming at the same time: the moving of continental fragments, the erupting of volcanoes, and the attacking of the most violent tsunamis. This is absolutely a product of imagination; however, the way that the director of the movie imitates the appearance of those disasters is so real that viewers have a feeling of watching a documentary movie, not an entertainment movie.Beside visual effects, sound effects also contribute to the success of the movie because there is a diversity of sounds in the movie, and each sound is perfectly combined with the scene, which increases the reality of this imaginary product. As the 21st century is the century of technology, tastes of viewers have changed very much. Viewers, especially new generations, highly regard products that use highly technical solutions. Therefore, the higher the quality of a movie' special effects is, the more successful it is. That is the reason why success in creating outstanding visual and sound effects obviously gratifies viewers.?Special effects might fascinate viewers from the first sight; however, to become unforgettable for viewers, a movie also needs good content. The story about humanity in 2012 will be always in the viewers' minds because of the clever way that film makers tell it. Humanity is always an interesting topic, and humanity which is placed in the scene of the end of the world is even more intriguing. 2012 reflects truly both positive and negative aspects of the way that humans treat each other when they have to step on the edge between ife and death. Viewers may be moved to tear because of the sacrificing of President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) in the movie, who decides to stay and help his citizens in the greatest chaos instead of sitting in a safe ship, the effort to send the loving words among family members before the death arrives, or the persuasive urging of the American geologist Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to convince lea ders of all ships to open the gate for everyone to come in before the most terrifying tsunami arrives.In contrast, the selfish act of the White House Chief of Staff, Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt), who tries to stop opening the ship's gate for other people even though there is enough room in the ship for them, shows the viewer the negative side of human beings.? Although 2012 has succeeded in creating special effects and building the story about humanity, some illogical scenes may lower its grade for quality.These illogical scenes are all about the spectacular escape of Jackson Curtis and his family. Perhaps, in order to make the film more thrilling, the director always lets them survive in few last minutes. The film makers might forget that viewers are smart enough to distinguish between the truthfulness and untruthfulness in a movie, and it is very annoying them when they have to watch something too fake.Briefly, 2012 deserves to be watched as the film makers cleverly and successful ly bring to the viewers the special effects and the story about how people treat others at the end of the world. The weakness in scriptwriting sometimes may disappoint the viewers; however, it is minor. As a viewer, I had special feelings while watching 2012, and it is never boring to me to watch this movie again. I believe many other people also had the same feelings that I had for this great movie.

Spirit Bound Chapter Eleven

WELL. HOW PERFECT. It took us a while to decide our next course of action. We tossed around a few feeble ideas to track Robert and Victor, all of which we eventually shot down. Robert's phone was a cell, and while the CIA could trace those kinds of things, we certainly couldn't. Even if Robert's address was listed in the phone book, I knew Victor wouldn't have let them go back there. And while Adrian and Lissa could spot a spirit user's aura, we could hardly go wandering aimlessly in a city and expect to find something. No, we were out of luck with those two. There was nothing to be done now but head back to Court and face whatever punishment awaited us. We–I–had screwed up. With sunset approaching–and seeing as we no longer had a known criminal to get us in trouble–my group glumly decided to head to the Witching Hour to make our travel plans. Lissa and I had the potential to be recognized over there, but runaway girls weren't quite in the same category as fugitive traitors. We decided to roll the dice (no pun intended) and hang around guardians rather than risk more Strigoi attacks before we could get out of Vegas. The Witching Hour was no different from any of the other casinos we'd been to–unless you knew what to look for. Humans there were too interested in the allure of the games and glitz to notice that a lot of the other patrons were uniformly tall, slim, and pale. As for the dhampirs? Humans couldn't tell that we weren't human. It was only the uncanny sense Moroi and dhampirs had that let us know who was who. Sprinkled throughout the cheering, chattering, and–at times–wailing crowd were guardians. As in demand as guardians were, only a handful could be allocated full-time to a place like this. Fortunately, their numbers were reinforced by the wealthy and powerful who'd come to play. Excited Moroi whooped over slot machines or roulette while silent, watchful guardians hovered behind them, keeping an eye on everything. No Strigoi would come here. â€Å"What now?† asked Lissa, almost yelling over the noise. It was the first time any of us had spoken since deciding to go here. We'd come to a halt near some blackjack tables, right in the thick of everything. I sighed. My mood was so dark, I didn't even need any spirit side effects. I lost Victor, I lost Victor. My own mental accusations were on an endless loop. â€Å"We find their business center and book tickets out of here,† I said. â€Å"Depending on how long until we can catch a flight, we might have to get a room again.† Adrian's eyes were scanning the action around us, lingering longest on one of the many bars. â€Å"Wouldn't kill us to spend a little time here.† I snapped. â€Å"Really? After everything that's happened, that's all you can think about?† His enraptured gaze turned back to me and became a frown. â€Å"There are cameras here. People who may recognize you. Getting hard proof that you were in this casino and not Alaska is a good thing.† â€Å"True,† I admitted. I think Adrian's typical blase air was masking discomfort. Aside from learning why I'd really come to Las Vegas, he'd also run into Strigoi–Dimitri among them. That was never an easy experience for any Moroi. â€Å"Though we've got no alibi for when we were actually in Alaska.† â€Å"So long as Victor doesn't get himself spotted around here, no one's going to make the connection.† Adrian's voice became bitter. â€Å"Which really shows how stupid they all are.† â€Å"We helped put Victor away,† said Lissa. â€Å"No one would think we'd be crazy enough to let him out.† Eddie, staying silent, gave me a pointed look. â€Å"Then it's settled,† said Adrian. â€Å"Somebody go book us tickets. I'm going to get a drink and try my hand at some games. The universe owes me some good luck.† â€Å"I'll get the tickets,† said Lissa, scanning a sign that pointed out the directions for the pool, restrooms–and business center. â€Å"I'll go with you,† said Eddie. Whereas before his expression had been accusatory, he now seemed to be avoiding my eyes altogether. â€Å"Fine,† I said, crossing my arms. â€Å"Let me know when you're done, and we'll find you.† That was to Lissa, meaning she'd tell me through the bond. Convinced he was free, Adrian headed straight for the bar, me trailing after him. â€Å"A Tom Collins,† he told the Moroi bartender. It was like Adrian had a mental cocktail dictionary in his head and just checked them off one by one. I almost never saw him drink the same thing twice. â€Å"You want it spiked?† the bartender asked. He wore a crisp white shirt and black bow tie and hardly appeared older than me. Adrian made a face. â€Å"No.† The bartender shrugged and turned around to make the drink. â€Å"Spiked† was Moroi code for putting a shot of blood into the drink. There were a couple of doors behind the bar, ones that probably led to feeders. Glancing down the bar, I could see happy, laughing Moroi with red-tinged drinks. Some liked the thought of having blood with their alcohol. Most–like Adrian, apparently–wouldn't take blood unless it was â€Å"straight from the source.† It supposedly didn't taste the same. While we waited, an older Moroi standing next to Adrian glanced over at me and nodded with approval. â€Å"You got yourself a good one,† he told Adrian. â€Å"Young, but that's the best way.† The guy, who was either drinking red wine or pure blood, jerked his head toward the others standing at the bar. â€Å"Most of these are used and washed-up.† I followed his shrug, even through there was no need. Interspersed among the humans and Moroi were several dhampir women, dressed very glamorously in silk and velvet dresses that left little to the imagination. Most were older than me. Those who weren't had a weary look in their eyes, despite their flirtatious laughter. Blood whores. I glared at the Moroi. â€Å"Don't you dare talk about them like that, or I'll smash that wineglass in your face.† The guy's eyes widened, and he looked at Adrian. â€Å"Feisty.† â€Å"You have no idea,† said Adrian. The bartender returned with the Tom Collins. â€Å"She's had kind of a bad day.† The asshole Moroi guy didn't look back at me. He apparently didn't take my threat nearly as seriously as he should have. â€Å"Everyone's having kind of a bad day. You hear the news?† Adrian looked relaxed and amused as he sipped his drink, but standing so close to him, I felt him stiffen a little. â€Å"What news?† â€Å"Victor Dashkov. You know, that guy who kidnapped the Dragomir girl and was plotting against the queen? He escaped.† Adrian's eyebrows rose. â€Å"Escaped? That's crazy. I heard he was at some maximum-security place.† â€Å"He was. No one really knows what happened. There were supposedly humans involved†¦ and then the story gets weird.† â€Å"How weird?† I asked. Adrian slipped an arm around me, which I suspected was a silent message to let him do the talking. Whether that was because he believed that was â€Å"proper† blood whore behavior or because he was worried I'd punch the guy, I couldn't say. â€Å"One of the guards was in on it–though he claims he was being controlled. He also conveniently says it's all a haze and he can't remember much. I heard it from some royals who are helping with the investigation.† Adrian laughed, taking down a big gulp of his drink. â€Å"That is convenient. Sounds like an inside job to me. Victor'd have a lot of money. Easy enough to bribe a guard. That's what I think happened.† There was a pleasant smoothness to Adrian's voice, and as a slightly dopey smile came over the other guy's face, I realized Adrian had pulled a little compulsion. â€Å"I bet you're right.† â€Å"You should tell your royal friends,† added Adrian. â€Å"An inside job.† The guy nodded eagerly. â€Å"I will.† Adrian held his gaze a few moments more and then finally glanced down to the Tom Collins. The glaze-eyed look faded from the man, but I knew Adrian's order to spread the â€Å"inside job† story would stick. Adrian gulped down the rest of the drink and set the empty glass on the bar. He was about to speak again when something across the room caught his attention. The Moroi man noticed too, and I followed both of their gazes to see what had them both so starstruck. I groaned. Women, of course. At first I thought they were dhampirs since my kind seemed to be making up most of the eye candy here. A double take revealed a surprise: The women were Moroi. Moroi showgirls, to be precise. There were several of them, clad in similar short, low-cut sequined dresses. Only, each one wore a different jewel-toned color: copper, peacock blue†¦ Feathers and rhinestones glittered in their hair, and they smiled and laughed as they passed through the gaping crowd, beautiful and sexy in a way different from my race. Which wasn't a surprise. I tended to notice Moroi men ogling dhampir girls more often, simply because I was a dhampir. But naturally, Moroi men were attracted to and infatuated with their own women. It was how their race survived, and though Moroi men might want to fool around with dhampirs, they almost always ended up with their own kind in the end. The showgirls were tall and graceful, and their fresh, brilliant appearances made me think they must be on their way to a performance. I could just imagine what a glittering display of dancing they must make. I could appreciate that, but Adrian clearly appreciated it more, judging from his wide-eyed look. I elbowed him. â€Å"Hey!† The last of the showgirls disappeared through the casino crowd, off toward a sign that said THEATER, just as I'd suspected. Adrian looked back at me, turning on a rogue smile. â€Å"Nothing wrong with looking.† He patted my shoulder. The Moroi standing next to him nodded in agreement. â€Å"I think I might take in a show today.† He swirled his drink around. â€Å"All this Dashkov business and that mess with the Dragomirs†¦ makes me sad for poor Eric. He was a good guy.† I put on a dubious look. â€Å"You knew Lissa's fath–Eric Dragomir?† â€Å"Sure.† The Moroi gestured for a refill. â€Å"I've been a manager here for years. He was here all the time. Believe me, he had an appreciation for those girls.† â€Å"You're lying,† I said coolly. â€Å"He adored his wife.† I'd seen Lissa's parents together. Even at a young age, I'd been able to see how crazy in love they were. â€Å"I'm not saying he did anything. Like your boyfriend said, nothing wrong with looking. But a lot of people knew the Dragomir prince liked to party it up wherever he went–especially if there was female company.† The Moroi sighed and lifted his glass. â€Å"Damn shame what happened to him. Here's hoping they catch that Dashkov bastard and leave Eric's little girl alone.† I didn't like this guy's insinuations about Lissa's dad and was grateful she wasn't around. What made me uneasy was that we'd recently found out Lissa's brother Andre had also been kind of a party boy who fooled around and broke hearts. Did that kind of thing run in the family? What Andre had done wasn't right, but there was a big difference between a teenage boy's exploits and those of a married man. I didn't like to admit it, but even the most in-love guys still checked out other women without cheating. Adrian was proof. Still, I didn't think Lissa would like the idea of her dad flirting around with other women. The truth about Andre had been hard enough, and I didn't want anything to shatter the angelic memories of her parents. I shot Adrian a look that said listening to this guy any longer really would come down to a fistfight. I didn't want to be standing here if Lissa came searching for us. Adrian, always more astute than he appeared, smiled down at me. â€Å"Well, my sweet, shall we try our luck? Something tells me you're going to beat the odds–like always.† I cut him a look. â€Å"Cute.† Adrian winked at me and stood up. â€Å"Nice talking to you,† he told the Moroi. â€Å"You too,† the man said. The thrall of compulsion was wearing off. â€Å"You should dress her better, you know.† â€Å"I'm not interested in putting clothes on her,† Adrian called as he steered me away. â€Å"Watch it,† I warned through gritted teeth, â€Å"or you might be the one with a wineglass in your face.† â€Å"I'm playing a part, little dhampir. One that's going to make sure you stay out of trouble.† We stopped near the casino's poker room, and Adrian gave me a head-to-toe assessment. â€Å"That guy was right about the clothes, though.† I gritted my teeth. â€Å"I can't believe he said those things about Lissa's dad.† â€Å"Gossip and rumors never go away–you of all people should know that. Doesn't matter if you're dead. Besides, that conversation was actually to our–by which I mean your–advantage. Somebody else is probably considering the inside-job theory already. If that guy can help get it around even more, it'll ensure no one even thinks the world's most dangerous guardian could have been involved.† â€Å"I suppose.† Forcibly, I pushed my temper down. I had always been trigger-happy, and I knew for sure now that the bits of darkness I'd gleaned from Lissa in the last twenty-four hours were making things worse, as I'd feared. I changed the subject, steering to safer ground. â€Å"You're being pretty nice now, considering how mad you were earlier.† â€Å"I'm not all that happy, but I've done some thinking,† Adrian said. â€Å"Oh? Care to enlighten me? â€Å"Not here. We'll talk later. We've got more important things to worry about.† â€Å"Like covering up a crime and getting out of this city without being attacked by Strigoi?† â€Å"No. Like me winning money.† â€Å"Are you crazy?† Asking Adrian that was never a good idea. â€Å"We just escaped a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters, and all you can think about is gambling?† â€Å"The fact that we're alive means we should live,† he argued. â€Å"Especially if we've got the time, anyway.† â€Å"You don't need any more money.† â€Å"I will if my dad turns me out. Besides, it's really about enjoying the game.† By â€Å"enjoying the game,† I soon realized that Adrian meant â€Å"cheating.† If you considered using spirit cheating. Because there was so much mental power tied into spirit, its users were very good at reading people. Victor had been right. Adrian joked and kept ordering drinks, but I could tell he was paying close attention to the others. And even though he was careful not to say anything explicitly, his expressions spoke for him–confident, uncertain, annoyed. Without words, he was still able to project compulsion and bluff the other players. â€Å"Be right back,† I told him, feeling Lissa's call. He waved me off, unconcerned. I wasn't worried about his safety either, seeing as there were a few guardians in the room. What concerned me was the possibility some casino official would notice his compulsion and throw us all out. Spirit users wielded it the most strongly, but all vampires had it to a certain extent. Using it was considered immoral, so it was banned among Moroi. A casino would definitely have reason to be on the lookout for it. The business center turned out to be near the poker room, and I found Lissa and Eddie quickly. â€Å"What's the report?† I asked as we walked back. â€Å"We've got a flight in the morning,† said Lissa. She hesitated. â€Å"We could have gone out tonight, but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She didn't need to finish. After what we'd faced today, no one wanted to risk even the slightest chance of running into a Strigoi. Going to the airport would only require a taxi ride, but even still, that would mean we'd have to risk walking out into the darkness. I shook my head and led them toward the poker room. â€Å"You did the right thing. We've got time to kill now†¦. Do you want to get a room and get some sleep?† â€Å"No.† She shivered, and I felt fear in her. â€Å"I don't want to leave this crowd. And I'm kind of afraid of what I'd dream†¦.† Adrian might be able to act like he didn't care about the Strigoi, but those faces were still haunting Lissa–especially Dimitri's. â€Å"Well,† I said, hoping to make her feel better, â€Å"staying up will help get us back on the Court's schedule. You can also watch Adrian get thrown out by casino security.† As I'd hoped, watching Adrian cheat with spirit did indeed distract Lissa–so much so that she grew interested in trying it herself. Great. I urged her to safer games and recapped how Adrian had planted the idea of an inside job in the Moroi guy's head. I left out the part about Lissa's father. The night miraculously passed without incident–either of the Strigoi or security type–and a couple of people even recognized Lissa, which would help our alibi. Eddie didn't speak to me the entire night. We left the Witching Hour in the morning. None of us were happy about losing Victor or the attack, but the casino had soothed us all a little–at least until we got to the airport. At the casino, we'd been flooded with Moroi news, insulated from the human world. But while waiting for our plane, we couldn't help but watch the TVs that seemed to be everywhere. The headline story that night was all about a mass killing over at the Luxor, one that had left no clues for the police. Most of the casino guards involved had died from broken necks, and no other bodies were found. My guess was that Dimitri had tossed his cronies outside, where the sun would turn them to ash. Meanwhile, Dimitri himself had slipped away, leaving no other witnesses behind. Even the cameras had recorded nothing, which didn't surprise me. If I could disable surveillance at a prison, Dimitri could certainly manage it at a human hotel. Whatever mood-improvement we'd achieved instantly disappeared, and we didn't talk much. I stayed out of Lissa's mind because I didn't need her depressed feelings amplifying my own. We'd arranged a direct flight to Philadelphia and would then catch a commuter flight back to the airport near Court. What we'd face once there†¦ well, that was probably the least of our concerns. I wasn't worried about Strigoi boarding our plane in the daytime, and without any prisoners to watch, I allowed myself to fall into much-needed sleep. I couldn't remember the last time I'd gotten any on this trip. I slept heavily, but my dreams were haunted by the fact that I'd let one of the Moroi's most dangerous criminals escape and allowed a Strigoi to walk free and gotten a bunch of humans killed. I held none of my friends responsible. This disaster was all on me.