Progressivism Paper Essay

Progressivism is the philosophical school of thought that advocates that truth is determined by function. The truth one knows should help in the daily functional activities of the society according to progressivists (Scott, Sarkkes_Wcenski, 2001 p.197). Therefore progressivism as used in the education is an educational philosophy that is based on a learning instruction that is aimed at equipping the learners with knowledge and skills, that are relevant and useful to the leaner in the society, which enables him or her, compete effectively in today’s contemporary society that is ever changing (James, 2002, p.1876) Progressivism is as a philosophy of education that is designed to give the learners the appropriate problem solving and analysis techniques that would help the learners to be prepared to fit in the real world and not be puzzled after their education (Peter, 1999, p.188). The curriculum design is designed in such a way that is cantered on the learning activities and learning experiences that challenge the student problem soling and analytic abilities in the view to strengthen these skills of an individual (Peter, 1999, p.88) l. To achieve this curriculum is based on the provision of instruction ranging from the basic real world skills to high level of investigation and analysis. It calls for the society to ensure that children are given the right education. Firstly because is the basic human right and also for society collective development i.e individual as unit of society and the entire community. These also act as the extrinsic motivation that helps to build up and instil level intrinsic motivation for the learners in the learning process. However progressivism takes into account the fact that knowledge is ever changing and  Ã‚   not static, in regard to this issue the basic truth content should also be dynamic as per the unfolding of the society challenges. Since different societies have different range of the problems, therefore it is irrelevant of establishing universal body of knowledge that should be taught in the educational curriculum and yet not useful in solving the problems of the community (James, 2002, p.1896).   Therefore the school is viewed as the place where the learner is taught useful, applicable and long lasting skills that enables the student not only skills and knowledge that are necessary for survival in the society but also to enable him compete and succeed In   the contemporary society effectively. School curriculum must therefore be reflective of the societal problems both existing and potential ones. Through the school, it equips essential skills for the learners to enter into the work force in the society. In the view that the human beings are social animals and learn best on real life activities with the people, it follows that we must have norms governing the conduct and the operations of the people. These set codes in the work places are instilled right from the school and its god to have morality taught at the school level that will translate to professional ethics. Therefore the school serves the best place for formulating and teaching of the societal codes of conduct.   For effective learning where experience has to cause a change in the student’s behaviour, the teacher is instrumental in the whole realisation processes of learning (Scott, Sarkkes_Wcenski, 2001 p.451). The teacher is expected to guide the students on how to acquire skills and knowledge needed the society workforce. To achiever these the teacher guides the students on how to acquire a wealthy body of knowledge that is useful in problem solving and think critical in their working situations, this enable them to be creative   in   handling their daily erupting issues in societal life. For these reason the teacher is expected to ask students questions that examines their mind in the practical manner. and responsible for setting well the classroom learning experiences and activities that can create a problem that exists and guide them on the directions on how to solve the problem. As the teacher guide the student in learning processes, the learner is expected to cooperate so that he/she can learn how to think critically and creatively, how to solve problems in learning process and finally how to apply the acquired knowledge into real world. In this regard the learners are taught how to go a bout problem of life survival. These is achieved trough the methods that is problem based learning (Scott, Sarkkes_Wcenski, 2001 p.354). These method is for instance group learning where the learners are expected to discuss and compromise within their groups and the teacher should only be available to monitor, encourage and give directive guidelines to the group so that they can on their bon develop original solutions to existing and potential problem in the society. By use of the discussion group that comprises of similar peers, the student takes an active role in learning that prepares him or her for work as he or she becomes self sufficient so that can fit well in the society. At the group level the students should be; aware of the problem, define the problem, propose hypothesis to solve it, evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses and come up with the best solution to the problem. The learning environment should be collaborative and democratic to reflect the essence of learner centred. That gives the opportunity for all students to speak out their mind and receive feedback to their ideologies from their peers and teacher. This feedback gives the criteria for evaluating and assessing of the learning outcomes. In conclusion progressivism philosophy of education emphasises on the skills and knowledge that is aimed at resolving problems in the contemporary society   (Scott, Sarkkes_Wcenski, 2001 p.254). In its attainment at should be learner centred where the learner actively participates in the learning process. Reference: Scott L, Sarkee.M (2001), Overview of career and technical education. Illinois, Technical publishers. Inc David, F (2004), Trouble with Ed schools, US; Yale university press. James w. Gathure (2002), encyclopaedia of education. United States. Macmillan. Peter silock, (1999), new progressivism. New York, Educational int. Patricia .L, Tillman. J, (1999), Instructional design, Michigan;   John wiles and sons.

Emma and Clueless

Transformations often involve familiar themes but reflect those themes in a different context in order to resonate the values and interests of that society. Thus, context dictates form and meaning as well as the values inherent in the texts. Amy Heckerling’s, 20th century American film, Clueless is a transformation of Jane Austen’s conservative Regency England, Emma. The use of different techniques and medium allow Emma’s themes of personal growth, social structure and the role of women in society to be conveyed in a more appropriate form in Clueless.The main characters, Emma and Cher are representational products of their society and parallels can be drawn in the opening scenes, particularly in relation to self-knowledge. The Bildungsroman progression from delusion to social awareness is a universal value in both texts despite their differing contexts. Emma is introduced as â€Å"handsome, clever, and rich† who had â€Å"a disposition to think a little t oo well of herself. † Austen’s satirical tone as the omniscient narrator alerts the responder to Emma’s inability to understand her position in society. Furthermore, while Emma successfully matches Mr. Weston and Ms.Taylor, her motives are superficial as she sees it as â€Å"the greatest amusement in the world! † She also believes Harriet’s beauty â€Å"should not be wasted on the inferior society†, and it would be â€Å"interesting and highly becoming† to â€Å"improve her†. Austen employs verbal irony through Emma’s dialogue, which exposes her flaws of arrogance and shallowness. However, Emma eventually develops self awareness as shown when she realizes her mistake of matching Harriet with Mr. Elton and influencing her to refuse a suitable marriage with Mr. Martin. There is a similar character development in Cher despite the difference in context.Heckerling implements voice overs to create an immediate sense of irony wh en Cher’s â€Å"way normal life for a teenage girl† is juxtaposed with a dolly-tracking shot of her choosing outfits from a computer operated wardrobe in a grand bedroom. In doing so, Heckerling continues Austen’s satirical mode by highlighting Cher’s lack of social awareness. This is further reinforced through her dialogue, â€Å"I have direction†¦towards the mall† and Dionne’s statement, â€Å"Cher’s main thrill in life is a make-over†¦it gives her a sense of control in a world full of chaos†, which imply her superficial obsession with image and materialistic values.Cher’s final ability to see beyond the superficial and realize her mistakes â€Å"I was just totally clueless† is parallel to Emma’s reconciliation to society and its values. Similar to Austen, Heckerling reflects values that are consistent with any age and time- the absolute necessity for young people to gain social awareness. Socia l hierarchy in Regency England was permanent and immobile. It was governed by strict rules of adherence to rank and place, and was determined by birthright and inheritance. Miss.Churchill and Captain Weston’s marriage challenged the social hierarchy due to a large social imbalance in their marriage, and through authorial intrusion, it was deemed â€Å"an unsuitable connection and did not produce much happiness. † Austen demonstrates the virtually impermeable social structure through her criticism of the Coles and that †it was not for them to arrange the terms on which the superior families would visit them†, indicating that money gained through trade and not birthright, doesn’t indicate status.Emma’s high modality and contemptuous tone employed when she claims â€Å"the yeomanry are precisely the order of people with whom I feel I can have nothing to do† further highlights the inflexibility on class interactions. Finally, Harrietâ€℠¢s marriage to Mr. Martin, a farmer, results in the loss of friendship between Emma and Harriet as stated by Austen’s authorial intrusion, â€Å"the intimacy between her and Emma must sink. † This epitomizes the clear demarcation of status and that Emma shouldn’t associate with Harriet due to their differing social status. Cher’s world also has a class structure that underpins her society.This idea is explored through the camera panning out to take long shots of the rigid societal tiers, whilst Cher introduces Tai to the stratified social groups at school including the â€Å"Persia mafia†, the crew and the â€Å"loadies†. Elton’s indignant tone conveys class consciousness in his rhetorical questions towards Cher as she suggests Tai as a romantic partner, â€Å"Why Tai?! Do you know who my father is? † Later, Cher is abandoned in a carpark by Elton, and the far shot of a blinking neon sign of a clown symbolizes society’s mockery of her attempt to undermine a defined system of class.Clearly, class consciousness pervades both societies, especially in selecting romantic partners. Regency England dictated the position of women in society by strict codes of conduct. Primarily, women of Emma’s class were constrained by society’s expectations of a match within their social class. Captain Weston’s marriage to Miss. Churchill is juxtaposed to Miss. Taylor’s, thus allowing Austen to comment on the female and male positions in society, in that women are meant to be passive and have less say in their marriage. According to Mr.Weston’s idea, â€Å"it’s being a great deal better to chuse than to be chosen, to excite gratitude than to feel it†, hence demonstrating the double moral standard prevalent in society. Furthermore, Emma’s sister, Isabella, is married to John Weston, and through authorial intrusion, Austen comments that â€Å"Isabella always thinks a s he does† demonstrating a women’s duty as a wife. The use of dialogue in Mr. Knightley’s warning to Emma, â€Å"Men of family would not be very fond of connecting themselves with a girl of such obscurity†¦[Harriet]†, exemplifies society’s expectation of women to interact within their own social class.On the other hand, Clueless doesn’t offer the restricted patriarchal world of Austen as young women could be independent, outspoken and have many more choices, including marriage. The focus of the medium shot on Cher as she struts down the schoolyard in her vibrant yellow costuming portrays her outgoing attitude. The eye contact of male passerbys creates vectors and the comment â€Å"As if! † highlight Cher’s disgust at their attention, exemplifying women’s freedom to choose their romantic partners. This idea is reinforced by Cher’s comment on Dionne’s relationship, â€Å"Dee, you could do so much better. Contrary to Austen, Heckerling recognizes the change in the position of women in society in that they have more freedom in their social behavior and relationships. In conclusion, Emma and Clueless offer profound and satirical insights into their respective contexts. While the need for social stability and the need for young people to gain social awareness, remain unchanged, but the position of women in society has shifted dramatically. Such ideas are reinforced by the different mediums, both of which effectively reflect the themes and values of that context.

The Martig Case Study

The Martig case study is perfect example of how poor project management activities can lead to project failure. There are different problems discussed in each paragraph which illustrates the absence of well-defined business process resulting in lack of synchronization and conflicts among different departments. For a project to be successful, it's crucial to have well planned and balanced organization structure which will make coordination and communication clear as well as easy. The first problem is perfect example of leadership failure. After Martig senior's death, Martig Junior holds the position of president but his efforts to sell of the business and take long vacations every month shows his loss of interest in the organization.The project managers depend on Martig for feedback and instructions on certain decisions, however its observed they misuse this situation by making their own shot and are in a consistent battle for power. This problem can be simply solved if Martig Junior makes efforts to change his working style and focus little more on the business. The president is expected to make major decisions related to finance, management etc, and should be available so that project managers can reach him out, involve him in discussions and get his opinions in decision making. This will maintain his authority in organization and would not give project managers an opportunity to make their own decisions which might cause business failure. The next problem discussed is about the estimating department. As per the set business rules, its mandatory to involve project managers in proposal estimates to provide feedbacks to update the standards. However, its seen that this never happens in the organization. The project managers hesitate in giving the honest feedbacks as they fear that the estimator might be the next candidate for the executive promotion. This problem can be eliminated by maintaining the proper hierarchy and clarity about the candidates in position for promotion. In third problem is improper assignment of work. This is seen to be happening since there is no transparency in business processes and lack of communication. The procurement work reports to Martig, because of his absence project managers assumes procurement as their work. If Martig is available to do his job, the project managers will not have to spend extra hours doing the work which is not assigned to them. Project Managers are spending approximately 35% of time in procurement activities, if there is proper assignment of responsibilities the project managers can utilize their time in job assigned to them or activities which require attention. In last problem, we see the incorrect attitude of site superintendents towards project managers. The superintendents believe that they hold the same position as of the project manager. However, they are not involved in procurement activities which upsets them, so they find ways to annoy project manager. The case study says that whenever the project manager is present at the site, the work is delayed, and the report sent to the home office is inaccurate. One way of resolving this dispute is, the site superintendents can discuss and ask their supervisor to make changes to the existing process so to give them chance to be involved in procurement function. The other solution is that the project manager can confront the site superintendents to discuss this matter and if they are not able to resolve this, then supervisors should be involved. It is very important for both project and site superintendents to have a healthy work relation so as to complete the assigned tasks and make project a success.

Articles annotations Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Articles annotations - Article Example After expounding on the broadening of TESOL’s story, in conclusion, the author disclosed that the future embraces an international family that respects mutual questioning, active negotiation, and radical integration (Canagarajah, 2006, p. 29). Annotation 2 Chang, L. (2010). Group Processes and EFL Learners’ Motivation: A Study of Group Dynamics in EFL Classrooms. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 1, 129-155. The author clearly indicated that the aim of the study was to examine the impact of group processes, including norms and cohesiveness of the groups, as influencing EFL learners’ motivation. A review of related literature was initially presented to expound on issues concerning group processes, group cohesiveness, group norms, L2 motivation (self-efficacy and learner autonomy. The actual research indicated that participants were 152 students of a Taiwan university where questionnaires and subsequent interviews had been administered. The results indicate that class grouping significantly affects second language learning motivation. The authors emphasized that future research needs to consider undetected factors that influence the relationship between group processes and language learning. Annotation 3 Chen, J., Warden, C., & Chang, H. (2005). Motivators That Do Not Motivate: The Case of Chinese EFL Learners and the Influence of Culture on Motivation. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 4, 609-633. The authors determined the effect of culture on motivation by conducting a study participated by 567 language learners in Taiwan. A survey was implemented focusing on topics such as motivation orientation, expectancy, and self-evaluated skill (Chen, Warden, & Chang, 2005, p. 609). By initially exploring various reviews of literature on motivation within the EFL setting, their study was developed to tailor to the Chinese EFL learners where the results found that integration was not a significant factor in the motivational learning effort (Chen, Warden, & Ch ang, 2005, p. 631). Limitations of the research were noted in terms of using two comparative cultural orientations: the West as contrasted with Chinese culture and thereby provides opportunities for future research within a more wider and diverse global cultural perspective. Annotation 4 Gatbonton, E., Trofimovich, P., & Magid, M. (2005). Learners' Ethnic Group Affiliation and L2 Pronunciation Accuracy: A Sociolinguistic Investigation. TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 3; 489-511. The authors aimed to determine the relationship between ethnic group affiliation and second- language (L2) pronunciation accuracy defined here as native-like, nonaccented L2 speech or L2 speech that contains no first language (Li) influences (Gatbonton, Trofimovich, & Magid, 2005, p. 489). Two study questions were identified, to wit: (a) Is there a relationship between learners' L2 accent and ethnic group affiliation as perceived by fellow learners? (b) If such a relationship exists, what are its behavioural c onsequences? The participants of the study included 24 Francophone learners of English from Montrea where research methods used stimulus tapes and questionnaires. The results of the study revealed that L2 learners treated their peers' L2 accent as an

Money Laundering and Abusive Tax Havens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Money Laundering and Abusive Tax Havens - Essay Example (Ethiopia: Council Passes Bill on Dirty Money. USA Today. [internet] Available at: http://content. usatoday.com /topics /topic/People/Notorious/Al+Capone. [Accessed June 25, 2009].) Whatever receipts coming from the washing venture, even if at a loss or lesser than what he invested, would therefore come out clean. So, the dirty money was delivered somewhere, washed and made clean or made to appear clean. Here is a kidnapper from Indonesia, for instance. Let us give him the name K. He kidnaps a vacationing wealthy Chinese in Macau. K gets one million dollars as ransom money in exchange of the victim's freedom. One cannot always carry one million dollars in bills or currency notes without inconvenience or difficulty. So, K deposits 300,000 dollars to the account of his Mistress No. 1, also 300,000 dollars to the account of his Mistress No.2, and another 300,000 dollars to the account of his Mistress No. 3. For the remaining 100,000 dollars, he keeps part of it in a minor bank account he has and part in his pocket. Bingo. The 900,000 dollars are safely placed in the custody of his paramours' bank accounts. In case he needs money, he simply calls any of the ladies and gets an on-line cash credit to his petty account. A corrupt official from Korea who receives kickback money or illegal commissions from a Japanese construction firm will not keep the bucks in Korea. What will he do He can buy corporate bonds from companies based in the United States. After a while, the scandal arising from his plunder will subside. He now wants to have his cake and eat it. How will he realize his evil earnings That is very simple and is not a problem. He will sell those U.S.-based debt certificates fast at a discount. What is the point The illegitimate loot sums up to one million dollars, all used to buy the bonds. The subsequent sale of the debentures generates 900,000 dollars. He losses 100,000 dollars in the process, does he Yes, but what He evades the long hand of the law. He runs around the law. He mocks the law. Tax havens, on the other hand, are generally bona fide. These schemes to avoid taxes are sometimes encouraged to push investments or to drive forward a good cause or crusade. A current event item is the tax incentive for the use of alternative energy. (Home Energy Efficiency Improvement Tax Credit. Consumer Energy Tax Incentives. U.S. Department of Energy. [internet]. Available: http://www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm. [Accessed June 25, 2009]) Thus, if you invest in a solar energy panel, for example, you can get a tax credit of maybe 30% or the equivalent of 300 dollars. This means that if you purchase that kind of gadget for 1,000 dollars, it is just like you only bought it for 700 dollars. Once you file the required return for the April 15 annual income tax deadline and your supposed tax liability is 500 dollars, you only pay 200 dollars. You are entitled to deduct the 300 dollars as tax credit. You are allowed to do that because you help the government about its environment concerns

Customer relationship marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Customer relationship marketing - Essay Example Practitioners and strategists both believe that in the current scenario of stiff competition and rivalry the only practical way of reaching and convincing the customer is through CRM. Customer confidence in the companies can be regained by this method which is more personal and certainly more intimate than promotions. Products have become similar and homogenous and even the services provided are becoming standard practice as any new move is easily substituted or copied by competition and effectively it looses its edge. In saturated and matured markets the problem is even more acute and schemes and loyalty programmes are so similar that customers find no novelty in them. Indeed Palmer (1998) is of the opinion that promotions are no more than an encouragement to customers to switch their loyalties. The foundation of Strategic Behavior Theory is that firms take specific actions, like developing objectives, implementing goals, formulating strategies and using tactics, to augment their competitive position against rivals and thereby capitalize on firm performance (Kogut 1998). Strategic Behavior Theory is also consistent with the strategic choice perspective (Child, 1972) in that it accepts that while a firms choice of strategies and tactics are guided by the external environment, they are not completely determined by it. Strategic Behaviour theory also explains that a firm’s choice of behaviour is related more to its strategies and goals and not so much to transaction costs. As a consequence firms try to build competitive advantage against their rivals by developing those strategies that put them in favourable positions (Porter 1996). One such strategy is to build a more enduring relationship through Participatory Collaboration between stakeholders. Satisfaction is another human trait that will bring harmony in relations. Participatory collaborations will benefit in

Pandemic Flu Planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pandemic Flu Planning - Assignment Example In ensuring effective control, I will recommend the following steps whereby most of them are community-based strategies. The first step will encompass devising effective preparedness, response and containment policies intended to avoid further spreading of the pandemic in the region (Tae-Chang, Yasuhiro, Shingo, & Jung, 2009). Secondly, I will Isolate and administer antiviral medications to the people confirmed medically to have contracted the influenza disease. Isolation in this case may be in both hospitals and homes though the latter will be extremely complicated due to the pandemic’s nature of spreading (CDCP, 2007). Isolation will also encompass quarantine especially in homes or other social places whereby it hard to dismiss their members like congregational centers that normally house nuns, priests or other religious members. The other effective measure will encompass closure of schools together with advising their respective administration to take the ailing students to the hospital (Cannaday & Cox, 2008). In addition, there will be a will be a need to sensitize the entire public to avoid human contact as well as embrace good health, for instance, washing of hands with alcohol-based rub gel together with intake of fluids (Flu.gov, n.d). Some of the involved legal authorities in this mitigation process include, Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan (COVEOP), National Response Framework (NRF), National Incident Management System (NIMS), Virginia Department of Education and governor’s office. The latte’s core role is to declare the state of emergency based on the pandemic’s rate of spreading as well as compelling reluctant institutions to adhere to the mitigation policies. The success of this plan will depend on public’s level of compliance in adopting the stipulated measures. Entities involved in this category include employers and

Why are there many homeless people in big cities likeLA Essay

Why are there many homeless people in big cities likeLA - Essay Example Therefore, as a conscious citizen, I am concerned with the issue of the increase of homeless people in big cities, and I believe the improvement of the situation will result in the improvement of life of the entire society as well as the country’s economy. Among the main causes of high rates of homelessness in big cities are the following ones: lack of affordable housing, poverty, and unemployment. For many people who experience the problem of homelessness, the affordable housing crisis is what leaves them without shelter because of high housing costs. In addition to this, in big cities, such as Los Angeles, affordable housing is replaced by upscale and high-cost apartments, in which people with low incomes cannot afford to live. Poverty contributes to high rates of homelessness in LA as well because poor people have no money to pay for housing that takes a great proportion of income. Finally, unemployment, closely connected to poverty, is one of the reasons rates of homelessness increase due to the fact that lack of jobs and falling incomes lead to people’s inability to pay for housing. The root cause of unemployment is related to such macro issue that governs the life of the society as growth of population. This level is the first and the root one in answering why there are not enough working places in cities today and why the problem exists. The underlying cause points out what people lack. In this case, the underlying cause of unemployment in today’s society is that growth of population results in growth of working force. Finally, the immediate cause relates directly to people’s lives. More specifically, immediate cause is the fact that there is no need in the increase of working places because of technification of labor, which means that many tasks may be performed by less number of people than it used to be or it takes less time to perform particular tasks. The best and ideal solution to the problem of

Does the rise in online shopping mean the end for retail high street Essay

Does the rise in online shopping mean the end for retail high street shops - Essay Example The aims of this study were to identify the phenomenon of online shopping and probe the various factors that either promote it or hinder it. The research also addressed the issue if online shopping would effectively replace street shopping. This was sought to be done through the analysis of existing literature in the area and through primary research involving a sample of online shoppers. The literature review also included analysis of secondary data and presenting of major findings and arguments from such secondary data apart from looking for major theoretical and empirical arguments which may supplant the findings of primary research in this study. Primary research design was phenomenological with focus on studying the phenomenon of online shopping. The research method was triangulation wherein two quantitative surveys were administered to a common sample of respondents to probe online shopping behaviour in general and specifically in reference to online purchase of printers' cartr idges. The findings literature review established that online shopping has been growing by leaps and bounds across the globe. US and UK markets, in particular were examined and both exhibited growing volumes of online business and e-commerce.

Collapse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Collapse - Essay Example The paper will conclude with a critical evaluation f Diamond’s book and summarization of the main points discussed in the whole paper. The author has succeeded in bringing out his message in the book. He has discussed the reasons as to why many societies collapsed especially in the 13th and 14th centuries. Some of the reasons as t why the societies collapsed include outbreak of deadly disease (Bubonic Plague), changes in climatic seasons, and war. Due to the above factors, many people in the societies lost their lives and this led to the reduction of people in the society. There is also the discussion of how the societies were able to recover from the loss. For one, there was strengthening of the army which enabled strong defense against the members of the society. There was cultural survival whereby the culture of the Mongols was dropped and the societies embraced the Chinese cultural traditions. There was multiplication of population due to increase of birth rates. This made the society to replace the people who were lost during the war. According to Diamond, societies collapsed mainly in the fourteenth century due to the outbreak bubonic plague. Since the societies were crowded, the disease widely spread and caused lot of deaths to the people. The outbreak continued up to seventh century whereby by then it had claimed a lot of lives. The disease had spread and had covered most parts of Asia, Europe some parts of north Africa (Diamond 2011 , p. 350). In 1340s, merchants from Mongols and other travelers assisted in the spread of the plague along all the trade routes that were used by the Chinese people. By the year 1348, the disease had spread throughout the Mediterranean basin and most parts of Western Europe. The other reason for the collapse according to Diamond was the changes in climatic seasons whereby in 1300 B.C there was a continued cool season for five years. This made famine to ravage the

Learning Team Collaboration Worksheet Essay Example for Free

Learning Team Collaboration Worksheet Essay 1. What are the advantages of having diversity in a collaborative learning environment? The point of any collaboration is to bring together different ideas for one solution. By exchanging opinions, everyone can decide what works best for the group. When too many like minded people come together, they dole out the same product. If a group contains all organizers or thinkers, they might have a 10 page paper of all conflicting ideas because they couldn’t agree on one topic. History’s bloodiest events usually started with one group of likeminded people pushing their ideas onto the rest of the world. 2. How might factors such as learning and work styles affect your team’s collaboration? Having a diverse set of people in a group can only improve it. Thinkers can look at a topic from all sides, which can help a team anticipate arguments and have an answer ready. Givers can be the voice of reason, helping the group stay on task when an organizer or thinker is stuck on a non consequential detail. Adventurers think outside the box, they may come up with the topic itself or can be counted on to liven up a stale presentation. Organizers are decisive; choosing what information stays, what gets tossed, where it fits, and how to best unify a paper. Like Henry Ford’s assembly line, each person has a role that has to be met for the product to be finished. 3. How can critical thinking improve your team’s collaboration? Being in a team can generate original and creative ideas, making for an interesting project. Critical thinking is the research and facts to uphold those ideas. This involves finding credible sources with valid facts. This question is kicking my butt! I’ll get it eventually. 4. What are methods for improving team writing? Prewriting is the longest step in the writing process, involving the overall topic of a project and all the research. This is where a team can contribute ideas and opinions, and a rough draft is formed. After this process is finished, the actual writing should be simple. The second draft could be written by one person to ensure that it stays in one voice throughout the paper. Then the team can review the draft and make changes as needed.

Development of the Ancient Roman Navy Essay Example for Free

Development of the Ancient Roman Navy Essay Naval warfare was considered a second thought to most ancient Romans. It never carried the same prestige as that of a legionary. Before the First Punic War the Roman navy consisted mainly of allied ships and a few Roman ships that had crews that were very inexperienced. When entering the First Punic War they realized they needed to develop a navy to match the superior Carthaginian fleet. The fleet that the Romans had before the war would never withstand any naval battles. In building their navy, the Romans were able to utilize their resources, their allies’ resources, as well as some ingenuity to help overcome their naval weaknesses and defeat the Carthaginians in the First Punic War. The Romans lost many fleets and sailors throughout the course of the war but their persistence and determination ultimately helped them prevail. In the beginning, Rome founded colonies to provide coastal defence as opposed a naval force to police the shores of the surrounding territories. They used the warships and crews from naval allies, freedmen, and marines from lowest class eligible for military service. Romans dominated the sea by gaining possession of the land. Given the limited range of ships, this was an effective strategy. Ships were only constructed as a last solution to a military problem. As soon as a victory was achieved, the ships were left to wither and the naval needs were met by relying on allies. It was Romes success on land that made such indifference about naval battles. However, if there was ever a need for naval battle, their small navy could never withstand such a task. There was very minimal naval conflict between Rome and its enemies leading up to the First Punic War. Once the Punic War began they knew the only shot they had to defeat Carthage was to create a navy that would rival that of the mighty Carthaginians. In order to rival Carthage’s navy, they would need a design for their ships, a way to build them and people to man them. The ships were built based on a sunken Carthaginian quinquereme off the west coast of Sicily. The Romans then set out to build one hundred quinqueremes and thirty smaller ships such as triremes (Sage 285). Quinqueremes were the heaviest ship of the time. They had three banks of oars and 180 oars. There were two people on the upper oar and one on the lower oar. The trireme had 170 oars, there were three banks of oars and there was one rower per oar (Mitchell). They were able to gather the necessary resources from Rome and get the ships built or borrow from naval allies. The crews were assembled from naval allies, freedmen and marines from the lowest class eligible for military service. The navy was never held in the same esteem as legionaries so they never got the same quality of recruits. This ability to utilize their resources was key in helping in creating the future of the Roman navy. The Romans lack of any skill on the sea should have cost them the naval battles of the First Punic War but that was not the case. The Romans invented a device to essentially create land battles on the sea. This device was called a corvus or the raven. Polybiuss description of the corvus and how it was used is as follows: â€Å" a round pole stood on the prow of the ship sixteen feet high and about one foot in diameter. It had a pulley on its top and around it was placed a boarding bridge made of crossed planks nailed together which was four feet wide and twenty four feet long. There was an oblong hole in the bridge, which was placed around the pole twelve feet from its end. There was a knee-high railing on each side of the boarding bridge and at its end was fastened an iron object shaped like a pestle pointed at one end with a ring at the other end so that the whole apparatus looked like a device for grinding grain† (Polybius) The corvus proved vital during the First Punic War, especially at the Battle of Mylae. It would be swung around and brought down hard on an enemy ship. Then the troops would charge over the plank two by two. The first two men protected the rest by raising their shields. The men behind would place their shields over the railing and protect from the sides. The Romans captured the first thirty two ships that attacked them. The rest of the Carthaginians then approached and saw the devastation that the corvus had done. They turn to try and attack the sides or stern of the Roman ships but the corvus was able to turn and attack from different angles. After seeing this, the Carthaginians fled in fear after what had happened and after losing fifty ships (Polybius). The Romans won a decisive victory through the use of the corvus and made their presence known on the Mediterranean. The Romans ingenuity through creating the corvus is very clear and helped through the early development of the Roman navy. Though the corvus has many positive features, some of its negative features were starting to come about as the Romans started to sail more and farther. The corvus was placed at the bow of the ship so it made the vessel unstable during rough weather. As a result, most of the casualties of the First Punic War were at the hands of Mother Nature as opposed to the Carthaginians. This, and the Romans inexperience at sea cost them heavily as they lost 284 ships in a storm off the outer coast of Sicily. They had lost a lot of ships and only had 80 remaining at the time (Tarn 53). However, Romes success came from its superior manpower resources which allowed it to man new fleets despite these sever losses. To prove the Romans determination, they built a fleet of 200 ships. This did not go without disaster either. Another storm cost the Romans 150 brand new ships in 253 BC off the Lucacnian coast and subsequently the Romans lost their only major naval defeat of the war in 249 BC when a surprise attack failed at Drepana. Thirty Roman ships were able to escape but 93were captured (Tarn 54). The Romans appeared to have given up on their naval efforts. It looked as though Carthage ruled the sea once again. No ships were being built and the Romans were sticking to the land the tactics that they knew best. However most of the Romans naval losses can be attributed to bad luck and inexperience on the sea. By 242 the Carthaginian General, Hamilcar Barca, had enjoyed success in Sicily and by now the Romans felt the war had dragged on for too long. They were determined to return to the sea and finish the Carthaginians once and for all. There was one problem though. The Roman treasury was empty and they had no money to spend on building another fleet. The government then turned to the wealthy citizens of Rome and begged for money to build a new fleet. The wealthy agreed in a sign of patriotism and they went ahead and successfully financed construction on a fleet to end the war (Rickard). This shows the Romans determination, persistence and ability to utilize the wealth of Rome. The Romans felt they didn’t need to repeat what had happened with the corvus again so they omitted it from their new ship designs. This resulted in the Roman ships being much lighter and much more manoeuvrable then the Carthaginian ships. The Romans met the Carthaginians in 241 BC where they cut them off at the Battle of the Aegates Islands. The Carthaginians ships had very inexperienced crews as they were newly enlisted men who had just signed up for this battle. They couldnt handle the heavy and unwieldy Carthaginian ships with their lack of skills and experience. Similar to the way the Romans were before the beginning of the First Punic War. The Carthaginians were commanded by Hanno and the Romans were commanded by Catulus. The fighting was predictably one sided as the Romans captured 70 ships and sunk 50 ships. Hanno was subsequently executed for his failure in this battle. After the Battle of the Aegates Islands, Hamilcar was allowed to negotiate terms of surrender. The terms included money to pay for the newly constructed fleet and no Punic war ships were allowed in Italian waters (Rickard). The Romans were victorious and the Punic War came to a close. Through fierce determination to rebuild the Roman Navy in 242 BC and their ability to adapt their ships to the new circumstances led to a Roman victory and a strong development of the Roman Navy. The development and redevelopment of the Roman navy during the First Punic War shows a number of qualities that were key to Roman domination in the next centuries. Their adaptability and ability to make a strategic assessment of the Carthage navy and how to overcome it was very important in leading to a victory in the First Punic War. Through their determination and persistence they were able to learn from their mistakes and overcome what had cost them their early losses. It was the Romans ability to utilize available resources to reconstruct their destroyed navy. They also came up with a creative solution to a problem of attacking ships to help benefit their strengths of hand to hand combat. This was a very strong development of the Roman navy and led to their stranglehold on the Mediterranean for the majority of the next centuries. In fact, during the Second Punic War, Hannibal abandoned his once powerful Carthage fleet to focus on conquering by land. The victories in the sea bred confidence in the Roman navy. They were able to bring the battle directly to the Carthaginians and take it out of Italy. With the final destruction of Carthage and the end of the Third Punic War, Rome was the master of the Mediterranean. This as a result reduced any threat of a naval power and the navy had reached its height (Gabriel). In conclusion, the First Punic War was the spark that set off the Romans to put a lot of time, resources and manpower into developing and redeveloping their navy to become the super power that it was.

The Biological Determinism Or Social Constructionism Sociology Essay

The Biological Determinism Or Social Constructionism Sociology Essay Gender differs in culture and personal circumstances, they shape the way men and women behave according to their societys norms and values. Learning plays a major part in influencing gender roles, in what defines masculine and feminine, parents, teachers, friends, media, music, books and religion teach and reinforce gender roles throughout a lifetime. Gender roles are also shaped by the power of reward and punishment, as its used by some people to reinforce what they consider to be appropriate gender behaviour. In terms of influencing gender roles the influence of parents is significant as the family is the primary agency of socialisation. Gender roles are realities in almost everyones life. (Warnke 2008) This essay will discuss whether gender roles are determined by biological determinism; our genetics, or whether they are constructed by society; expectations in our environment. In addition theories explaining gender behaviours. Freud and Parsons had theories based on Biological determinism which depends on the presence or absence of certain chromosomes, DNA, proteins and hereditary genes. Men and women have obvious biological differences- a man can produce sperm, and women can produce ovum, lactation and go through pregnancy and menstruation. Without those two different sexes reproduction would not be possible, and our biological sexes are needed for our society to progress. A good example of this is the Bruce Reimer case. Bruce, an eight month old boy, underwent a circumcision that went terribly wrong, his penis was completely destroyed and with no hope of reconstructing the organ, his parents consulted Dr Money. Doctors and family decided Bruce would best function as a girl rather than a boy. He was surgically transformed into a girl, whom they named Brenda. From an early age Brenda felt she was a boy trapped in a girls body, she ripped off frilly dresses, rejected dolls in favor of guns, preferred to play with boys, and even insisted on urinating standing up. At fourteen she was so miserable that she decided either to live her life as a male or to end it, her father finally told her the truth. She underwent a new set of operations, assumed a male identity and later married and went on to become a father himself. Although Dr Money tried to apply the logic behind social determinism, Bruce revealed that despite dresses, social pressure, surgeries and fem ale hormones he never looked, acted or felt like a female. (Colapinto 2000) This shows social factors do not always override biological factors in determining gender. Social constructionism understands how gender roles are created by us in everyday lives. One sociologist, Margaret Mead, was one of the first to ground the distinction between the biological and social characteristics of men and woman based on her study in three civilizations. Each society displayed different gender role qualities. In one society both women and men were cooperative, in the second they were both ruthless and aggressive, and in the third the women were dominant and the men more obedient. (Mead 1935) This shows masculine and feminine roles are learnt and shaped in cultural socializations and not inborn, biological specific roles (Bown, 2012). Gendered behaviours are shaped especially in responses and reactions like in families, children and adult relations, workplace, groups, schools, media, texts, history, popular culture and social structures. During pregnancy and after birth people are divided into two sex categories, boy and girl, to which they received gender characteristics like colours, toys received as children by evasion, like football and trucks for boys, dolls and dresses for girls. In the course of her and his life the human being is then made into a girl or woman, boy or man. Many factors influence our behaviours such as education, social norms and values, stereotypes, identifications, images and traditions. Concept of woman and men are subject to change over time. What is to be feminine and masculine is historical defined. (Lavenda and Schultz 2011) These are all social contributors towards the way gender is shaped. In the nineties relationships between men and women were followed by tradition and religious views, the natural differences between the sexes were emphasized throughout the influential years of childhood. In marriage young men would commit to protect and provide for the woman with whom they had agreed to spend the rest of their lives. Marriage was considered a lifelong partnership with Nuptial vows to be kept despite all obstacles. Although men and women had unity of purpose in progression with their lives, the roles of each were very different, women were expected to remain at home caring for the children, cooking and housework, despite any educational background or career she may have previously had. The husbands role was to provide financially for the family as sole breadwinners and to teach their boys to be courageous and brave, to be out in front, to provide, to be tough and to sacrifice, to perform heavy, physical work at an early age. Mothers educated their daughters to be gen tle, modest, loyal, respectful and supportive, girls were assigned duties around the house assisting with cooking, sewing and cleaning. This behaviour reinforces the idea that gender roles are socially constructed. Women were influenced to break away from the traditional gender roles with the emergence of icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Bell and Betty Friedan. They were very popular and influenced woman in various ways, their motivational work encouraged woman to break out of gender roles, be more independent, be inspired to take on a new role, empower woman to take control of their bodies and to fight for equal opportunities that lead us to the present- with equality between everyone, no matter their gender. (Penny Colman 1995) this is another example of how social construction defines gender. Children, before they grow into adults, have been completely socially engineered and manipulated, generation by generation. Toys are the greatest influence in defining gender in children, as so often children are divided by stereotypes of toys. Children have a strong sense of gender identity and gender role expectations. Most two year olds know whether they are male or female and, by the age of four or five, not only do they develop gender constancy but often show rigid standards of what they believe is appropriate male and female dressing and behaviour. Young children appear to acquire gender roles stereotypes at about the same time they develop gender identity. Social construction has been pressed upon children from the moment they are born, so from an early age the signs of gender roles are already reinforced. Many sociologists insist we now live in postmodern society; shaped by our personal experience, egocentric and mass media, rather than expectations of following a script. Roles in the family had some changes, couples now make decisions together, expressing opinions openly and encouraging mutually the male role in the home is progressing, men are now more supportive in the housework tasks and more child-centred. Male and female roles and identities, which were previously very distinct, are now much more blurred. Women are increasingly choosing to take on roles previously fulfilled by men. Most women and mothers are now employed and occupy 48% of the work force with both men and woman more likely to choose the careers they want. There may be more women in the workforce than there were before but there still exists some division and segregation between the sorts of occupation in which women tend to work and the sorts of jobs men have. Woman are often located in secondary labour market wi th unsecure jobs, low status, inferior work conditions, low salaries and lower chances of promotion, while men retained the primary labour market with high paid salaries, higher status, more secure job placements, good working conditions and easier access to promotion. This explains gender roles are socially constructed whether at home on at work. . Biological determinism (in detail) dont describe, discuss analyse this argument what is it? Biological determinism (in detail) dont describe, discuss analyse this argument what is it? Paragraph 3. Social construction, feral children, children of deprived and a-sexual (media influences) Then next few are optional choose two or three to talk about Family Masculinity/Femininity The body Work roles Media.. Conclusion- shouldnt be too long just refer and summerise back to questiTo conclude, society was previously shaped by society norms and values. Children tended to follow parents footsteps. In postmodern societies, male and female roles and identities, which were previously very distinct, are now becoming blurred. People do not follow a fixed pathway, women dont assume they will become mothers and housewives, men and woman are much more likely to choose what to do in their lives and which identities to adopt. The activities traditionally assigned to members of each sex may no longer be needed and the traditional division of labour by biological sex no longer is appropriate. The traditional gender role for males prepares men for a world that no longer exists. Men no longer are the sole breadwinners in most families, and their traditional place of dominance in society no longer is assured. Change is occurring in the definition of gender roles and identity for both men and woman, with female increasing the participation in a world of paid work, increasing economical independence and viewed as significant consumers. Young females are becoming more self determined preferring to pursue careers and decline marriage and children, with this, woman are more likely to see consumption and leisure as a key factor in their identity, this suggests female identity is being redefined. Traditional ideas and roles of female identity are being abandoned and redefined, becoming a mother and housewife is less significant. And men defining their identity, by being in touch with his feminine side, taking on share roles with partner in housework duties and childcare. We now live in a society where anatomy is not a destiny, the roles and functions once so preserved are now fading in the past, and replaced by society in which true masculinity and femininity are no longer taught or understood. It is impossible to argue that gender is socially constructed or biologically driven because there is evidence that argue for both ways. Society and culture can no doubt shape the beliefs and standards for a certain society, however we cannot ignore our fundamental biological nature.

Egocentricity and Sexual Relationships in The Chaneysville Incident Ess

Egocentricity and Sexual Relationships in The Chaneysville Incident The Pennsylvania Turnpike's enormous and various extensions branch between the Philadelphia, the place of John's most advanced assimilation, and the land of his origin, where in the darkness of Jack Crawley's hut he is closest to his identity as a black man. Likewise, even as a young boy learning the ways of his race, he is the latest branch of a family chronology that continues to thin ethnically, a branch with an impossibly distant origin buried in darkness. But the movement that carries John away from The Hill, away from Jack's hut and away from his own identity, is no more a source of his tormented ambivalence than the family history that fathered him. As the warring influences engage him, so too does the persistent love of Judith, a white woman with Southern ancestry upon whom the reconciliation of his identity conflict relies. However, John repels her for most of the novel and withdraws further into the isolation of his obsession. John's attitude toward Judith underscores his ambivalence, and at times seems baffling. However, the clashing egos of men and women and the awkwardness of their attempted union are not alien to literature or to life in general, and are repeated in a Narcissistic archetype. During his maddening quest for truth, John attacks the influences that push him further from himself, shedding the alterations of time to understand his identity, which extends far beyond his birth. His energies and emotions are literally self-directed, internalizing to a frigid Narcissism, which is inevitably doomed. The fragmentation of his identity is beyond assembling, and similar to the self-directed libido that proves fatal for both Narcissus and... ...h as is rationally possible. Though the novel's end is ambiguous and disturbing, it appears as though John has relinquished his Narcissism completely, indeed sacrificing a degree of his primordial identity, but gaining the more important aim of self-preservation, as he burns the no-longer-necessary clues. Although it is ambiguous, the hypothesis that John is about to kill himself is illogical. He doubtless undergoes a suicide of a different nature, killing his Narcissus and continuing to live with a rested conscious, directing his energy toward the future. Work Cited and Consulted Bradley, David. The Chaneysville Incident (1981) Rpt. New York: HR, Perennial Library Edition, 1990. Pavlic, Edward. "Syndetic Redemption: Above-Underground Emergence in David Bradley's The Chaneysville Incident." African American Review (Summer 1996), 30(2):166-167, 169, 181n10.

The Falling Sky :: essays research papers

I gave this paper quit a bit of thought; I was sitting in a meeting on some air problems here at General Motors and started doing some investigation. Life on this planet Earth is the product of a delicate balancing act provided by nature. Mankind’s very existence is totally dependent on this fragile ecosystem’s ability to maintain itself. A valuable player in the balance of the environment, the ozone layer, is facing a very serious threat to man. Chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) are chemicals agents commonly found in refrigerants, aerosol sprays, and in the manufacturing of Styrofoam and industrial solvents. With the rate of more than a half-million tons CFCs being spewed into the atmosphere yearly, the rate of ozone depletion is rising at an alarming rate. If a global effort is not made to end the unnecessary use of CFCs, the inhabitants of this plant face an extremely difficult and frightening future. CFCs were invented in Dayton, Ohio; in 1928.They were the product of an intensive search by engineers with the G.M. Research Corporation to find a safe non-toxic, non-flammable refrigant. Frigidaire patented the formula CFCs in 1928 and the â€Å"new wonder gas† was called Freon. Seth Cargin and Phillip Dray, co-authors of Between Earth and Sky, informs us in their story of CFCs that â€Å"Freon soon topped the list of wonders, a ‘miracle’ refrigerant †¦[with the] combination of safety, cleanliness, and efficiency†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (66) Not only was the apparently â€Å"safe† gas being used in refrigeration, but with the innovation of air-conditioning by Willis Carrier prior to World War I, Freon would one day be used to cool our homes, automobiles, and businesses. Other applications for CFCs soon followed. Out of the need to eliminate malaria-carrying mosquitoes during the First World War, Freon 12 was found to be an excellent propellant to distribute insecticide—thus the birth of the aerosol spray can. â€Å"From eight aerosol-related companies in the late forties, the industry grew to more than one hundred just a few years later† (Cagin and Dray 87). CFCs were soon making the lives of millions of Americans much more comfortable. They were also making the Kinetic Chemical Company, a joint corporation of General Motors and Dupont who manufactured and marketed Freon, extremely wealthy. But in August of 1985, the entire world was informed by a group of scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center that the sky was literally falling. A NASA satellite photo revealed that a portion of the ozone layer the size of the continental United States had disappeared from the atmosphere above Antarctica.

Changes in Nursing :: Nursing, Medicine, Article Review

The article I chose discusses the continual change in the roles of nurses. The article also poses a concept that nursing now is not based on caring, but medicine. â€Å"By accepting continual changes to the role of the nurse, the core function of nursing has become obscured and, despite assuming medical tasks, the occupation continues to be seen in terms of a role that is subordinate to and dependent on medicine.† (Iley 2004) Nurses are taking a more professional role, and more tasks are being delegated to assertive personnel. Therefore, with all these changes occurring, the role of the enrolled nurse is unclear. â€Å"Previously, having two levels of qualified nurse in the United Kingdom had been seen as problematic for health service managers and nurses themselves, and the ending of enrolled nurse programs in 1992 helped to solve this problem.† (2004) The study in this article gathered the characteristics of enrolled nurses and differentiated the groups converting to registered nurses, groups in the process of conversion, and groups interested or not interested in conversion. This study reveals the situation of enrolled nurses in context of continuing towards the professionalization of nursing. â€Å"The data from this study support the possibility that the role of nurses as direct caregivers is seen as a positive dimension of the work they undertake.† (2004) The findings imply that nurses need to get back to being caregivers, instead of concentrating on obtaining professional status in medicine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The significance of this article is that nursing is continually changing. The role of the nurse will always be based on direct care giving, however, nursing as an occupation is professional.

Earth-Like Planets

Running head: Earth-Like Planets Earth-Like Planets T. Nailor Miller-Motte College Online Critical Thinking – GS235 Dr. Marshall Lloyd Earth-Like Planets Introduction Do you believe that there is life on other planets? Better yet, do you believe that there is another planet that looks like earth? As far as I can remember, there has always been the question of â€Å"is there life in outer space? I remember being in grade school wondering if there were humans or aliens on other planets and if they were trying to communicate with us. Around January 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded during takeoff in front of the entire world.As a teenager, this event was tragic and amazing at the same time because I felt that we were on our way to discovering new planets, solar systems, and other life forms. This tragic event was the start of my interest in outer space. Fast forward to 2012, the science community has greatly advanced our technology since the mid-eighties. Today, we have computers in everything, all types of space probes orbiting the universe, and unbelievable amounts of knowledge about outer space and other planets, but yet, and still, no proof of life in outer space. Will we ever know?Will we ever meet aliens? Only time will tell and personally I think we will, soon! After searching for an interesting subject to cover for this paper, I have discovered a very interesting article on the U. S. News website titled â€Å"Earth-Like Planet Found in Nearest Star System†. According to the article scientist say they have discovered a planet that looks like earth orbiting a star that bears a resemblance to our sun. The planet is said to be about 25 trillion miles away, making it very difficult for a space probe to reach the planet using current technology.It is estimated to take about 40,000 years to reach this planet, even though it is in the next closest planetary system to ours. â€Å"The planet, dubbed Alpha Centauri Bb, orbits a star in the Al pha Centauri system, a clump of three stars that are closer to us than any others in the night sky. It's called Alpha Centauri Bb because the planet orbits the clump's second-closest star, Alpha Centauri B (Cline, 2012)†. The question here is does this planet really exist, being that it is so far away?The science community and other publications believe that it does. The articles give some clues that are questionable and not all researchers agree that the planet is there. However, there are those who are absolutely convince that it actually exist. â€Å"The exquisitely high-quality data required to find an Earth-like planet doesn't just happen by chance,† UC Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy wrote in an email (Khan, 2012). The writer seems to be very interested in this subject, but he only presented a few sources to start with.The main source is the lead scientist along with ten other scientists, who first published the original paper detailing and describing the entire d iscovery at eso. org. The reasons to accept this is that the writer provides information in the article that quotes a well-known scientist named Xavier Dumusque, a scientist at Geneva Observatory and lead author of the paper that published the discovery. Plus, the recent findings of other earth like planets, the huge amount of evidence available and the shear advancement of our technology are all motives to continue our search.Use of a special instrument that detects signal variations attached to the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) telescope in La Silla, Chile (Cline S. , 2012), the excitement of the science community, and a special scientific technique called radial velocity (the velocity of an object in the direction of the line of sight) suggests this discovery is a major accomplishment. The writer also quoted Dumusque saying â€Å"It's an extraordinary discovery and it has pushed our technique to the limit! † (Cline S. , 2012). What technique or techniques is the sc ientist referring to?What are our technical and technological limits at this point in time? Although we are able to send man to the moon, build an international space station, and send space probes deep into outer space, does not necessarily explain our technological abilities in detail. However, this information does suggest to the public that we are getting closer and closer to discovering other earth like planets. â€Å"We can’t be alone† The science community is getting very close to discovering earth-like planets and extraterrestrial life in outer space. This is considered a alued assumption among many researchers and astronomers. To date, they have actually discovered more than 800 of these exoplanets amongst the billions and billions of stars in our galaxy. The more planets found like HD40307g, the more they resemble earth with earth-like characteristics (the spinning on its axis, having a night and a day, and orbiting in the habitable zone). Astronomers are als o finding them closer to our solar system. Another assumption of these findings are that humans are developing and advancing technology to communicate, navigate, and live in outer space in the near future.NASA said no candidate planet discovered thus far by Kepler â€Å"is exactly like Earth,† but noted that the spacecraft â€Å"has collected enough data to begin finding true sun-Earth analogs—Earth-size planets with a one-year orbit around stars similar to the sun. † (Poeter, 2012) According to space. com, private companies and NASA are working together to take the next step forward of launching humans into outer space. Entering the term space settlement, suggest that people can or will be living and working outside of earth, on the moon, mars, or in huge rotating orbital space settlements.The total energy resources of this solar system are about 2. 3 billion times the energy available on Earth. This is simply the Sun's energy output — and the Sun is an enormous nuclear fusion reactor that works perfectly right now, today, and is perfectly safe — or at least isn't going away (Globus, 2007). The claim regarding the existence of earth-like planets, do not contain any fallacies or reasoning tricks. The researchers, scientists, and astronomers are providing honest, verifiable, and creditable evidence regarding this subject.Their approach to discover earth-like planets may be from the heart and they may be very diligent in the exploration of the universe. Most of those involved including journalists who report these findings are well educated, intelligent, and experienced in the science of space study. â€Å"The interesting thing is that if they threw out some of their data, they got more precise measurements,† Eric Ford, an astronomer at the University of Florida at Gainesville, said in an interview (Khan, 2012). The use of misconceptions or myths would damage and be detrimental to their careers, reputation, and progress. Delusional reporting will only distort previous evidence of other exoplanets in outer space and therefore would challenge all findings. The clear and obvious evidence is the universal agreement among the science community in regards to the technological advancements, development of new techniques, quality of data and the cooperation and collaborative efforts of them all. The productivity of 21st century devices used to explore space produce unimaginable audio, visual, and tangible information that was never before possible.For example, the International Space Station is near completion, the Hubble Telescope orbits at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the recent landing of a space probe on Mars, are great accomplishments towards this effort in discovering life outside of earth. This supports the progression in science and is clear evidence that supports information reported by researchers, journalists, and scientists. The finding (of HD40307g) has yet to be confirmed by other ana lysis or observations. Not everyone is convinced this particular planet exists (Khan, 2012).There are those who are critical of the discovery of exoplanets. Eventually this will lead to more studies, research, and input on behalf of the critics. Either way this will also add to the efforts of space science as a whole. The conclusion is the science community and research scientists have found earth-like planets and we humans are closer to finding extraterrestrial life in outer space. According to several websites in the astronomer’s community, an extra-solar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside our Solar System but still within our Milky Way galaxy.A total of 846 such planets (665 planetary systems, including 126 multiple planetary systems) have been identified as of November 8, 2012, all of them within the Milky Way galaxy (â€Å"The extrasolar encyclopaedia,† 2012). Scientists around the world are very excited about the discovery of these exoplanets, especially A lpha Centauri Bb. According to The Independent and the L. A. Times, a new earth like planet that could have a climate that supports life and water adds to the excitement.The new planet, HD40307g is said to be in a multi-world solar system about 42 light years from our sun and sits at the right distance from its sun to allow liquid water on its surface. â€Å"It orbits well within in the stars habitable or Goldilocks zone – the region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life (Hall, 2012). † With the discoveries of these planets and the rapid advancement of technology, discovering life in outer space appears to be believable and achievable. References 1. Cline, S. (2012, October 17).Earth-like planet found in nearest star system. Retrieved from http://www. usnews. com/news/articles/2012/10/17/earth-like-planet-found-in-nearest-star-system_print. html 2. The extrasolar encyclopaedia . (2012, November 8). Retrieved from http://exoplanet. eu/ 3. K han, A. (2012, November 7). Possible earth-like planet could hold water; scientists cautious. Retrieved from http://articles. latimes. com/2012/nov/07/science/la-sci-sn-earthlike-planet-water-atmosphere-red-light-20121107 4. Hall, J. (2012, November 8).Revealed: New earth-like planet that could have a life-supporting climate and water. Retrieved from http://www. independent. co. uk/news/science/revealed-new-earthlike-planet-that-could-have-a-lifesupporting-climate-and-water-8297750. html – (Hall, 2012) 5. Globus, A. (2007, August 2). Space settlement and war. Retrieved from http://www. space. com/4140-space-settlement-war. html – (Globus, 2007) 6. Poeter, D. (2012, November 17). NASA’s Kepler renews hunt for earth-like planets. Retrieved from http://www. pcmag. com/article2/0,2817,2412264,00. asp – (Poeter, 2012)

Do We Need Correctional Facility Accreditation? Essay

What’s the Utility of Accrediting Correctional Facilities? An increasing number of correctional facilities are private corporations.  Ã‚   Why?   Because private companies have indicated that they can save more money than it costs the various state governments, to house prisoners.   Because there’s no government intervention, â€Å"ACA† or the American Correctional Association is an organization developed to address help these facilities regarding issues on facility administration, and seeing to the health safety and welfare of inmates—or, â€Å"accreditation†. However, no one really knows what the accreditation standards are.   According to the article, â€Å"A Dubious Distinction†, written by Silja J.A. Talvi for the newsmagazine, In These Times, â€Å"The ACA’s accreditation process is kept secret from the public; all that outsiders know for sure is which facilities have been accredited.†Ã‚   In fact, the ACA itself is a private, non-governmental organization with no authority to change prison conditions or to enforce standards.   Even on their Web site at http://www.aca.org there is a general questions and answers section for correctional facilities managers who may have about the process, but no detailed information about it. The Pros and Cons of Accreditation There seem to be one outstanding pro and con on the subject of correctional facility accreditation.   The pro is this, according to the ACA Web site, â€Å"Accredited agencies have a stronger defense against litigation through †¦ the demonstration of a ‘good faith’ effort to improve conditions of confinement.†Ã‚  Ã‚   The con is this: accredited prisons offer no benefits to the staff and inmates. No Conning the Convicts: More Problems in Prisons Silvi also notes that accreditation does not translate into better facilities for inmates, or better pay for employees, such as the prison guards.   Ms. Talvari notes some specific incidents where accreditation meant worse, not better facility conditions: In July 2004 at Crowley Correctional Facility the inmates who had complained about conditions (e.g. conditions of confinement, physical abuse, etc.) rioted, destroying cells, furniture, plumbing and equipment. At the time only Guards watched over 1, 122 prisoners. In September 2004, at Kentucky’s Lee Adjustment Center, prisoners also rioted. Correctional officers working there made $8.00 an hour, and sometimes work 12-hour shifts. These are just a few of the incidents that have occurred at ACA-accredited prisons over the years. Accredited facilities don’t seem to provide any benefits to the public, the inmates or facility employees.   Also, there’s too much secrecy about the accrediting association, too many problems associated with the accredited institutions.   It seems the only benefit to accreditation, is   just as the site says:   a way to protect the facilities and their owners from lawsuits, rather than to make prisons safe and humane. These are the reason that I’m against it. Running the Asylum References American Correctional Association.   Retrieved December 1, 2008, from http://www.aca.org American Correctional Association.   Retrieved December 1, 2008, from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.aca.org/standards/faq.asp Talvi, Silja, J.A. (2005, February 4) .A Dubious Distinction. In These Times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved from http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1920 Talvi, Silja, J.A. (2005, February 28) .Cashing in on the Cons. In These Times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Retrieved from http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/1924 Hambourger, Tim (2008, December 1)   Dollars and Sins:   Privatized Prisons and the â€Å"Tough on Crime† Penology.   Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~dands/editorial/prison

Fashion History of Womenswear (1900~1950)

To inform Specific purpose: To inform my audience fashion history of Homeowners between 1900?1950 Central idea: Western fashion history of Homeowners between 1900-1950 were highly influenced by history event such as World War I and II Main idea: l. WWW brought Asia culture to Europe and Japanese dress are one of the major influence II. WWW brings women to workplace therefore shape and length of dress had huge change, Channel were raised up this time Ill.After WWW was another twist point, fancy comes bad and Door's The New look were published Commentary were highly influenced by history event such as World War I and II Method of organization: Chorological Introduction: The introduction of Fashion consists at the beginning. We begins with a brief our feeling towards fashion. Body: The body of the speech Chocolate provides an idea of how the society, economic and culture change the influenced the fashion style in Western culture. The first point is about how World War 1 brought Asia cul ture to Western culture in fashion.A transition to World War 2 marks Vanessa move to the second point, in which how World War 2 affect the use of fabric, and shows the evidence by photo on the visual ads. Vanessa ends the second point by how the people at that time solve their problem fashion. After the transition, Chocolate bring the subject to 1947 which mention about the change after war, and Dior' The New Look published. Conclusion: Consisting at the end of the speech, the conclusion reminds listeners of the significance of the topic and summarizes the main points. Also, it provides a sense of feeling for audiences that they are a part of the fashion history too.

A House for Mr. Biswas: Mr. Biswas’ Identity Struggle

Almost all the works of V.S. Naipaul have charaters who are poor and live in rural areas. Always these characters undergo trials and suffer identity crisis.The main protagonist, Mr. Mohun Biswas in V. S. Naipuls’ A house for Mr. Biswas, is not an exemption. â€Å"I am going to get a job of my own. And I am going to get my own house, too.† This vow of Mr. Biswas typifies his longing for freedom, social and family respect and acceptance that constitute his 40 year struggle to gain his own identity.The moment Mr. Biswas is born, he already has the burden of deformed identity that will make him feel that he does not belong: He is born with six fingers. â€Å"Born in the wrong way,† as they say. This alone alienates him from his peers and the society. Adding up to the injury, the attending midwife declares that they should be careful because Mr. Biswas, with his seemingly uncommon figure, will eat up his parents.As he grows up, Mr. Biswas experiences seemingly endless prejudices and ridicules. The community in which he lives in is bounded by traditional superstitions and caste discrimination; thus his misshapen fingers make him feel a real outsider.But misfortune is not only brought by his six fingers; they have been living in poverty even before he is born and their financial woe continues. In fact, it worsens that they hardly eat. Mr. Biswas becomes thin with stunted growth and acquires sores and eczema. This appearance of his heightens his insecurity and his alienation from the people around him.Poverty drives Mr. Biswas to seek employment. He is hired by Dhari to look after his calf. Finally, Mr. Biswas is exulted because someone trusts him. But it is only a short-lived glory as his clumsiness and low self-esteem make him lose Dhari’s calf. He runs away to avoid punishment. Mr.Biswas’ father drowns in the pond when he is looking for him in the forest. This fulfils one half of the midwife’s prophesy when he was born.Anoth er show of Mr. Biswas’ struggle for self-identity is when, in the classroom, he is forced to write â€Å"I am an ass† on the board. Although this is his punishment for disobedience, he will not do this if he has a strong confidence of who he is.The statement is downright degrading. Perhaps a physical punishment, like cleaning the room or running around the ground, is more fitting. This is more dignified than the self-inflicting defamatory words on the board.From here on, Mr. Biswas’ luck does not depend entirely on his own effort as destitution and inevitable consequences force him to live momentarily from one home to another, relying on other people’s aid to feed his stomach.Through this pitiful journey, amidst the manipulation of people around him, he holds on tightly to his principles and ideals; cluthcing to the thin thread of his identity, to his assumption that he, Mr. Biswas descended from noble families and not from common rural nobodies. He consi ders himself to be in line with the colonial tradition and language instead with the custom and tradition of other races in the island. This arrogance may heighten his feeling of alienation.

A Dirty Job Chapter 2

After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop. A Dirty Job Chapter 2 After that, it was a memory out of a sleepwalk, scenes filmed from a zombie’s eye socket, as he ambled undead through explanations, accusations, preparations, and ceremony. â€Å"It’s called a cerebral thromboembolism,† the doctor had said. â€Å"A blood clot forms in the legs or pelvis during labor, then moves to the brain, cutting off the blood supply. It’s very rare, but it happens. There was nothing we could do. Even if the crash team had been able to revive her, she’d have had massive brain damage. There was no pain. She probably just felt sleepy and passed.† Charlie whispered to keep from screaming, â€Å"The man in mint green! He did something to her. He injected her with something. He was there and he knew that she was dying. I saw him when I brought her CD back.† They showed him the security tapes – the nurse, the doctor, the hospital’s administrators and lawyers – they all watched the black-and-white images of him leaving Rachel’s room, of the empty hallway, of his returning to her room. No tall black man dressed in mint green. They didn’t even find the CD. Sleep deprivation, they said. Hallucination brought on by exhaustion. Trauma. They gave him drugs to sleep, drugs for anxiety, drugs for depression, and they sent him home with his baby daughter. Charlie’s older sister, Jane, held baby Sophie as they spoke over Rachel and buried her on the second day. He didn’t remember picking out a casket or making arrangements. It was more of the somnambulant dream: his in-laws moving to and fro in black, like tottering specters, spouting the inadequate clichs of condolence: We’re so sorry. She was so young. What a tragedy. If there’s anything we can do†¦ Rachel’s father and mother held him, their heads pressed together in the apex of a tripod. The slate floor in the funeral-home foyer spotted with their tears. Every time Charlie felt the shoulders of the older man heave with a sob, he felt his own heart break again. Saul took Charlie’s face in his hands and said, â€Å"You can’t imagine, because I can’t imagine.† But Charlie could imagine, because he was a Beta Male, and imagination was his curse; and he could imagine because he had lost Rachel and now he had a daughter, that tiny stranger sleeping in his sister’s arms. He could imagine the man in mint green taking her. Charlie looked at the tear-spotted floor and said, â€Å"That’s why most funeral homes are carpeted. Someone could slip.† â€Å"Poor boy,† said Rachel’s mother. â€Å"We’ll sit shivah with you, of course.† Charlie made his way across the room to his sister, Jane, who wore a man’s double-breasted suit in charcoal pinstripe gabardine, that along with her severe eighties pop-star hairstyle and the infant in the pink blanket that she held, made her appear not so much androgynous as confused. Charlie thought the suit actually looked better on her than it did on him, but she should have asked him for permission to wear it nonetheless. â€Å"I can’t do this,† he said. He let himself fall forward until the receded peninsula of dark hair touched her gelled Flock of Seagulls platinum flip. It seemed like the best posture for sharing grief, this forehead lean, and it reminded him of standing drunkenly at a urinal and falling forward until his head hit the wall. Despair. â€Å"You’re doing fine,† Jane said. â€Å"Nobody’s good at this.† â€Å"What the fuck’s a shivah?† â€Å"I think it’s that Hindu god with all the arms.† â€Å"That can’t be right. The Goldsteins are going to sit on it with me.† â€Å"Didn’t Rachel teach you anything about being Jewish?† â€Å"I wasn’t paying attention. I thought we had time.† Jane adjusted baby Sophie into a half-back, one-armed carry and put her free hand on the back of Charlie’s neck. â€Å"You’ll be okay, kid.† Seven,† said Mrs. Goldstein. â€Å"Shivah means ‘seven.’ We used to sit for seven days, grieving for the dead, praying. That’s Orthodox, now most people just sit for three.† They sat shivah in Charlie and Rachel’s apartment that overlooked the cable-car line at the corner of Mason and Vallejo Streets. The building was a four-story brick Edwardian (architecturally, not quite the grand courtesan couture of the Victorians, but enough tarty trim and trash to toss off a sailor down a side street) built after the earthquake and fire of 1906 had leveled the whole area of what was now North Beach, Russian Hill, and Chinatown. Charlie and Jane had inherited the building, along with the thrift shop that occupied the ground floor, when their father died four years before. Charlie got the business, the large, double apartment they’d grown up in, and the upkeep on the old building, while Jane got half the rental income and one of the apartments on the top floor with a Bay Bridge view. At the instruction of Mrs. Goldstein, all the mirrors in the house were draped with black fabric and a large candle was placed on the coffee table in the center of the living room. They were supposed to sit on low benches or cushions, neither of which Charlie had in the house, so, for the first time since Rachel’s death, he went downstairs into the thrift shop looking for something they could use. The back stairs descended from a pantry behind the kitchen into the stockroom, where Charlie kept his office among boxes of merchandise waiting to be sorted, priced, and placed in the store. The shop was dark except for the light that filtered in the front window from the streetlights out on Mason Street. Charlie stood there at the foot of the stairs, his hand on the light switch, just staring. Amid the shelves of knickknacks and books, the piles of old radios, the racks of clothes, all of them dark, just lumpy shapes in the dark, he could see objects glowing a dull red, nearly pulsing, like beating hearts. A sweater in the racks, a porcelain figure of a frog in a curio case, out by the front window an old Coca-Cola tray, a pair of shoes – all glowing red. Charlie flipped the switch, fluorescent tubes fired to life across the ceiling, flickering at first, and the shop lit up. The red glow disappeared. â€Å"Okaaaaaaay,† he said to himself, calmly, like everything was just fine now. He flipped off the lights. Glowing red stuff. On the counter, close to where he stood, there was a brass business-card holder cast in the shape of a whooping crane, glowing dull red. He took a second to study it, just to make sure there wasn’t some red light source from outside refracting around the room and making him uneasy for no reason. He stepped into the dark shop, took a closer look, got an angle on the brass cranes. Nope, the brass was definitely pulsing red. He turned and ran back up the steps as fast as he could. He nearly ran over Jane, who stood in the kitchen, rocking Sophie gently in her arms, talking baby talk under her breath. â€Å"What?† Jane said. â€Å"I know you have some big cushions down in the shop somewhere.† â€Å"I can’t,† Charlie said. â€Å"I’m on drugs.† He backed against the refrigerator, like he was holding it hostage. â€Å"I’ll go get them. Here, hold the baby.† â€Å"I can’t, I’m on drugs. I’m hallucinating.† Jane cradled the baby in the crook of her right arm and put a free arm around her younger brother. â€Å"Charlie, you are on antidepressants and antianxiety drugs, not acid. Look around this apartment, there’s not a person here that’s not on something.† Charlie looked through the kitchen pass-through: women in black, most of them middle-aged or older, shaking their heads, men looking stoic, standing around the perimeter of the living room, each holding a stout tumbler of liquor and staring into space. â€Å"See, they’re all fucked up.† â€Å"What about Mom?† Charlie nodded to their mother, who stood out among the other gray-haired women in black because she was draped in silver Navaho jewelry and was so darkly tanned that she appeared to be melting into her old-fashioned when she took a sip. â€Å"Especially Mom,† Jane said. â€Å"I’ll go look for something to sit shivah on. I don’t know why you can’t just use the couches. Now take your daughter.† â€Å"I can’t. I can’t be trusted with her.† â€Å"Take her, bitch!† Jane barked in Charlie’s ear – sort of a whisper bark. It had long ago been determined who was the Alpha Male between them and it was not Charlie. She handed off the baby and cut to the stairs. â€Å"Jane,† Charlie called after her. â€Å"Look around before you turn on the lights. See if you see anything weird, okay?† â€Å"Right. Weird.† She left him standing there in the kitchen, studying his daughter, thinking that her head might be a little oblong, but despite that, she looked a little like Rachel. â€Å"Your mommy loved Aunt Jane,† he said. â€Å"They used to gang up on me in Risk – and Monopoly – and arguments – and cooking.† He slid down the fridge door, sat splayed-legged on the floor, and buried his face in Sophie’s blanket. In the dark, Jane barked her shin on a wooden box full of old telephones. â€Å"Well, this is just stupid,† she said to herself, and flipped on the lights. Nothing weird. Then, because Charlie was many things, but one of them was not crazy, she turned off the lights again, just to be sure that she hadn’t missed something. â€Å"Right. Weird.† There was nothing weird about the store except that she was standing there in the dark rubbing her shin. But then, right before she turned on the light again, she saw someone peering in the front window, making a cup around his eyes to see through the reflection of the streetlights. A homeless guy or drunken tourist, she thought. She moved through the dark shop, between columns of comic books stacked on the floor, to a spot behind a rack of jackets where she could get a clear view of the window, which was filled with cheap cameras, vases, belt buckles, and all manner of objects that Charlie had judged worthy of interest, but obviously not worthy of a smash-and-grab. The guy looked tall, and not homeless, nicely dressed, but all in a single light color, she thought it might be yellow, but it was hard to tell under the streetlights. Could be light green. â€Å"We’re closed,† Jane said, loud enough to be heard through the glass. The man outside peered around the shop, but couldn’t spot her. He stepped back from the window and she could see that he was, indeed, tall. Very tall. The streetlight caught the line of his cheek as he turned. He was also very thin and very black. â€Å"I was looking for the owner,† the tall man said. â€Å"I have something I need to show him.† â€Å"There’s been a death in the family,† Jane said. â€Å"We’ll be closed for the week. Can you come back in a week?† The tall man nodded, looking up and down the street as he did. He rocked on one foot like he was about to bolt, but kept stopping himself, like a sprinter straining against the starting blocks. Jane didn’t move. There were always people out on the street, and it wasn’t even late yet, but this guy was too anxious for the situation. â€Å"Look, if you need to get something appraised – â€Å" â€Å"No,† he cut her off. â€Å"No. Just tell him she’s, no – tell him to look for a package in the mail. I’m not sure when.† Jane smiled to herself. This guy had something – a brooch, a coin, a book – something that he thought was worth some money, maybe something he’d found in his grandmother’s closet. She’d seen it a dozen times. They acted like they’ve found the lost city of Eldorado – they’d come in with it tucked in their coats, or wrapped in a thousand layers of tissue paper and tape. (The more tape, generally, the more worthless the item would turn out to be – there was an equation there somewhere.) Nine times out of ten it was crap. She’d watched her father try to finesse their ego and gently lower the owners into disappointment, convince them that the sentimental value made it priceless, and that he, a lowly secondhand-store owner, couldn’t presume to put a value on it. Charlie, on the other hand, would just tell them that he didn’t know about brooches, or coins, or whatever they had and let someone else bear the b ad news. â€Å"Okay, I’ll tell him,† Jane said from her cover behind the coats. With that, the tall man was away, taking great praying-mantis strides up the street and out of view. Jane shrugged, went back and turned on the lights, then proceeded to search for cushions among the piles. It was a big store, taking up nearly the whole bottom floor of the building, and not particularly well organized, as each system that Charlie adopted seemed to collapse after a few weeks under its own weight, and the result was not so much a patchwork of organizational systems, but a garden of mismatched piles. Lily, the maroon-haired Goth girl who worked for Charlie three afternoons a week, said that the fact that they ever found anything at all was proof of the chaos theory at work, then she would walk away muttering and go out in the alley to smoke clove cigarettes and stare into the Abyss. (Although Charlie noted that the Abyss looked an awful lot like a Dumpster.) It took Jane ten minutes to navigate the aisles and find three cushions that looked wide enough and thick enough that they might work for sitting shivah, and when she returned to Charlie’s apartment she found her brother curled into the fetal position around baby Sophie, asleep on the kitchen floor. The other mourners had completely forgotten about him. â€Å"Hey, doofus.† She nudged his shoulder with her toe and he rolled onto his back, the baby still in his arms. â€Å"These okay?† â€Å"Did you see anything glowing?† Jane dropped the stack of cushions on the floor. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Glowing red. Did you see things in the shop glowing, like pulsating red?† â€Å"No. Did you?† â€Å"Kind of.† â€Å"Give ’em up.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"The drugs. Hand them over. They’re obviously much better than you led me to believe.† â€Å"But you said they were just antianxiety.† â€Å"Give up the drugs. I’ll watch the kid while you shivah.† â€Å"You can’t watch my daughter if you’re on drugs.† â€Å"Fine. Surrender the crumb snatcher and go sit.† Charlie handed the baby up to Jane. â€Å"You have to keep Mom out of the way, too.† â€Å"Oh no, not without drugs.† â€Å"They’re in the medicine cabinet in the master bath. Bottom shelf.† He was sitting on the floor now, rubbing his forehead as if to stretch the skin out over his pain. She kneed him in the shoulder. â€Å"Hey, kid, I’m sorry, you know that, right? Goes without saying, right?† â€Å"Yeah.† A weak smile. She held the baby up by her face, then looked down in adoration, Mother of Jesus style. â€Å"What do you think? I should get one of these, huh?† â€Å"You can borrow mine whenever you need to.† â€Å"Nah, I should get my own. I already feel bad about borrowing your wife.† â€Å"Jane!† â€Å"Kidding! Jeez. You’re such a wuss sometimes. Go sit shivah. Go. Go. Go.† Charlie gathered the cushions and went to the living room to grieve with his in-laws, nervous because the only prayer he knew was â€Å"Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep,† and he wasn’t sure that was going to cut it for three full days. Jane forgot to mention the tall guy from the shop.