Factors that Led to Rapid Industrialisation of Japan Essay

Factors that Led to Rapid Industrialisation of Japan - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that reformation of the economic system involved introduction of a unified modern currency (yen), development and restructuring of the banking system, improved commercial laws and taxation system, stock exchanges, and improvement of the communications network. Creation of a new institutional framework that would suit the capitalist system was also among the primary task of the Meiji government. However, it was not until the early 1890s that this long process was completed, and by that time, the government had almost entirely ceased the practice of direct control over the process of industrialization due to increasing budget deficits due to a high cost of modernization. However, though most of these reforms have also been implemented by various European states their success – and success of the industrialization process – differed substantially. Evidently, these template reforms had to be undertaken in a favorable environment oth erwise the outcome would have hardly been successful. There were several major factors that contributed to the rapid and successful industrialization of Japan. Advanced technologies transferred to Japan from the industrialized Western states such as Britain and the United States played one of the major roles in stimulating early and rapid industrialization of the country. The essence of that transfer of technologies was the transplantation of factory-based production systems.  This approach was promoted by the Meiji government that played the key role in setting up the scene for Japan’s rapid industrialization. However, it was not until the early 1890s that this long process was completed, and by that time, the government had almost entirely ceased the practice of direct control over the process of industrialization due to increasing budget deficits due to a high cost of modernization. However, though most of these reforms have also been implemented by various European stat es their success - and success of the industrialization process - differed substantially. Evidently, these template reforms had to be undertaken in a favorable environment otherwise the outcome would have hardly been successful. There were several major factors that contributed to the rapid and successful industrialization of Japan. Advanced technologies transferred to Japan from the industrialized Western states such as Britain and the United States played one of the major roles in stimulating early and rapid industrialization of the country. The essence of that transfer of technologies was the transplantation of factory-based production systems. This approach was promoted by the Meiji government that played the key role in setting up the scene for Japan's rapid industrialization. Import of the workshop equipped with modern machinery was the central element of Meiji's policy aimed at 'catching up with and overtaking' industrialized western states. The list of industrial sectors tar geted by the Meiji government within the framework of its industrialisation policy was large and included not only defence-related (shipbuilding and others), but also a variety of civil industries that produced different goods and products for both the local and overseas market (silk-reeling, cement, glass, cotton spinning, etc).

Grocery Retail Market Analysis Essay Example for Free

Grocery Retail Market Analysis Essay Grocery retailing in the US is a very mature, saturated market. Consumers will, however always need to buy food. The industry is generally a high volume/low margin market, which is made up of over 65,000 supermarkets, hypermarkets, and grocery stores combining for annual revenues of about $938 billion. The necessity of effective supply chain management, keeping costs low, has resulted in an extreme concentration of the market, where the top 20 competitors generate over 67% of the industry annual revenue. Wal-Mart, which is considered to be a hypermarket, leads in grocery retailing with 225. 12 billion sales resulting in 24% value share during 2010. The second and third leading grocery retailers in the US are Kroger and Supervalu with 76.7 billion (7%) and 40.8 billion (4%) 2010 sales (value shares), respectively. (GMID Global Market Information Database) The industry is made up of four types of channels, consisting of supermarkets, hypermarkets, discounters, and convenience stores. Supermarkets are the largest channel and continue to appeal to shoppers because of the proximity to their homes and workplaces. Hypermarkets, which include Wal-Mart, are predicted to be the fastest growing channel and although are often less convenient for consumers than other grocery outlets, many believe it is worth the trip to save some money and are willing to drive a bit further to visit hypermarkets. Discounters offer a low-cost option for consumers by streamlining many operations. Finally, Convenience stores are known for quick shopping trips, but consumers typically do not think of convenience stores as a place to stock up on groceries. Grocery retailing as a whole grew by 2% in 2010, however the discounters experienced the strongest growth of 6%. Retailers in the discounters channel generally hold smaller inventories and tend to carry only a single brand of each item to keep costs low. The uncharacteristically strong growth in 2010 was due in large part to the expansion of Aldi throughout the US. After seeing considerable success in 2009, Aldi decided to expand its presence in the US and reported 68 billion in 2010 sales (Hoovers). Along with the growth in 2010, the number of grocery outlets declined by 1% in the US. During this year the consumer purchasing habits changed, resulting in shoppers making more trips to the grocery store each week and spending slightly more. Shoppers are spending 1.5 percent more weekly on groceries, bring the average to $99.90, but are spending less at their primary grocery store. At these stores the share of total grocery dollars spent fell to 75.4 percent in 2010 from 76.6 percent in 2009 according to the 2010 US Grocery Shopper Trends report by the Food Marketing Institute. The busy and fully scheduled American lifestyle leaves consumers constantly seeking convenient shopping solutions, and grocery retailing is no exception. However, with the recession in 2009, consumers focused more on value and price than on convenience. Consumers have become more willing to go out of their way to drive to and find venues that offer lower prices. This has resulted in intense price-based competition from mass merchandisers and warehouse clubs. In 2010, competition intensified across channels within the grocery retailing sector. As hypermarkets and discounters took share away from supermarkets in 2009, many supermarkets reacted by opening new formats or lowering prices in 2010 to win back consumers. Several national supermarket chains discounted prices and expanded their private label offerings. Coupon use also grew significantly in 2009 and 2010, as consumers became more comfortable looking for and using coupons (GMID Global Market Information Database). Additionally, the channel shifting caused by the economic downturn caused many new trends to help lure customers back and retain loyal customers. Many supermarkets are offering greater incentives through loyalty cards, while others are expanding product selections and focusing on the growing Hispanic population in the US. Primarily supermarkets have begun employing dieticians to be on-site in stores focusing on health and wellness. Consumers can ask dieticians questions about specific conditions and help find the right products. Another factor that will greatly affect this channel is the growth of grocery delivery in the US. Peapod currently operates in several markets, as does Safeway. Sears and Meijer both announced plans to test grocery delivery in certain cities, while Publix is testing curb-side pick-up.

stonewall jackson Essays -- essays research papers

General Thomas J. â€Å"STONEWALL† Jackson Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia. While he was a child both of his parents were laid to rest. He was raised by his uncle, and moved to what is now, Jackson’s Mill, West Virginia. When he turned 18 years old, he was appointed to attend West Point. During the Mexican War, he was appointed to order the First Regular Artillery. At this time, Jackson started to become religious. He started to study the Bible, and joined the Presbyterian Church. In 1851 he accepted a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, Virginia. He made this home for nearly 10 years. While he was there, he married Eleanor Junkin. She pasted away a little more than a year after they were married. He then married in ...

Queen Elizabeth Essay

‘The Taming of the Shrew’, written by William Shakespeare between 1589 and 1594, is a romantic comedy set in the Italian city of Padua. Since the play was written, the audience’s idea of comedy has changed quite dramatically. In the fifteen hundreds, an audience would have enjoyed obvious, visual aspects of comedy such as we would see in a modern-day pantomime, whereas an audience watching the play today would also enjoy less obvious aspects such as sarcasm, irony and dry humour. Shakespeare, although aware of Queen Elizabeth’s position as a strong and independent woman, also had to fulfil the expectations of the time. This is why the ‘feminist’ of the play comes out ‘Tamed’ at the end. Women were expected to be obedient to men, whether husband, father or elder, in the same way as commoners were subservient to the King and aristocracy, a model of society often referred to as the Great Chain of Being. This hierarchy supported belief in the Divine Right of Kings and, similarly, in man’s superiority to woman. The fact that the play is set in Italy further strengthens the link with the Italian tradition of Commedia dell’Arte, one of the major influences on modern pantomime. The subject of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ – who shall have sovereignty in marriage – is also part of a long and well established tradition in English literature offering many opportunities for comedy, for example Chaucer’s ‘Wife of Bath’s Tale’ and Noah’s wife in the Medieval Mystery Plays. The play is primarily about love and respect between husband and wife, though there are many other underlying themes: the relationship between master and servant, violence, and oppression, sexual compatibility, marriage and its materialistic assets, family, and the relationship between appearance and reality. As the title suggests, the play follows the struggles of Petruchio and Katherina in courtship and marriage; Petruchio takes on the challenge of marrying the famed ‘Shrew’, known in Padua for her scolding tongue and uninviting attitude, and by the end of the play manages to tame her. It sheds light on the belief of the time that women should be completely obedient toward their masters, and that Kate realizes she will get nowhere resisting men and relents to Petruchio’s authority.

Reflection of Freakonomics

Isaac Pack Mrs.. Buchwald AP com/microeconomics-chapter-4/">Microeconomics 18 August 2013 Freakishness Reflection/Response Initially, I was intrigued by the book based on its odd cover, an image of what appears to be a granny smith apple on the outside and an orange on the inside, and I found the contents far more interesting. The â€Å"catchphrase† used is â€Å"a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything†, and no other phrase could be more accurate.Steven D. Levitate, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, roved the various uses for his field that I had never before realized. The first example of a use for economics that piqued my interest was the very first one in the book: criminology. Before reading this, I had assumed that the subject of economics was involved with nothing more than concepts like the elasticity of prices and interest rates. I was utterly shocked when Steven D.Levitate was able to conclude that the cause of the decrease in the crime rate was attributable to not the increase in gun laws, not the increase in policing, and not the aging population, but the Roe v. Wade case that eventually led to the legalization of abortions. Anyone could easily guess that unwanted children are much more likely to become criminals, but to link that fact to the idea that people could avoid having unwanted children and create a logical and reasonable statement regarding the decrease in crime was absurd yet brilliant.The second use for economics that caught my eye was the idea of the value of roared information. He used the instance of the ASK with the facts regarding real estate astoundingly well to prove a point. Not only were the random bits of facts [such as the mention of Clansmen calling a conversation a â€Å"collaboration†] hilarious and entertaining, but they proved an impressive point: withheld information can drastically raise or lower value with ease. I never really pondered upon it before, but upon r eading and analyzing this statement, I came to be conscious and aware of it.

Interpratation of a photograph essays

Interpratation of a photograph essays The black and white photographs lack of color provides a sense of connection to a time long since past. It tells a tale of times best forgotten. Three dead bodies lie cold on the beach and a lone American solider covered with mud, stands with his back to the camera with a gun in hand, possibly contemplating his irreversible deed. The bodies lie cold and motionless in the rising tide, slowly being covered by the vast ocean. Images of death can bring forth feelings from deep within, feelings that take hold of the heart and soul, refusing to let go. They burn themselves into the mind, never to be forgotten. This photograph was taken during World War II and was one of the first U.S. war photos of the dead to be cleared by censors. The photographer is not known. It was taken during the January 1943 amphibious landing on the island of New Guinea. At first glance this photo appears like any other wartime photo. Photos that have bombarded you in textbooks and television. Countless movies have been made depicting the same images. But there is something different about this photo. It almost brings you into that terrible moment in history. It captures the mood of what the war was unlike the images that we grow accustomed to in the movies. By looking deeply into the photograph, the mind is set free. It is allowed to wander. Thousands of images begin bombarding the brain, along with questions that need answers. And for as long as the mind allows, its possible to be there, on that beach, feeling all the emotions that the solider in the photo felt. For a moment in time, you can stand in his shoes and look through his eyes. This photo, aside from all the hundreds of photos in the book, was the only one that reached off the paper and grabbed hold of me. Death has a way of affecting all who see it. Unlike anything else in this world, death is able to make people stop and think. Perhaps fear is what ...

Red Badge Of Courage Essays - The Red Badge Of Courage, Free Essays

Red Badge Of Courage Essays - The Red Badge Of Courage, Free Essays Red Badge of Courage The Red Badge of Courage is the story of a young man named Henry Fleming. The novel concerns only two days in his life and he is a boy when the novel begins, a man when the novel ends. He enlists in the 304th Regiment of New York Volounteers against his mother's wishes, and spends many boring months in training. He is sent into battle finally. The battle of Chancellorville is the agreed upon location where the book probably takes place. It is mentioned that he travels along the Arappahanock River and by Richmond. The book details historical fact of the battle. This was the closest the South ever came to Washington D.C. and it was a very intense battle. Against a background of battlefield trauma, Crane sets a very important battle: the battle going on in Henry's mind. Henry believes he is faced with imminent death, and throws down his rifle and flees during the second skirmish on the first day. He attempts to rationalize his actions and becomes increasingly ashamed of himself. As he wanders in the rear of the fighting, he encounters a dead soldier. Eventually he falls in with some wounded men and witnesses the death of his close friend, Jim Conklin. As a result of that, he deserts another friend dying and runs. He wants to make a wound for himself so that he is removed from the battle, and by accident is hit on the head by a deserter. He's discovered by another soldier, who helps him return to his regiment. There he lies and says he was wounded in battle. The next day he goes to the front again, and actually retrieves his army's colors from the dying flag bearer. He urges his comrads on, and is proclaimed a hero. Crane wrote this book when he was twenty three years old, in ten days. He had never been in battle and critics through the United States and England could not believe that he had never seen war. His sources were teachers athis small private school in New York State. The book's genius is now regarded as an American masterpiece of psychological writing. Unfortunately, it seems he was probably haunted by the experience of this book and ultimately went to join the Spanish American War. He was disqualified from fighting due to tuberculosis, but he continued into Cuba as a reporter for Pulitzer and Hearst. He contracted malaria there and several years later died at the age of twenty eight. The Red Badge of Courage is an intense inner story of thoughts, fears and imaginings that any member of an infantry would find. As comrads fell to the right and left, and as people were pannicked, the chaos and confusion of kill or be killed comes forth in simple boyish questions. He stares at corposes. He becomes obsessed with the thought that the troops are marching into a trap and none of the leaders know it. He wants to warn his companions. He feels stupid and incompetent. The first battle arrives and he feels the physical effects of fighting burning in his eyes and roaring in his ears. He feels suffocated by the smoke of gunfire. All the soldiers and officers are fighting in every way possible and when it stops, infront of him, he sees everyone around him dead and the wounded crawling away. He hears the sounds of fighting coming from everywhere and realizes that he is surrounded by war. Crane's language becomes impressionistic. Henry is amazed to see "a pure blue sky and the sun gleaming on the trees and fields." He then wakes up, somehow, and sees how proud he is of himself. Suddenly the enemy reappears. The youth feels it must be a mistake. He sees men around him running and he feels he is being left alone to die. He turns and runs. He runs into yet another battle where, at the edge of the forest, he feels as if he's being kept in by nature itself. That the branches of the trees are trying to halt his progress. He sees his friend Jim Conklin shot through the stomach, mortally wounded, and is told he should remove him from the battle. Jim runs to the bushes before he dies to avoid being run over by war wagons. Henry watches with an agony almost as great as his friend. Henry tries to understand what Jim is thinking but cannot reach his friend. Crane ends the chapter with the sentance, "The red sun was pasted in the sky

Logical Punctuation Isnt the Logical Choice

Logical Punctuation Isnt the Logical Choice Logical Punctuation Isn’t the Logical Choice Logical Punctuation Isn’t the Logical Choice By Mark Nichol An American university professor recently wrote a piece for the online publication Slate about the illogic of the American system of punctuating in conjunction with quotation marks. His argument: Although traditional print publications and many corporate and organizational Web sites largely observe this system, the explosion of informal writing (email, chat, blogs, and personal or â€Å"amateur† Web sites) is changing the game, and perhaps it’s time to concede victory to the masses. The status quo in professional publishing is to employ, when using quotation marks, commas and periods as follows: â€Å"In American English,† he said, â€Å"commas and periods almost never follow quotation marks.† Certain exceptions, such as precisely framing philosophical or etymological terms by excluding punctuation that is part of the general narrative, have been tolerated because they do not affect mainstream usage. However, computer programming also requires excluding punctuation from within quotation marks unless it is part of a code or a command (whether as a punctuation mark or for another function, as when a semicolon is used as part of ASCII code). Some print and online publications adopt this style in references to search terms (as in â€Å"Search for ‘logical punctuation’.†) because they believe it necessary to emphasize that the period isn’t part of the search term. (Sigh.) But the greatest sea change in punctuation vis-a-vis quotation marks is a populist uprising: The hoi polloi, it seems, can’t seem to get this convention straight, or can’t be bothered about it. (I’m not being snobbish; I make mistakes, too, and I have to look a lot of things up. But by the same token, capitalization rules seem to flummox many lay writers, so perhaps we should abolish the uppercase alphabet as well.) Thus, in a variety of self-publishing platforms online, in self-produced e-books and print publications, in online communication modes as well as in marketing materials and business correspondence, many writers place commas and periods outside quotation marks. This system is quite common, of course, even in formal publications: It’s a convention in the British-English world, though it’s less prevalent and more subtle than you might think. (I didn’t know the particulars until I read the essay in question and did some research.) The nuance is that the rules of British English don’t always call for placing commas and periods outside quotation marks: If the quoted material is in itself a complete thought, the punctuation goes inside. But beyond the fact that this complicates things, because it’s not always apparent whether a quotation is complete or incomplete, many British publications adhere to the same style that predominates in American publications. So, it’s not so simple to blithely convert to so-called logical punctuation, which isn’t quite logical or, at least, isn’t any more intuitive than the traditional American system. And that system is inconsistent: Place commas and periods inside quotation marks, but semicolons and colons go outside. Em dashes, question marks, and exclamation points go inside or outside depending on whether they’re part of the context of the quoted material (shades of logical punctuation). What, then, do we do? How about business as usual? American writers, consult an American style guide. British writers (and others who adhere to British English), consult a British style guide. And for those who advocate following popular as opposed to professional usage: Do whatever you please, but don’t expect the overwhelming majority of American book, magazine, and newspaper publishers, as well as the producers of professionally edited (and US-based) Web sites, to abandon a system that, while imperfect, works perfectly well if you follow a few simple rules. (This site discusses those rules in various posts; search for â€Å"quotation marks.† But leave out the period, right?) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Types and Forms of Humor75 Synonyms for â€Å"Talk†Types of Ignorance

The Articles of Confederation Versus the Constitution Assignment - 9

The Articles of Confederation Versus the Constitution - Assignment Example In order to understand the differences between these two historical and pivotal documents is to discuss them more deeply and individually. The Articles of Confederation were enacted in March of 1781 and were maintained until 1789, nearly 8 years to the day (Kelly). The Articles were chosen as ideal for a fledgling and inexperienced government to have a better chance of winning the Revolutionary War and defeating the British forces. However, many of the colony’s settlers had a negative experience with governments who had too much power and control and no real experience in the forming of government (Morgan 1). They specifically wanted a government with limited power. Many commented that the Articles of Confederation were essentially a â€Å"friendship agreement† between the 13 original colonies in the war against a shared enemy (Painter 3-4). The Constitution replaced the Articles in 1789. The Constitution was considered to be a â€Å"progressive† document; one th at represented a long term government that was different than those the settlers left behind. This is one of the first things that separate the Articles and the Constitution. The Articles intended to facilitate a favorable end to the war and the latter was intended to develop a long term, stable government structure (Winkler 1). However, the differences go much deeper.  There are several specific differences between the two documents. First, in the Articles, the individual states are sovereign and not accountable to the federal government, whereas the Constitution shares the powers between states and the federal government.

Distribution Strategy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Distribution Strategy - Assignment Example The distribution strategy will be exclusive to the wealthy oil and gas field owners (Chand, p2). In a video by Netjet Dubbed the promise, it promises to keep upholding its values and being the best private jet service offer. To achieve this and be able to deliver to the consumer in Brunei, the company intends to increase its network of jets. This is in line with the notion that the Netjet customer is the intelligent, affluent king, which is typically the case in Brunei. Netjet also plans to accommodate its customers through offering a promise of accommodation regardless of the pickup location or destination or the date (McCarthy, p1). Netjet is undertaking design specification of the cabin interiors of the jets and is interested in offering a highly personalized product. Together with safety improvement, it will give it a lead to its competitors. In terms of accessing the customer in Brunei offering of safety, comfort and personalized experience will go a long way in achieving this ( Alcock,

LEXMARK International problems Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LEXMARK International problems - Case Study Example The company was able to send more accurate information for a very short span of time. This new system enables those connected to the business which include the buyers, financial analysts, marketing analyst, merchandisers, regional managers, and field sales representatives, to access or work on available data more instantly and easily. The bottom line of every business is to be profitable. And to do so, customer satisfaction should be guaranteed. Lexmark International has been successful in meeting the needs of its customers when it adopted the new system. Through it, the managers understood well the trends in their business, stock-outs were avoided and the demands of the consumers which vary from country to country were continuously met. Thereby, they arrive on better decisions on pricing and promotions which greatly benefit both business and consumers. SQL-Retail BI System is an engineering company specializing in the development of software solutions specially designed for retailers. It ensures to provide a retail organization with accurate and timely data information. It utilizes the latest .NET technology by Microsoft that contains embedded analysis and reporting tools from Microstrategy. The system's database is architected in order to store data in a way that easy and flexible access by users will be possible. These data could be neat and accessible to all users by using either desktop or web browser, and including handy mobile devices such as notebooks, pocket PC's and cellular phones. The performance of all the aspects of a retail business such as Corporate Performance versus Plans, Store Performance, Buyer Performance, Warehouse Performance, Merchandise Performance, and Associate Performance could be evaluated using the system. 6. Go to sas.com, and find the Retail Intelligence Product; take the interactive tour. Compare it to MicroStrategy's product. Also compare it to Oracle Retail (see pracle.com/applications/retail.html SAS Solutions for Retail has four integrated group of solutions namely, Customer intelligence, Merchandise intelligence, Operations intelligence, Performance Management Solutions. Its core components are based on industry-leading data integration, analytics and reporting technologies. Rapid results are ensured by prebuilt data and analytical models. Oracle retail on the other hand is designed to help business achieve efficient operational infrastructures, enabling it to utilize resources which will make the company distinguishable from the competition. Oracle resolutions also offer assistance in improving information integrity, making the enterprise insight-driven, and empowering workforce to adopt excellence, and influence customers patronage of the business. References: 1. http://www.microstrategy.com/Solutions/ 2. http://www.sas.com/industry/retail/ 3.

Punjabis Folk Dance Bhangra Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Punjabis Folk Dance Bhangra - Research Paper Example Punjab folk singers have also developed bhangra in United Kingdom. Major Punjabis’ migrations to the United Kingdom led to the spread of bhangra music, thus making it popular in Britain (Katz 33). However, it was heavily influenced by rock sounds infusion in Britain as well as the need to do away with the repetitive, simple Punjabi folk music. Furthermore, it triggered the development of Asian British youth culture which was distinctive and more self conscious. This culture revolved around experimental sense of gesture, language, desires and bodily signification in situations of tension between racist elements and British culture that had signaled alienation of minority ethnic groups. This situation fostered the need for positive culture and identity affirmation and gave way for Punjabis males in Britain to show their masculinity. Another factor that has helped in the survival of Bhangra is involvement of women in the dance in the second generation in south Asian America where women are increasingly using bhangra to define their cultural identity (Katz 33). As opposed in the past, it was purely a male dance that involved intense and strong movements. 1980s was the golden era for Bhangraheads with melody as the primary emphasis where it was played out on a harmonium, synthesizer, guitar or accordion; the composer received very many fans which exceeded those of the vocalist. The music was also independent of the used instruments (Sharma 77). This made it easy to be played by many communities’ world wide using own instruments. Further more, it gave room for the artists and other performers to use instruments of their own choice and which they were comfortable in. therefore, many people irrespective of their... The research offers a variety of ways of looking at the dance, including a consideration of the culture's history, environment, economics and worldview. Sometimes additional percussions including the tabla were used to accompany the dhol and dholki although it was less frequently used as a solo instrument. The bhangra lyric majorly cover social issues such as love, money, relationships and marriage and is always sung in Punjabi language. The lyrics are mostly tributes to the rich cultural traditions of the Punjabis especially those ones devoted to Punjabi pride, themes and Punjabi heroes. Many of the bhangra tracks are written about Udam Singh and Bhagat Singh. This paper makes a conclusion that Like Bhangra dance, ballroom dance is also popular in the whole world but it is more entertaining. It is also a dance for the elites while Bhangra is a dance for people from all social backgrounds. Similarly, it has many dance styles and techniques and also uses a variety of instruments. Ballet dance is however common in Russia and France, though it is slowly penetrating in other countries. Folk dances are performed at social events just like bhangra but are performed in dance groups. Folk dances are performed differently by different communities from various parts of the world. From the Moroccan Muslims, Indian folk, to Scottish dances, they all have their own charm and beauty. Theses dances have their own different styles that differentiate them from others.

Plea bargaining Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Plea bargaining - Essay Example However, if the criminal knows he will most likely be pleading guilty to a lesser crime than the crime he is committing, the punishment for the lesser crime might not be enough to prevent him from committing it. While I agree that it is certainly true that many criminals will get away with a lesser charge, I think the harm caused by this is mitigated by the fact that more guilty criminals will be convicted. This is because it seems that someone who knows they are guilty is likely to accept a lesser charge, even if there is a possibility they will be acquitted. The second issue has to do with the concern that innocent people will plead guilty to lesser crimes. Although the defendant may know he is innocent, instead of maintaining this position, he may feel coerced into accepting the plea bargain. The innocent person may feel it’s not worth the risk to face the greater charge, and feel almost forced to plead guilty to a charge he never committed. I agree this is a serious moral issue, for if large amounts of people are pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit, then the credibility of our justice system is undermined. Despite moral criticisms plea bargains continue to play a key role in our justice system. Prosecutors still often benefit from the ability to get more convictions, while defense attorneys benefit from being able to get their clients a better deal. Perhaps more regulation needs to be provided to prevent coercion of innocent people. It’s doubtful though, that plea-bargaining will ever be eliminated from our legal system completely, and it will likely remain

Literacy Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Literacy Narrative - Essay Example When I reached the school-going age, I enrolled into the elementary school, where my teachers taught some of the simple aspects of language and pronunciations. I developed a keen interest in reading picture stories; I could easily connect the pictures to form coherent stories. My elder brother was very supportive and could often help me collect several picture books, which I could read and narrate the stories to him and my parents. Sometimes, they were very excited not because I could tell the stories well, but because I could spell and pronounced some words in a comical way just because I had developed proper literacy skills. I remember a day when my brother took me for a walk in the nearest town, I forced him to take me to the bookshop and see if I could find some nice story books. Though he was reluctant, he agreed to take me on condition that I would not cry for a book because he did not have enough money. However, the carving for a certain interesting book at the bookshop made me to hide it in my shirt, thinking that no one would know about it. When we reached at the door, I was surprised when the door scanner sounded an alarm; the attendant smiled at me and asked my brother to pay and never to scold at me since I was just a small boy. I was very embarrassed and vowed never to do it again. I went home and was happy to have the book inasmuch as it had disappointed my elder brother. During a function at school, I was chosen to make a presentation to the visitors who were gracing the occasion. I received a great applause from the audience and encouragement from my teachers, who noted that my literacy skills had really improved. The love for reading has propelled me to excel I my passion for research. So far, I have written various novels that explain about my life into written literature and research and others that are mere fictions. I

Plea bargaining Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Plea bargaining - Essay Example However, if the criminal knows he will most likely be pleading guilty to a lesser crime than the crime he is committing, the punishment for the lesser crime might not be enough to prevent him from committing it. While I agree that it is certainly true that many criminals will get away with a lesser charge, I think the harm caused by this is mitigated by the fact that more guilty criminals will be convicted. This is because it seems that someone who knows they are guilty is likely to accept a lesser charge, even if there is a possibility they will be acquitted. The second issue has to do with the concern that innocent people will plead guilty to lesser crimes. Although the defendant may know he is innocent, instead of maintaining this position, he may feel coerced into accepting the plea bargain. The innocent person may feel it’s not worth the risk to face the greater charge, and feel almost forced to plead guilty to a charge he never committed. I agree this is a serious moral issue, for if large amounts of people are pleading guilty to crimes they did not commit, then the credibility of our justice system is undermined. Despite moral criticisms plea bargains continue to play a key role in our justice system. Prosecutors still often benefit from the ability to get more convictions, while defense attorneys benefit from being able to get their clients a better deal. Perhaps more regulation needs to be provided to prevent coercion of innocent people. It’s doubtful though, that plea-bargaining will ever be eliminated from our legal system completely, and it will likely remain

Volkswagen Strategic Management Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Volkswagen Strategic Management - Case Study Example VW group have 8 automobile brands with 44 vehicle and component production plants in European countries as well as in six countries in America; Asia & Africa. Sales operations spread around 150 countries across the globe. The group has eight major brands of vehicles namely Volkswagen passenger cars, Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini SEAT, Skoda and Volkswagen commercial Vehicles- each deal autonomously with their own vehicle business includes development and production to marketing & servicing (Accessed from the website www.volkswagen.com). 1. As part of the corporate governance and strategic management, VW group has adopted various strategic choices. Strategic fit is developing strategy by identifying opportunities in the business environment and adopting resources and competences to take advantage of these (Porter, 1980). Strategic choices are concerned with decisions about an organization's future and the way in which it needs to respond to the market pressure and influences. At different level of organization, executives are faced with choices as to how to meet the expectations of stakeholders' whilst satisfying the needs and expectation of the users, often-in competition with other organizations. Hannan & Freeman (1977) suggest that as organizations, adaptor of a particular environment they become less flexible. Organization's choices are constrained not only by an explicit cultural dimension in the sense of what we believe around here but also by what skills and resources are available and in what context those s kills and resources become valuable. Prahalad & Bettis (1986) argue that organizations have dominant logics and that these logics are based on the mental maps developed in the organizations core business. Michel Porter's (1985) five forces strategies low cost strategies and strategic choices are some of the strategies have been adopted for competitive advantages for the organizations. Campbell-Hunt (2000) suggests that differentiation can take on number of forms based on marketing variables, sales variables, quality reputation variable and product innovation variables. Sustainable competitive advantage depends on companies being able to develop and protect resource advantages by focusing on particular market position. Finally, organization's ability to succeed in a business arena depends on is ability to develop a market position that is supported by appropriate assets and capabilities. Strategic choices include corporate strategy, Business or competitive strategy and directions and methods of development. Corporate level strategy (Andrews, 1987) is concerned with the overall purpose and scope of an organization and how value will be added to different parts of (business units) the organizations. Corporate level strategy includes portfolio decisions extent of diversity and management and control of subsidiaries. The second level can be thought of in terms of business unit strategy (Hall, 1978) which is about how to complete successfully in particular markets. Business strategy includes sustainability, competitive advantages competitive strategy and strategies in hyper-competitive conditions. Finally, the directions and methods of development include market development, product development, diversification, acquisitions alliances as well as critical success criteria. It also includes the concept of suitability, acceptability and

Hyphenated Americans and the Hardships of the American Indians Essay Example for Free

Hyphenated Americans and the Hardships of the American Indians Essay Many Americans recognize themselves with a hyphenated designation. They call themselves Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Jewish-American, Cuban-Americans, native-Americans and many other. They considered themselves immigrants -people who moved to the United States to seek legal permanent residency and stable sources pf livelihood. Indeed, it is said that the United States has always been a nation of refugees and immigrants, with the exception of the natives living here before the Spanish, French, Viking, Dutch and English explorers arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. Native Americans (Indian American) who lived on the North America peninsula for at least 16,000 years had a very diverse collision on American history and racial relations. It is noticeable that during the independent periods, a long series of conflicts between Indian tribes erupted for almost 2000 years. These include wars, massacres, imposition of treaties and forced displacement done by the immigrants in their native soil. History books documented the first racial discrimination: Hernando De Soto burned a number of Indian villages in 1540, with the consent of the Spanish Crown. In early 1700’s, the English massacred nearly 800 Choctaws. Afterwhich, the idea of Indian exclusion became popular. Choctaw elders described the incident in 1849: â€Å"We have our homes torn down and destroyed, our fences demoralized, cattle was slaughtered into our fields and we ourselves have been plagued, chained, confined and personally abused, until by such management of our some best people have died,† (William, 1988). In this view, some ideological expansionist justification included stereotyped views of all Native Americans as â€Å"merciless Indian savages,† despite triumphant efforts of American radicals to eradicate discrimination. The most popular attempt happened with the so called California Gold Rush, when thousands of Native Americans died in the gold mines of California and Arizona. Under this rule, Indians were subjected to de facto slavery. Thus, in 1850, the state of California entered the Union as a free state (including the issue of slavery); slavery was formally practiced in 1863 when the California Legislature ratified special laws on slavery. Former President George Washington believed that Native Americans were equals of the ‘modern’ American but recognize the fact that their societies were less technologically advanced. This led to the formulation of a set of policies designed to modernize these societies. These included: a) giving punishment for those who violated Native American rights, b) presidential authority to give promote Indian development, c) promotion of business, d) improvement of Native American Society, e) objective impartiality toward Native Americans, and f) regulated buying of Native American lands. In this sense, Native Americans battle for their rights and giving them the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 granted US citizenship to all Native Americans, although prior to the passage of the law, almost two thirds of them are already a US citizen. The act partly stated: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all no citizen Native Americans born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided, That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Native American to tribal or other property. † Indian Citizen Act of 1924 Over time, as the immigration intensified, American Indians were gradually mixed into the prevailing society resulting to erosion of monolithic solidarity of ethnic cultures. But less evident was the immovable preservation of the unique characteristics of the dominantly flooded ethnicities. A civilizing pluralism steadily saturated the homogeneous principles that natives insisted were very important to the American distinctiveness. As ethnics detached, hyphenated societies reproduced. Thus, complexity in historical origins is evident in their ethnic closed society. For now, what is clear is that the Americans are still in making its way to accept this reality. In this sense, the remarkable ability of the Americans to fuse diversity into harmony is said to be an ever-changing mosaic of their culture.

Comparing Relationship between Teller and Tale in The Merchant’s Tale a

Relationship between Teller and Tale in The Merchant’s Tale and The Wife of Bathe A relationship is usually seen between the teller of a tale and the tale that he or she decides to share. Chaucer’s pilgrim, the Merchant, uses his feelings on marriage to teach a lesson in his tale. The Wife of Bathe also relies on her life experience to tell her tale. The two relationships in the tales can then be compared. In his prologue, the Merchant recounts how he despises being married. He has only been married for two months and he regrets the decision he made because his wife is the worst of all. He takes these negative views of marriage into his tale. The old man that gets to receive the Merchant’s feelings towards marriage is January. January is happy in his marriage, quite the opposite from the Merchant, yet his wife fools him. The Merchant is blinded by the beauty and vivacity of his young wife, May. He is in love enough with her that he does not immediately understand the affair that is happening behind his back. Even when he catches sight of Da...

edgar allan poe Essay -- essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was the son of two poor touring actors, Elizabeth Arnold Poe and David Poe Jr. The Poes traveled around to many different theaters, playing many different roles. While his mother was a well-known actor, his father was not, and was usually drunk during performances. David Poe abandoned his family when Edgar was about two and the rest of the Poe family left for Richmond, Virginia. Edgar’s mother died of tuberculosis there in Richmond. Edgar was only three at the time but apparently he remembered the traumatizing event later in life. After his mother’s death, John and Frances Allan took Edgar in. John Allan was a wealthy merchant. Allan changed Edgar Poe’s name to Edgar Allan Poe when he was baptized but never legally adopted him. John Allan sent Poe to all the best schools. John Allan’s company went bankrupt and he thought his family would have to live an austere lifestyle. Fortune found the Allan’s in 1825 when John’s uncle died and left the family $200,000. John Allan could now afford to send Edgar to the University of Virginia. While there, Edgar began drinking and gambling. This is also where he began writing poems. In 1827, Poe left the University and went to Baltimore. He was hoping to publish the poems that he had written but nobody would buy them. Poe was without any income so he joined the Army. He gained the rank of sergeant major in just two years and wrote in his spare time....

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 42~43

PART THREE Coconut Angel 42 Bedfellows Just before dawn, Tuck crawled through the bottom of the shower like a homesick cockroach, scuttled out of the bathroom under the mosquito netting and into bed. There were things to do, big things, important things, maybe even dangerous things, but he had no idea what they were and he was too tired and too drunk to figure them out now. He had tried, he had really tried to convince the Shark men that the doctor and his wife were doing horrible things to them, but the islanders always came back with the same answer: â€Å"It is what Vincent wants. Vincent will take care of us.† To hell with them, Tuck thought. Dumb bastards deserve what happens to them. He rolled over and pushed the coconut-headed dummy aside. The dummy pushed back. Tuck leaped out of bed, tripped in the mosquito netting, and scooted on his butt like a man backing away from a snake. And the dummy sat up. Tuck couldn't see the face in the predawn light filtering into the bungalow, just a silhouette behind the mosquito netting, a shadow. And the shadow wore a captain's hat. â€Å"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking because I'll give you six to five I do.† The accent was somewhere out of a Bowery Boys movie, and Tuck recognized the voice. He'd heard it in his head, he'd heard it in the voice of a talking bat, and he'd heard it twice from a young flyer. â€Å"You do?† â€Å"Yeah, you're thinking, ‘Hey, I never wanted to find a guy in my bed, but if you got to find a guy in your bed, this is the guy I'd want it to be,' right?† â€Å"That's not what I was thinking.† â€Å"Then you shoulda taken odds, ya mook.† â€Å"Who are you?† The flyer threw back the mosquito netting and tossed something across the room. Tuck flinched as it landed with a thump on the floor next to him. â€Å"Pick it up.† Tuck could just see an object shining by his knee. He picked up what felt like a cigarette lighter. â€Å"Read what it says,† the shadow said. â€Å"I can't. It's dark.† Tuck could see the flyer shaking his head dolefully. â€Å"You know, I saw a guy in the war that got his head shot off about the hat line. Docs did some hammering on some stainless steel and riveted it on his noggin and saved his life, but the guy didn't do nothing from that day forward but walk around in a circle yanking his hamster and singing just the ‘row' part of ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' They had to tape oven mitts on him to keep him from rubbing himself raw. Now, I'm not saying that the guy didn't know how to have a good time, but he wasn't much for conversation, if you know what I mean.† â€Å"That was a beautiful story,† Tuck said. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because the steelhead hamster-pulling ‘row' guy was a genius compared to you. Light the fuckin' lighter, ya mook.† â€Å"Oh,† Tuck said and he flipped open the lighter and sparked it. By the firelight he could read the engraving: VINCENT BENNIDETTI, CAPTAIN U.S.A.F. Tuck looked back at the flyer, who was still caged in shadow, even though the rest of the room had started to lighten. â€Å"You're Vincent?† The shadow gave a slight bow. â€Å"Not exactly in the flesh, but at your fuckin' service.† â€Å"You're Malink's Vincent?† â€Å"The same. I gave the chief the original of that lighter.† â€Å"You could have just said so. You didn't have to be so dramatic.† Tuck was glad he was a little drunk. He didn't feel frightened. As strange as it all was, he felt safe. This guy – this thing, this spirit – had more or less saved his life at least twice, maybe three times. â€Å"I got responsibilities, kid, and so do you.† â€Å"Responsibilities?† Now Tuck was frightened. It was a conditioned response. â€Å"Yeah, so when you get up later today, don't go storming into the doc's office demanding the facts. Just go swimming. Cool off.† â€Å"Go swimming?† â€Å"Yeah, go to the far side of the reef and swim away from the direction of the village about five hundred yards. Keep an eye out for sharks outside of the reef.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"A guy appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night saying all kinds of mystical shit and you ask why?† â€Å"Yeah. Why?† â€Å"Because I said so,† Vincent said. â€Å"My dad always said that. Are you the ghost of my dad?† The shade slapped his forehead. â€Å"Repeat after me – and don't be getting any on you, now – one and two and three and ‘Row, row, row, row, row†¦'† He started to fade away with the chant. â€Å"Wait,† Tuck said. â€Å"I need to know more than that.† â€Å"Stay on the sly, kid. You don't know as much as you think you do.† â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"You owe me.† Two armed ninjas followed Tuck to the water. He watched them, looking for signs of microwave poisoning from the radar blasts, but he wasn't sure exactly what the signs would be. Would they plump noticeably, perhaps explode without fork holes to release the inner pressure? That would be cool. Maybe they'd fall asleep on the beach and wake up a hundred times larger, yearning to do battle with Godzilla while tiny people whose words didn't match their mouth movements scrambled in the flaming rubble be-low? (It happened all the time in Japanese movies, didn't it?) Too good for them. He pulled on his fins and bowed to them as he backed into the water. â€Å"May your nads shrivel like raisins,† he said with a smile. They bowed back, more out of reflex than respect. The far side of the reef and five hundred yards down: The ninjas were going to have a fit. He'd never gone to the ocean side of the reef. Inside was a warm clear aquamarine where you could always see the bottom and the fish seemed, if not friendly, at least not dan gerous. But the ocean side, past the surf, was a dark cobalt blue, as deep and liquid as a clear night sky. The colorful reef fish must look like M to the hunters of the deep blue, Tuck thought. The outer edge of the reef is the candy dish of monsters. He kicked slowly out to the reef, letting the light surge lift and drop him as he watched the multicolored links in the food chain dart around the bottom. A trigger fish, painted in tans and blues that seemed more at home in the desert, was crunching the legs off of a crab while smaller fish darted in to steal the floating crumbs. He pulled up and looked at the only visible break in the reef, a deep blue channel, and headed toward it. He'd have to go out to the ocean side and swim the five hundred yards there, otherwise the breaking surf would dash him against the coral when he tried to swim over the reef. He put his face in the water and kicked out of the channel until the bottom disappeared, then, once past the surf line, turned and swam parallel to the reef. It was like swimming in space at the edge of a canyon. He could see the reef sloping down a hundred and fifty feet to disappear into a blue blur. He tried to keep his bearing on the reef, let his eye bounce from coral fan to anemone to nudibranch to eel, like visual stepping-stones, because to his left there was no reference, nothing but empty blue, and when he looked there he felt like a child watching for a strange face at the window, so convinced and terrified it would come that any shape, any movement, any play of light becomes a horror. He saw a flash out the side of his mask and whipped around in time to see a harmless green parrot fish munching coral. He sucked a mouthful of water into his submerged snorkel and choked. He hovered in a dead man's float for a full minute before he could breathe normally and start kicking his way up the reef again, this time resolved to faith. Whatever, whoever Vincent was, he had saved Tuck's life, and he knew things. He wouldn't have gone to the trouble to have Tuck eaten by barracudas. Tuck ticked off his stepping-stones, trying to gauge how far he had come. He would have to go out farther to see past the rising surf and use the shore as a reference, and besides, what was above the water's surface was irrelevant. This was a foreign world, and he was an uninvited guest. Then another flash, but this time he fought the panic. Sunlight on something metal about thirty feet down the slope of the reef. Something waving in the surge near the flash. He rested a second, gathered his breath, and dove, swooping down to grab the object just as he recognized what it was: a set of military dog tags on a beaded metal chain. He shot to the surface and hovered as he caught his breath and read: SOMMERS, JAMES W. James Sommers was a Presbyterian, according to the dog tag. Somehow Tuck didn't think that a thousand-yard swim was worth finding a pair of dog tags. But there was the swath of fabric still down there. Tuck hadn't gotten a good look at it. He tucked the tags into the inside pocket of his trunks and dove again. He kicked down to the swath of cloth, holding his nose and blowing to equalize the pressure on his ears, even as the air in his lungs tried to pull him to the surface, away from his prize. It was some kind of printed cotton. He grasped at it and a piece came away in his hand. He pulled again, but the cloth was wedged into a crevice in the reef. He yanked and the cloth came away, revealing something white. Out of breath, he shot to the surface and examined the cloth. Flying piggies. Oh, good. He'd risked his life for Presbyterian dog tags and a flying piggies print. One more dive and he saw what it was that had wedged into the crevice: a human pelvic bone. Whatever else had been here had been carried away, but this bone had wedged and been picked clean. Someone wearing flying piggies boxers had become part of the food chain. The swim back to the channel seemed longer and slower, but this time Tuck forgot his fear of what might lurk behind the vasty blue. The real danger lay back on shore. And how does one, over dinner, proffer the opinion that one's employers are murdering organ thieves? â€Å"Stay on the sly,† Vincent had said. And so far he seemed to know what he was talking about. 43 Boiling the Puppets â€Å"Oh, come in, Mr. Case. Sebastian is out on the lanai.† She wore a white raw silk pant suit, cut loose in the legs and low at the neck, a rope of pearls with matching earrings. Her hair was tied back with a white satin bow and she moved before him like the ghost of good housekeeping. â€Å"How do you feel about Pacific lobster?† â€Å"I like it,† Tuck said, looking for some sign from her that she knew that he knew. There was no acknowledgment of her appearance in his room last night or that she had any suspicion of him at all. Tuck said, â€Å"I feel like I'm taking advantage coming to dinner empty-handed. I ought to have you and the doc over to my place some evening.† â€Å"Oh, do you cook too, Mr. Case?† â€Å"A few things. My specialty is blackened Pez.† â€Å"A Cajun dish?† â€Å"I learned to make it in Texas, actually.† â€Å"A Tex-Mex specialty, then.† â€Å"Well, a fifth of tequila does make it taste a little better.† She laughed, a polite hostess laugh, and said, â€Å"Can I get you something to drink?† â€Å"You mean a drink or some liquid?† â€Å"I'm sorry. It does seem constraining, I'm sure, but you understand, you might have to fly.† She had a large glass of white wine on the counter where she had been working. Tuck looked at it and said, â€Å"But performing major surgery under the influence is no problem, right?† That was subtle, Tuck thought. Very smooth. I am a dead man. Her eyes narrowed, but the polite smile never left her lips. â€Å"Sebastian,† she called, â€Å"you'd better come in, dear. I think Mr. Case has something he wants to discuss with us.† Sebastian Curtis came through the french doors looking tall and dignified, his gray hair brushed back, his tan face striking against the gray. To Tuck he looked like any number of executives one might see at a yacht club, a retired male model perhaps, a Shakespearean actor finally finished with the young prince and lover roles, seasoned and ready to play Caesar, Lear, or more appropriately, Prospero, the banished wizard of The Tempest. Tuck, still in his borrowed clothes, baggy and rolled at the cuffs, felt like a beggar. He fought to hold on to his righteous indignation, which was an unfamiliar emotion to him anyway. Sebastian Curtis said, â€Å"Mr. Case. Nice to see you. Beth and I were just talking about how pleased we are with your work. I'm sure these impromptu flights are difficult.† â€Å"Mr. Case was just suggesting that we keep an eye on our alcohol consumption,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"Just in case we might have to perform an emergency surgery.† The jovial manner dropped from the doctor like a veil. â€Å"And just what kind of surgery might you be referring to?† Tuck looked at the floor. He should have thought this through a little more. He fingered the dog tags in his pocket. The plan was to throw them on the table and demand an explanation. What had happened to the skel-eton, the owner of the tags? And for that matter, what would happen to Tucker Case if he threw this in their faces? Mary Jean used to say, â€Å"In ne-gotiations, always leave yourself a way out. You can always come back later.† Go slow, Tuck told himself. He said, â€Å"Doc, I'm concerned about the flights. I should know what we're carrying in case we're detained by the authorities. What's in the cooler?† â€Å"But I told you, you're carrying research samples.† â€Å"What kind of samples?† It was time to play a card. â€Å"I'm not flying again until I know.† Sebastian Curtis shot a glance at his wife, then looked back to Tucker. â€Å"Perhaps we should sit down and have a talk.† He pulled a chair out for Tucker. â€Å"Please.† Tuck sat. The doctor repeated the gesture for his wife and then sat down next to her, across the table from Tuck. â€Å"I've been on Alualu for twenty-eight years, Mr. Case.† â€Å"What does that have to do†¦?† Curtis held up a hand. â€Å"Hear me out. If you want answers, you have to take them in the context that I give them.† â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"My family didn't have the money for medical school, so I took a scholarship from the Methodist Missions, on the condition that I work for them when I graduated and go where they sent me. They sent me here. I was full of myself and full of the Spirit of the Lord. I was going to bring God and healing to the heathens of the Pacific. There hadn't been a Christian missionary on the island since World War II, and I was warned that there might be a residual Catholic influence, but the Methodists have liberal ideas about spreading the Word of God. A Methodist missionary works with the culture he finds. But I didn't find a Catholic population here. What I found was a population that worshipped the memory of an American pilot and his bomber.† â€Å"A cargo cult,† Tuck said, hoping to move things along. â€Å"Then you know about them. Yes, a cargo cult. The strongest I'd ever heard of. Fortunately for me, it wasn't based on the hatred of whites like the cargo cults in New Guinea. They loved Americans and everything that came from America. They took my medicine, the tools I brought, food, reading material, everything I offered them, except, of course, the Word of God. And I was good to them. The natives on this island are the health-iest in the Pacific. Partly because they are so isolated that communicable diseases don't reach them, but I take some credit for it as well.† â€Å"So that's why you don't let them have any contact with the ship when it arrives?† â€Å"No, well, that is one of the reasons, but mainly I wanted to keep them away from the ship's store.† â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because the store offered them things that I couldn't or wouldn't give them, and the store only accepted money. Money was becoming an icon in their religion. I heard drums in the village one night and went into the village to find all the women crouched around a fire holding wooden bowls with a few coins in the bottom. They were oiled and waving their heads as if in a trance, and as the drummers played, the men, wearing masks fashioned to look like the faces on American currency, moved around be-hind the women, copulating with them and chanting. It was a fertility ce-remony to make the money in the bowls multiply so they could buy things from the ship's store.† â€Å"Well, it does sound better than getting a job,† Tuck said. Curtis didn't see the humor. â€Å"By forbidding them to have contact with the ship, I thought I could kill the cargo cult, but it didn't work. I would talk of Jesus, and the miracles that he performed, and how he would save them, and they would ask me if I had seen him. Because they had seen their savior. Their pilot had saved them from the Japanese. Jesus had just told them that they had to give up their customs and taboos. Christianity couldn't compete. But I still tried. I gave them the best care I could. But after five years, the Methodist Missions sent a group of officials to check on my progress. They cut my funding and wanted to send me home, but I decided to stay and try to do the best I could without their support.† â€Å"He was afraid to leave,† Beth Curtis said. Sebastian Curtis looked as if he was going to strike his wife. â€Å"That's not true, Beth.† â€Å"Sure it is. You hadn't been off this island in years. You forgot how to live with real people.† â€Å"They are real people.† As amusing as it was to watch the perfect couple illusion go up in flames before his eyes, Tuck put out the fire. â€Å"A Learjet and millions in electronics. Looks like you did pretty good with no funding, Doc.† â€Å"I'm sorry.† And he looked as if he was. â€Å"I tried to make it on what the islanders could raise by selling copra, but it wasn't enough. I lost one of my patients, a little boy, because I didn't have the funds to fly him to a hospital that could give him the care he needed. I tried harder to convert the natives, thinking I might get another mission to sponsor us, but how can you compete with a Messiah people have actually spoken to?† Tuck didn't answer. Having spoken to the â€Å"Messiah† himself, he was convinced already. Sebastian Curtis drained his glass of wine and continued. â€Å"I sent letters to churches, foundations, and corporations all over the world. Then one day a plane landed out on the airstrip and some Japanese businessmen got out. They wouldn't fund the clinic out of charity, but if I could get every able-bodied islander to give blood every two weeks, then they would help. And every two weeks the plane came and picked up three hundred pints of blood. I got twenty-five American dollars for every pint.† â€Å"How'd you talk the natives into it? I've given blood. It's not that pleasant.† â€Å"They were coming on a plane, remember? Airplanes are a big part of these people's religion.† â€Å"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, huh?† â€Å"They always brought something on the plane for the natives. Rice, machetes, cooking pots. I got all the medicines I needed and I was able to get the materials to build most of this compound.† Beth Curtis stood up. â€Å"Oh, as much as I love hearing this story, I think we should eat. Excuse me.† She went to the kitchen area, where a large pot was boiling on the stove, reached into a wooden crate on the floor, and came up with a large live lobster in each hand. The giant sea bugs waved their legs and antennae around looking for purchase. Beth Curtis held them over the pot, puppeting them. â€Å"Oh, Steve, you got us a room with a hot tub. How wonderful,† she made the left lobster say. â€Å"Yes, I'm very romantic,† she said in a deeper voice, bouncing the bug with the words. â€Å"Let's go in now. I'm a little tense.† â€Å"Oh, you're wonderful.† Then she dropped the lobsters into the boiling water. A high-pitched squeal came from the pot and Beth Curtis went to the crate for another victim. â€Å"Beth, please,† the doctor said. â€Å"I'm just trying to lighten things up a little, ‘Bastian. Be still.† She held the second lobster over the pot, then looked at Tucker as she began her narration. â€Å"This is the crazed doctor talking. There's always a crazed megalomaniacal doctor. It's traditional.† Sebastian Curtis stood up. â€Å"Stop it, Beth!† She affected a German accent. â€Å"You see, Mr. Bond, a man spends too much time on an island alone, he changes. He loses his faith. He begins to think of ways to improve his lot. My associates in Japan came to me with a proposal. They would send me to a seminar in San Francisco to brush up on organ transplant surgery. I would no longer be selling blood for pocket change. They would send me specific orders for kidneys, and I could deliver them within hours for a cool half-million apiece. A dying man will pay a lot for a healthy kidney. In San Francisco I met a woman, a beautiful wo-man.† Beth came out of character for a moment, grinned, and bowed quickly, then went back to terrorizing the lobster. â€Å"I brought her here, and it was she who devised the plan to get the natives to comply with having their organs removed. Not only beautiful, but a genius as well, and she had a degree as a surgical nurse. She used her abundant charms on the natives† – she held the lobster where it could have a good view of her cleavage – â€Å"and the savages were more than happy to donate a kidney. Meanwhile, I have become rich beyond my wildest dreams, and as for you, Mr. Bond, now it's time for you to die.† She dropped the lobster into the pot and began to shake with a diabolical laugh. She stopped laughing abruptly and said, â€Å"They should be ready in about ten minutes. Salad, Mr. Case?† Tuck couldn't think. Somewhere in that little puppet show of the damned was a confession to cutting out people's organs and selling them like so much meat, and the doctor's wife not only didn't seem to have any regrets about it, she was absolutely gleeful. Sebastian Curtis, on the other hand, had his head down on the table, and when he did look up, he couldn't make eye contact with Tuck. A minute passed in uncomfortable silence. Beth Curtis seemed to be waiting for someone to shout â€Å"Encore!† while the good doctor gathered his wits. â€Å"What I'd like you to understand, Mr. Case, is that I – we – couldn't have taken care of these people without the funds we've received for what we do. They would have no modern medical care at all.† Tuck was thinking again, trying to measure what he could say and what he wasn't willing to reveal. He couldn't let them know that he knew any-thing at all about the Shark People, and, as Vincent had implied, he'd better find out more before he threw down the dog tags and Pardee's notebook. The doc was obviously stretched pretty tight by the situation, and Mrs. Curtis – well, Mrs. Curtis was just fucking scary. Play it chilly. They'd brought him here because they thought he was as twisted as they were. No sense in ruining his image. â€Å"I understand.† Tuck said. â€Å"I wish you'd been a little more up front about it, but I think I get all the secrecy now. But what I want to know is: Why can't I drink if you guys do? I mean, if you guys can perform major surgery when you're half in the bag, then I can fly a plane.† Beth said, â€Å"We wanted to help you with your substance abuse problem. We thought that if you weren't exposed to other drinkers that you'd relapse when you went back home.† â€Å"Very thoughtful of you,† Tuck said. â€Å"But when exactly am I supposed to go home?† â€Å"When we're finished,† she said. The doctor nodded. â€Å"Yes, we were going to tell you, but we wanted you to become used to the routine. We wanted to see if you could handle the job first. We're going to do the operations until we have a hundred million, then we will invest it on behalf of the islanders. The proceeds will assure we can continue our work and that the Shark People will be taken care of as long as they are here.† Tuck laughed. â€Å"Right. You're not taking anything for yourself. This is all a mercy mission.† â€Å"No, we may leave, but there'll be enough to keep someone running this clinic and shipping in food and supplies forever. And then there's your bonus.† â€Å"Go,† Tuck said. â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"The plane.† Tuck raised an eyebrow. â€Å"The plane?† â€Å"If you stay until we finish our work, we will sign the plane over to you, plus your salary and any other bonuses you've accumulated. You can go anywhere in the world you want, start a charter business if you want, or just sell it and live comfortably for the rest of your life.† Tuck shook his head. Of all the weirdness that had gone on so far, this seemed like the weirdest, if only because the doctor seemed so earnest. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was one of those things that a guy hopes all his life he is going to hear, but convinces himself that it's never going to happen. These people were going to give him his own Learjet. He didn't want to do it, he fought not to do it, he strained, but nevertheless, Tuck couldn't stop himself from asking. â€Å"Why?† â€Å"Because we can't do it without you, and this is something that you can't get any other way. And because we'd rather keep you than have to find another pilot and lose the time.† â€Å"What if I say no?† â€Å"Then, you understand, we'd have to ask you to leave and you would keep the money that you've already earned.† â€Å"And I can just go?† â€Å"Of course. As you know, you are not our first pilot. He decided to move on. But then again, we didn't make him this offer.† â€Å"What was your first pilot's name?† The doctor shot a look at his wife. She said, â€Å"Giordano, he was Italian. Why?† â€Å"The aviation community is pretty small. I thought I might know him.† â€Å"Do you?† she said and there was too much sincerity in the question for Tuck to believe that she didn't know the answer. â€Å"No.† Sebastian Curtis cleared his throat and forced a smile. â€Å"So what do you think? How would you like to own your own Learjet, Mr. Case?† Tuck sat staring at the open wine bottle, measuring what he could say, what answer they not only wanted to hear, but had to hear if he was going to leave the island alive. He extended his hand for the doctor to shake. â€Å"I think you've got yourself a pilot. Let's drink to the deal.† An electronic bell trilled from the bedroom and the doctor and his wife exchanged glances. â€Å"I'll take care of it,† Beth Curtis said. She stood and put her napkin on the table. â€Å"Excuse me, Mr. Case, but we have a patient in the clinic who requires my attention.† Then the whiplash mood swing from officious to acid. â€Å"She presses that buzzer so much you'd think it was attached to her clit.† Sebastian Curtis looked at Tuck and shrugged apologetically.

The Twilight Saga 5: Midnight Sun 8. Ghost

I did not see much of Jasper's guests for the two sunny days that they were in Forks. I only went home at all so that Esme wouldn't worry. Otherwise, my existence seemed more like that of a specter than a vampire. I hovered, invisible in the shadows, where I could follow the object of my love and obsession – where I could see her and hear her in the minds of the lucky humans who could walk through the sunlight beside her, sometimes accidentally brushing the back of her hand with their own. She never reacted to such contact; their hands were just as warm as hers. The enforced absence from school had never been a trial like this before. But the sun seemed to make her happy, so I could not resent it too much. Anything that pleased her was in my good graces. Monday morning, I eavesdropped on a conversation that had the potential to destroy my confidence and make the time spent away from her a torture. As it ended up, though, it rather made my day. I had to feel some little respect for Mike Newton; he had not simply given up and slunk away to nurse his wounds. He had more bravery than I'd given him credit for. He was going to try again. Bella got to school quite early and, seeming intent on enjoying the sun while it lasted, sat at one of the seldom used picnic benches while she waited for the first bell to ring. Her hair caught the sun in unexpected ways, giving off a reddish shine that I had not anticipated. Mike found her there, doodling again, and was thrilled at his good luck. It was agonizing to only be able to watch, powerless, bound to the forest's shadows by the bright sunlight. She greeted him with enough enthusiasm to make him ecstatic, and me the opposite. See, she likes me. She wouldn't smile like that if she didn't. I bet she wanted to go to the dance with me. Wonder what's so important in Seattle†¦ He perceived the change in her hair. â€Å"I never noticed before – your hair has red in it.† I accidentally uprooted the young spruce tree my hand was resting on when he pinched a strand of her hair between his fingers. â€Å"Only in the sun,† she said. To my deep satisfaction, she cringed away from him slightly when he tucked the strand behind her ear. It took Mike a minute to build up his courage, wasting some time on small talk. She reminded him of the essay we all had due on Wednesday. From the faintly smug expression on her face, hers was already done. He'd forgotten altogether, and that severely diminished his free time. Dang – stupid essay. Finally he got to the point – my teeth were clenched so hard they could have pulverized granite – and even then, he couldn't make himself ask the question outright. â€Å"I was going to ask if you wanted to go out.† â€Å"Oh,† she said. There was a brief silence. Oh? What does that mean? Is she going to yes? Wait – I guess I didn't really ask. He swallowed hard. â€Å"Well, we could go to dinner or something†¦and I could work on it later.† Stupid – that wasn't a question either. â€Å"Mike†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The agony and fury of my jealousy was every whit as powerful as it had been last week. I broke another tree trying to hold myself here. I wanted so badly to race across the campus, too fast for human eyes, and snatch her up – to steal her away from the boy that I hated so much in this moment I could have kill him and enjoyed it. Would she say yes to him? â€Å"I don't think that would be the best idea.† I breathed again. My rigid body relaxed. Seattle was just an excuse, after all. Shouldn't have asked. What was I thinking? Bet it's that freak, Cullen†¦ â€Å"Why?† he asked sullenly. â€Å"I think†¦Ã¢â‚¬  she hesitated. â€Å"And if you ever repeat what I'm saying right now I will cheerfully beat you to death – â€Å" I laughed out loud at the sound of a death threat coming through her lips. A jay shrieked, startled, and launched itself away from me. â€Å"But I think that would hurt Jessica's feelings.† â€Å"Jessica?† What? But†¦ Oh. Okay. I guess†¦ So†¦ Huh. His thoughts were no longer coherent. â€Å"Really, Mike, are you blind?† I echoed her sentiment. She shouldn't expect everyone to be as perceptive as she was, but really this instance was beyond obvious. With as much trouble as Mike had had working himself up to ask Bella out, did he imagine it wasn't just as difficult for Jessica? It must be selfishness that made him blind to others. And Bella was so unselfish, she saw everything. Jessica. Huh. Wow. Huh. â€Å"Oh,† he managed to say. Bella used his confusion to make her exit. â€Å"It's time for class, and I can't be late again.† Mike became an unreliable viewpoint from then on. He found, as he turned the idea of Jessica around and around in his head, that he rather liked the thought of her finding him attractive. It was second place, not as good as if Bella had felt that way. She's cute, though, I guess. Decent body. A bird in the hand†¦ He was off then, on to new fantasies that were just as vulgar as the ones about Bella, but now they only irritated rather than infuriated. How little he deserved either girl; they were almost interchangeable to him. I stayed clear of his head after that. When she was out of sight, I curled up against the cool trunk of an enormous madrone tree and I danced from mind to mind, keeping her in sight, always glad when Angela Weber was available to look through. I wished there was someway to thank the Weber girl for simply being a nice person. It made me feel better to think that Bella had one friend worth having. I watched Bella's face from whichever angle I was given, and I could see that she was sad again. This surprised me – I thought the sun would be enough to keep her smiling. At lunch, I saw her glance time and time again toward the empty Cullen table, and that thrilled me. It gave me hope. Perhaps she missed me, too. She had plans to go out with the other girls – I automatically planned my own surveillance – but these plans were postponed when Mike invited Jessica out on the date he'd planned for Bella. So I went straight to her home instead, doing a quick sweep of the woods to make sure no one dangerous had wandered too close. I knew Jasper had warned his one-time brother to avoid the town – citing my insanity as both explanation and warning – but I wasn't taking any chances. Peter and Charlotte had no intention of causing animosity with my family, but intentions were changeable things†¦ All right, I was overdoing it. I knew that. As if she knew I was watching, as if she took pity on the agony I felt when I couldn't see her, Bella came out to the backyard after a long hour indoors. She had a book in her hand and a blanket under her arm. Silently, I climbed into the higher branches of the closest tree overlooking the yard. She spread the blanket on the damp grass and then lay on her stomach and started flipping through the worn book, as if trying to find her place. I read over her shoulder. Ah – more classics. She was an Austen fan. She read quickly, crossing and recrossing her ankles in the air. I was watching the sunlight and wind play in her hair when her body suddenly stiffened, and her hand froze on the page. All I saw was that she'd reached chapter three when she roughly grabbed a thick section of pages and shoved them over. I caught a glance of a title page, Mansfield Park. She was starting a new story – the book was a compilation of novels. I wondered why she'd switched stories so abruptly. Just a few moments later, she slammed the book angrily shut. With a fierce scowl on her face, she pushed the book aside and flipped over onto her back. She took a deep breath, as if to calm herself, pushed her sleeves up and closed her eyes. I remembered the novel, but I couldn't think of anything offensive in it to upset her. Another mystery. I sighed. She lay very still, moving just once to yank her hair away from her face. It fanned out over her head, a river of chestnut. And then she was motionless again. Her breathing slowed. After several long minutes her lips began to tremble. Mumbling in her sleep. Impossible to resist. I listened as far out as I could, catching voices in the houses nearby. Two tablespoons of flour†¦one cup of milk†¦ C'mon! Get it through the hoop! Aw, c'mon! Red, or blue†¦or maybe I should wear something more casual†¦ There was no one close by. I jumped to the ground, landing silently on my toes. This was very wrong, very risky. How condescendingly I'd once judged Emmett for his thoughtless ways and Jasper for his lack of discipline – and now I was consciously flouting all the rules with a wild abandon that made their lapses look like nothing at all. I used to be the responsible one. I sighed, but crept out into the sunshine, regardless. I avoided looking at myself in the sun's glare. It was bad enough that my skin was stone and inhuman in shadow; I didn't want to look at Bella and myself side by side in the sunlight. The difference between us was already insurmountable, painful enough without this image also in my head. But I couldn't ignore the rainbow sparkles that reflected onto her skin when I got closer. My jaw locked at the sight. Could I be any more of a freak? I imagined her terror if she opened her eyes now†¦ I started to retreat, but she mumbled again, holding me there. â€Å"Mmm†¦ Mmm.† Nothing intelligible. Well, I would wait for a bit. I carefully stole her book, stretching my arm out and holding my breath while I was close, just in case. I started breathing again when I was a few yards away, tasting the way the sunshine and open air affected her scent. The heat seemed to sweeten the smell. My throat flamed with desire, the fire fresh and fierce again because I had been away from her for too long. I spent a moment controlling that, and then – forcing myself to breathe through my nose – I let her book fall open in my hands. She'd started with the first book†¦ I flipped through the pages quickly to the third chapter of Sense and Sensibility, searching for something potentially offensive in Austen's overly polite prose. When my eyes stopped automatically at my name – the character Edward Ferrars being introduced for the first time – Bella spoke again. â€Å"Mmm. Edward.† She sighed. This time I did not fear that she had awoken. Her voice was just a low, wistful murmur. Not the scream of fear it would have been if she'd seen me now. Joy warred with self-loathing. She was still dreaming of me, at least. â€Å"Edmund. Ahh. Too†¦.close†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Edmund? Ha! She wasn't dreaming of me at all, I realized blackly. The self-loathing returned in force. She was dreaming of fictional characters. So much for my conceit. I replaced her book, and stole back into the cover of the shadows – where I belonged. The afternoon passed and I watched, feeling helpless again, as the sun slowly sank in the sky and the shadows crawled across the lawn toward her. I wanted to push them back, but the darkness was inevitable; the shadows took her. When the light was gone, her skin looked too pale – ghostly. Her hair was dark again, almost black against her face. It was a frightening thing to watch – like witnessing Alice's visions come to fruition. Bella's steady, strong heartbeat was the only reassurance, the sound that kept this moment from feeling like a nightmare. I was relieved when her father arrived home. I could hear little from him as he drove down the street toward the house. Some vague annoyance†¦in the past, something from his day at work. Expectation mixed with hunger – I guessed that he was looking forward to dinner. But his thoughts were so quiet and contained that I could not be sure I was right; I only got the gist of them. I wondered what her mother sounded like – what the genetic combination had been that had formed her so uniquely. Bella started awake, jerking up to a sitting position when the tires of her father's car hit the brick driveway. She stared around herself, seeming confused by the unexpected darkness. For one brief moment, her eyes touched the shadows where I hid, but they flickered quickly away. â€Å"Charlie?† she asked in a low voice, still peering into the trees surrounding the small yard. The door of his car slammed shut, and she looked to the sound. She got to her feet quickly and gathered her things, casting one more look back toward the woods. I moved into a tree closer to the back window near the small kitchen, and listened to their evening. It was interesting to compare Charlie's words to his muffled thoughts. His love and concern for his only daughter were nearly overwhelming, and yet his words were always terse and casual. Most of the time, they sat in companionable silence. I heard her discuss her plans for the following evening in Port Angeles, and I refined my own plans as I listened. Jasper had not warned Peter and Charlotte to stay clear of Port Angeles. Though I knew that they had fed recently and had no intention of hunting any where in the vicinity of our home, I would watch her, just in case. After all, there were always others of my kind out there. And then, all those human dangers that I had never much considered before now. I heard her worry aloud about leaving her father to prepare dinner alone, and smiled at this proof to my theory – yes, she was a care-taker. And then I left, knowing I would return when she was asleep. I would not trespass on her privacy the way the peeping tom would have. I was here for her protection, not to leer at her in the way Mike Newton no doubt would, were he agile enough to move through the treetops the way I could. I would not treat her so crassly. My house was empty when I returned, which was fine by me. I didn't miss the confused or disparaging thoughts, questioning my sanity. Emmett had left a note stuck to the newel post. Football at the Rainier field – c'mon! Please? I found a pen and scrawled the word sorry beneath his plea. The teams were even without me, in any case. I went for the shortest of hunting trips, contenting myself with the smaller, gentler creatures that did not taste as good as the hunters, and then changed into fresh clothes before I ran back to Forks. Bella did not sleep as well tonight. She thrashed in her blankets, her face sometimes worried, sometimes sad. I wondered what nightmare haunted her†¦and then realized that perhaps I really didn't want to know. When she spoke, she mostly muttered derogatory things about Forks in a glum voice. Only once, when she sighed out the words â€Å"Come back† and her hand twitched open – a wordless plea – did I have a chance to hope she might be dreaming of me. The next day of school, the last day the sun would hold me prisoner, was much the same as the day before. Bella seemed even gloomier than yesterday, and I wondered if she would bow out of her plans – she didn't seem in the mood. But, being Bella, she would probably put her friends' enjoyment above that of her own. She wore a deep blue blouse today, and the color set her skin off perfectly, making it look like fresh cream. School ended, and Jessica agreed to pick the other girls up – Angela was going, too, for which I was grateful. I went home to get my car. When I found that Peter and Charlotte were there, I decided could afford to give the girls an hour or so for a head start. I would never be able to bear following behind them, driving at the speed limit – hideous thought. I came in through the kitchen, nodding vaguely at Emmett's and Esme's greetings as I passed by everyone in the front room and went straight to the piano. Ugh, he's back. Rosalie, of course. Ah, Edward. I hate to see him suffering so. Esme's joy was becoming marred by concern. She should be concerned. This love story she envisioned for me was careening toward a tragedy more perceptibly every moment. Have fun in Port Angeles tonight, Alice thought cheerfully. Let me know when I'm allowed to talk to Bella. You're pathetic. I can't believe you missed the game last night just to watch somebody sleep, Emmett grumbled. Jasper paid me no mind, even when the song I played came out a little more stormily than I'd intended. It was an old song, with a familiar theme: impatience. Jasper was saying goodbye to his friends, who eyed me curiously. What a strange creature, the Alice-sized, white-blond Charlotte was thinking. And he was so normal and pleasant the last time we met. Peter's thoughts were in sync with hers, as was usually the case. It must be the animals. The lack of human blood drives them mad eventually, he was concluding. His hair was just as fair as hers, and almost as long. They were very similar – except for size, as he was almost as tall as Jasper – in both look and thought. A well matched pair, I'd always thought. Everyone but Esme stopped thinking about me after a moment, and I played in more subdued tones so that I would not attract notice. I did not pay attention to them for a long while, just letting the music distract me from my unease. It was hard to have the girl out of sight and mind. I only returned my attention to their conversation when the goodbyes grew more final. â€Å"If you see Maria again,† Jasper was saying, a little warily, â€Å"tell her I wish her well.† Maria was the vampire who had created both Jasper and Peter – Jasper in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Peter more recently, in the nineteen forties. She'd looked Jasper up once when we were in Calgary. It had been an eventful visit – we'd had to move immediately. Jasper had politely asked her to keep her distance in the future. â€Å"I don't imagine that will happen soon,† Peter said with a laugh – Maria was undeniable dangerous and there was not much love lost between her and Peter. Peter had, after all, been instrumental in Jasper's defection. Jasper had always been Maria's favorite; she considered it a minor detail that she had once planned to kill him. â€Å"But, should it happen, I certainly will.† They were shaking hands then, preparing to depart. I let the song I was playing trail off to an unsatisfying end, and got hastily to my feet. â€Å"Charlotte, Peter,† I said, nodding. â€Å"It was nice to see you again, Edward,† Charlotte said doubtfully. Peter just nodded in return. Madman, Emmett threw after me. Idiot, Rosalie thought at the same time. Poor boy. Esme. And Alice, in a chiding tone. They're going straight east, to Seattle. No where near Port Angeles. She showed me the proof in her visions. I pretended I hadn't heard that. My excuses were already flimsy enough. Once in my car, I felt more relaxed; the robust purr of the engine Rosalie had boosted for me – last year, when she was in a better mood – was soothing. It was a relief to be in motion, to know that I was getting closer to Bella with every mile that flew away under my tires.

Economy: Questions Essay

Answer each question fully. Complete sentences are not necessary. Lesson 1 (3.0 points) 1. What are the three tools the Fed uses to keep the economy stable? (1.0 points) 1. fund rate 2. discount rate 3. reserve requirement ratio 2. What is a recession? (0.5 points) a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters. 3. What is domestic commerce? (0.5 points) Domestic commerce refers to the buying and selling of products within a particular country. 4. What is Congress? (0.5 points) the national legislative body of a country. 5. What is monetary policy? (0.5 points) Monetary policy is the decisions a government makes to control the supply of money, availability of money, and value of money. Lesson 2 (3.0 points) 1. What is antitrust law? (0.5 points) antitrust law, which forbids agreements among competitors to fix prices or prevent fair competition 2. What is globalization? (0.5 points) Globalization is the trend toward local, regional, or national economies becoming connected through communication, business, and trade. 3. What is free trade? (0.5 points) A free trade zone (FTZ) is a specific class of special economic zone. They are a geographic area where goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured, and reexported without the intervention of the customs authorities. 4. What is exchange rate risk? (0.5 points) Exchange rate risk is the risk that investors and business people have when converting their money to a foreign currency to invest or do business. 5. What is a country’s trade balance? (0.5 points) A country’s trade balance is a comparison of its imports to exports. 6. What is an exchange rate? (0.5 points) The exchange rate tells you how much one unit of currency is worth when converted to another currency.

Plagiarism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 7

Plagiarism - Essay Example The proper source is needed here for a case if our paraphrasing is not ideal and the sentence or a part of it can be revealed in other sources. Thus, it is necessary to cite this particular source after the paragraph or sentence we take from the writing of others in order not to be accused in plagiarism (Lynch, 2002). The next way is to avoid plagiarism is to use direct quotes. Here we are to use quotation marks â€Å"Socrates is one of best philosophers† (Source + page number). When we use a direct quote that is a copy-pasted material we must use quotation marks and indicate a page number of the source we took this sentence from. The sources must be correct, because if we state that we took this sentence from other source, it will be considered as plagiarism, notwithstanding that it is in quotation marks. If these rules are followed, the accusation of plagiarism may be avoided. Lynch, Jack (2002) The Perfectly Acceptable Practice of Literary Theft: Plagiarism, Copyright, and the Eighteenth Century, in Colonial Williamsburg: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation 24, no. 4 (Winter

Celebrities Endorsement to a Brand Promotion Dissertation

Celebrities Endorsement to a Brand Promotion - Dissertation Example Celebrities acted as the spokesperson to promote and advertise the product, services and sometimes ideas. Those celebrities usually came from the movie, sports, modelling and art scene industry. British actor Lillie Langtry was the first celebrity endorser appeared on the package of Pears soap in the year 1893. In that era, advertisers used celebrities in order to dictate the market trend. According to Belch’s research (2009), endorsers can be divided into three different groups that are experts, celebrities, and lay endorsers (Belch and Belch, 2009). An expert can be defined as having some specific knowledge in particular area that can be promoted. Usually experts are chosen because of their thorough knowledge. When a dentist is used in toothpaste commercial then the dentist can be defined as an expert. Lay endorsers are those who are initially unknown to their audience. It has been seen that these individuals are selected according to the target segment so that, target segme nt can relate themselves with the endorser and the message. Audio advertisement and the voice-over in video advertisements are usually that of a lay endorser. According to Kambitsis et al, uses of celebrities are becoming more sophisticated as well as more complicated. Popularity of using celebrities in USA increased from around 15% to 25 % and it has been seen that more than 20% of the Television commercials feature celebrities. It can be proved that the use of celebrities in advertising generates lot of attention and publicity from public.