How to Manage Negativity within the Medical Aesthetics

The vital challenge for managing negative employees nowadays is to stay alive and flourish in a very chaotic globe. To achieve this, the Medical Aesthetics Market Place perceives it essential to keep positive attitudes of its organization. Ethical values, constantly applied, are the foundation in building a commercially victorious and generally responsible business (Barbuceanu & Fox, 1996).   Business organizations progress trust and a positive outlook between its personnel strengthen ethical framework and proffer a moral breadth during times of change and in catastrophe (Grimes & Alley, 1997).Medica Spa owners require positive-productive employees to gain encouraging impact on their clienteles. For this objective, owners and managers endow with greater control over one's manners, build assurance in decision making, and consent to more truthful discernments of one's self. Those issues concern justice, honesty, correctness and an optimistic attitude; as a consequence it can only be resolved according to ethical standards.Decision-making must be empowered to the level adjoining the field of action, on condition that, that this level has compulsory for positive reception from its employees at its clearance (Guest, 1989). A manager is required to make his function wider to increase dynamism, inventiveness and speed of achievement (Barenberg, 1994).Employees in the Medical Aesthetics Market Place are in fact obliged to comply with significantly increased demands in quantity and quality. The movement in the present day is to hire less than sufficient staff and work to the maximum.   Negativity should be restricted to any level of an employee. Operations individuals at present have more duties and must generate more (Ghallab, 1994).Owners are required to entrust a part of its sanctions to the subordinate hierarchical levels, if they do not want to be congested with more and more abundant and multifaceted problems. Delegation is mainly about entrusting an ownerâ₠¬â„¢s authority to others. This denotes that they can take action and begin autonomously; and that they presume duty with owners for tasks. Entrustment underpins a technique of management which allows the staff to exercise and widen their skills and knowledge to full potential (Guest, 1989). To manage negativity of employees, owners must:distribute adequate resources to board activities such as time, money, and facilitiessupport workers and supervisors to collaborate with the committee and be involvedentail the committee in each and every health and safety activitiesfacilitate to schedule committee activities such as investigations as well as inspectionsdivide health and safety matters from concerns not relatedwork and take steps safely and guarantee that supervisors work and take action carefullyTo manage negative employees, managers must be straightforward to the staff to assume their responsibilities, as every now and then it is very at ease to feel oneself protected from all ris ks that are inherent in running an organization’s operations; a desire from the managers must exist to abandon certain prerogatives – for it is a loss of authority – to be able to concentrate on other more significant activities; must be capable of setting up a career promotion and rewards that recompense the efforts of the staff that stimulate them and motivate their activity for the benefit of the group (Ghallab, 1994).   The staff must have enough knowledge on how to do their responsibilities with dedication and positive attitude. Thus, the business owners ought to facilitate access to the required understanding.The owner who fears and cannot organize well will never manage negativity of employees successfully; the manager, who is acquainted with that the staff may possibly have supplementary experience and knowledge, and so may possibly develop the decision-making process, will receive their participation; managing negativity of employees guarantees that t he staff will put decision-making into practice within the organization of their objectives and will sense that their perspectives are welcome. One of the main irrational fears about delegation is that by providing others authority, an owner or manager loses power (Grimes & Alley, 1997). This must not be the case.If the owner trains the staff to take actions the same criteria as the manager would, by example and explanations, then the staff will be exercising the manager’s control on his/her behalf with positive outlook if and only if the manager demonstrates a positive attitude. And since they will distinguish many more circumstances over which control may be put into effect, then control will be exercised more rapidly and more diversely than an owner could put it into effect by his/her self.An owner must be able to distribute the more mundane tasks as equally as possible; and add the more stimulating once as broadly. Generally, but particularly with the tedious tasks, an ow ner must be careful to delegate not only the performance of the mission but also its tenure (Barenberg, 1994). Task handing over, more willingly than task assignment, allows innovation and positive attitude and outlook in their work.To manage negativity within a business,   an owner is supposed to increase progressively; first, a small assignment leading to a little improvement, then another assignment which constructs upon the first; when that is accomplished, add an additional step; and so on. This is the differentiation between asking people to balance a sheer wall (negative), and offering them with a flight of steps (positive).When an owner delegates a job, it does not have to be finished as fit as an owner could do it in a given time, but only as fit as needed: never judge the upshot by what is expected (it is complicated to be objective – negative), but by fitness for positive function. When an owner delegates a task, he/she must agree upon the standards by which the result will be reviewed. An owner must not exaggerate a negative issue; if the staff did something wrong, the owner must have the skill of using specific and positive terms in correcting the mistake – not meaning to hurt the staff’s feelings (Barbuceanu & Fox, 1996).ReferencesBarbuceanu, M. & Fox, M. (1996). The Design of a Coordination Language for Multi-AgentsSystems. In Intelligent Agents III. Agent Theories, Architectures, and Languages.Springer, pp.341-355.Barenberg, M. (1994). Democracy and Domination in the Law of Workplace Cooperation:From Bureaucratic to Flexible Production, 94 Colum. L. Rev. 753, 825–78. Harper,supra note 468, at 113–14.Ghallab, M. (1994). Past and future chronicles for supervision and planning. In Jean  PaulHaton, editor, Proceedings of the 14th Int. Avignon Conference, Paris, EC2 and AFIA,pp23-34.Grimes, G. & Alley, B. (1997). Intelligent Agents for Network Fault Diagnosis and Testing.In Integrated Network Management V: inte grated management in a virtual world. SanDiego, California, USA, May 1997. IFIP, Chapman & Hall, pp.232-244.Guest, D. (1989). Personnel and HRM: Can you tell the difference? Personnel Management.St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, pp23-27.

Charles Dickens Essay

One lesson we witness in A Kestrel for a Knave also aims to teach the pupils about facts. However this lesson is taught by Farthing who is caring and a more fatherly teacher and this is communicated by his name. Mr Farthing has used his kind personality to gain some respect from the boys in the class. Although the lesson has the same content as the lesson in Hard Times during the lesson it becomes obvious that Farthing’s teaching is different. He manages to involve Billy, who is normally quite shy and lacking motivation, positively in the lesson. Farthing teaches in a more relaxed way and lets the lesson flow as well as welcoming input from the boys. He encourages Billy to participate and makes him feel special as he has something interesting to share. Farthing lets Billy’s thought tumble out and does not cut him short. Billy tells all about his bird, which he has raised and trained, and Farthing seems genuinely interested † ‘Jesses, how do you spell that?’ † He writes words on the board, allowing the whole class to learn about Billy’s unusual talent. Billy becomes the teacher for a while and as Farthing is not controlling like Gradgrind he allows this to happen. The lesson becomes full of individuality as Billy shares his unusual hobby and his confidence grows. This would never have happened in a lesson taught by Gradgrind, he would never encourage a pupil to take over his position and would think a pastime like Billy’s ridiculous. The way in which Farthing nurtures Billy’s thoughts reflect the way in which Billy has nurtured Kes. The time and devotion that Billy has shown the bird is matched, although on a smaller level, by the way Farthing waits for Billy to talk and persist to question him gently as if he knows Billy has a lot to share. Another contrast between the two schools is the way in which Billy and his classmates’ behaviour changes depending on the teacher, whereas Gradgrind’s pupils are always the same. The different methods of teaching present at Billy’s school become obvious when the PE teacher Sugden is introduced. Sugden is a bully and again Hines has highlighted the teacher’s personality with his name, as Sugden is a thug. Billy dislikes PE and does not have a PE kit, as his family cannot afford to buy him one. He arrives late to the lesson as he has been talking to Farthing. Instead of discreetly giving him a kit to wear Sugden mocks Billy in front of the other boys. The way in which Billy is treated provokes him to answer back and be cheeky. Sugden’s verbal bullying brings out the negative aspects of Billy’s personality. Not only does Sugden verbally bully his pupils but as a big man he does not hesitate to physically abuse them too. â€Å"He hit Billy twice with the ball, holding it between both hands as though he was murdering him with a boulder.† The whole lesson is a bullying game for Sugden. There is an absence of skills taught and so the lesson consists of a game of football in which Sugden is the captain of one of the teams as well as being the referee. He bullies the opposing team as well as his own teammates if they make mistakes. His attitude is immature and shows no sportsmanship or fairness, two lessons which should always be reinforced in PE lessons. His negative attitude has a clear affect on the boys, who leave the lesson cold and uninspired. The education system presented by Charles Dickens is extreme and unnecessarily harsh. However the title Hard Times makes it seem like Dickens is writing honestly about a time which lead to harsh methods of education. He highlights the naivety of the people as now teaching methods have improved and young people are encouraged to be themselves and achieve the best that they can. Satire is used by Dickens to emphasize the mistakes of the system. Charles Dickens could of attended a school like the one in Hard Times and so I think he aims to make the problems obvious to people who otherwise might not notice the wrongs in society. Barry Hines also writes the truth about the education system in his era and I think he also aims to highlight the incorrectness of the organization. However Barry Hines writes more realistically as the book is more recent and therefore easier to relate to. Both authors present systems, which now seem very wrong but at the time they were thought of as acceptable. Both books probably contain memories of the authors’ school days and particularly in A Kestrel for a Knave the scenes seem very believable. I could conclude that neither system would be justifiable now but in their time the schools seemed fair.

Blaise Pascal

Bryce Pascal We reach the truth for not just reason but for the mind. (1) Bryce Pascal says that he is one of the greatest thinkers of the 17th century. The 17th century is an era of scientific revolution. In the meantime, the main idea of ​​everyone is not just to listen to stories, but to ask everything. This brought about a change in thinking in the field of religion and science. Science makes it possible to cast doubts on the teachings of old churches. Scientists suffer from thought of mathematics and physics, but philosophers are suffering from the idea of ​​God. Small ideas are related to ordinary extraordinary, wonderful ideas. It was told once by Blythe Pascal. Bryce Pascal, born in Clermont-Ferrand, France on June 19, 1623, will change the world of science and mathematics. He is a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer, and Christian philosopher. He is a genius of children. His early life was neither a sad story nor a very happy story. But his invention is still highly appreciated. - The French Revolution took place from 1789 to 1799 when the monarchy was overthrown, the Republic was founded, and the church was restricted. The French Revolution ended in 1799 with the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. The French Revolution founded the French Legislative Assembly. Many people think revelation is the cause of the French Revolution, but revelation is not one of the main driving force of the revolution. Blaise Pascal is the third child of Étienne Pascal's child and his only son. Blythe 's mother died when she was 3 years old. In 1632, the Pascal family, Etienne and his four children left Clermont and settled in Paris. Bryce Pascal 's father decided to teach his son from an unusual educational point of view. Étienne Pascal decided that Blaise would not learn mathematics by the age of 15 and decided that all mathematical texts would be removed from their home. But his curiosity piqued his interest and he began studyin g geometry at the age of twelve. He learned that the sum of the angles of the triangle is two right angles When his father noticed, he allowed soft copies of Blaise Euclidean.

Improvement of Health Care Services Received by Indigenous People in Essay

Improvement of Health Care Services Received by Indigenous People in Australia - Essay Example This paper focuses on health care services received by Indigenous Australians and necessary policy changes to improve health outcomes for this population. Indigenous health In Australia, there are two groups of Indigenous population who have been in the country for more than 60,000 years: Aboriginal people from the Australian continent and the island state of Tasmania, and Torres Strait Islanders. These groups together comprise up to 2-4 percent of the total Australian population (Anderson et al., 2006, p.1776). Research has proved that the standard of general health of Indigenous Australians is much lower than that of the majority of Australians, and this would have been revolutionary matter if it had existed in the broader community. Periodically various reports are released regarding the appalling health conditions of the Aboriginal communities that create shock waves and induce demands for appropriate actions. However, such reports seem to have little impact on health policies fo r the Aboriginals and very soon the gravity of the situation is forgotten till the next report is released (Saggers & Gray, 2007, p.1). The differences in health conditions arise from social inequalities. Although some important elements are differences in accessibility of health services as well as differences in lifestyle, but major factors that determine unequal health status between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are the circumstances under which they are born, grown up and work (Marmot, 2011, p.512). General population studies have proved that Indigenous Australians have greater mortality and disability rates at every phase of life than non-Indigenous Australians. This is because the former...This paper focuses on health care services received by Indigenous Australians and necessary policy changes to improve health outcomes for this population. Health care system provides beneficial packages to every member of the society with the objective of providing quality healt h care services to ensure enhanced health outcomes. The health care industry is always undergoing changes and is under constant pressure to deliver the best services. Public demand of quality health care services is increasing and the cost involved in providing these services is also increasing. There is wide disparity in the health conditions between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This has been accepted by the United Nations committees as part of their human rights issues and is accepted by the Australian governments. Indigenous health research can be a promising field considering there is efficiency and fairness in the research activities to improve medical services for the Aboriginal people. There should be sufficient planning and preparation, and the researchers should be communicating with the Indigenous communities and should work in collaboration with the people to ensure that research outcomes are practical, ethical and culturally sensitive. It is not required that new policies are designed or new strategies are made; instead the focus should be on executing the current Indigenous health programs in a more efficient and ethical manner. Focus should also be given on education to Indigenous people to enhance health awareness.

Outline how private banks and wealth management firms segment their Essay

Outline how private banks and wealth management firms segment their clients and outline the new approaches to client segmentation - Essay Example Attempts at segmenting the large number of clientele for institutions like Banks are bound to be laborious and costly. However, the rewards for such efforts are attractive enough to justify these efforts. Very often the segmentation exercises would throw up results that may be surprising and upsetting to the previous assumptions, (Maude, 2006). Segmentation, like a mirror, will show that the actual cost of servicing the highly valuable customers is far less in comparison to the rewards generated, and it will also show the behavioral patterns of those customers, which, in turn, will help to plan and implement balancing strategies that can optimize the results. The recent Global Financial Crisis has brought in its wake a few upheavals in the Banking and Financial Service Industries. The most significant of these is a total re-thinking on Customer service, particularly in the sector of Asset/Wealth Management Advice, where European Banks were, till recently, enjoying an advantage, (Reinartz, Krafft, and Hoyer, 2004). The entry of several new Financial Services Companies into this sector has caused the re-thinking on strategies even though the actual number of Asset Management Clients has expanded recently. In the competition for customers, the existing Client Segmentation has been side stepped and the admission threshold for Asser Management Service has been lowered. The emergence of new High Net Worth Individuals all across Asia and Latin America has added to the stress. The burgeoning new clientele has spurred the creation of many new innovative investment products and services targeting them. European Banks, reluctant to lose the strategic advantage they had enjoyed in the sector, are gearing up to face the competition from new entrants, including Retail Bankers and International Providers, (Landberg, 2001). Consolidation of some European Banks is a distinct possibility in the prevailing conditions. Small Boutique Banks with limited number of High Net

Mosques in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mosques in America - Essay Example In order to develop a better understanding of the problem one should take a look at statistical dimension of Islam in the United States. Thus, the actual population of Muslims is two times larger that estimated one. In addition to that, the number of mosques increased greatly in the first decade of 2000. Moreover, the majority of mosques are relatively young: built less than 40 years ago. What is more important is that mosques in America feature a considerable amount of diversity. To begin with, it is not only Arabs, but various ethnic groups are represented in almost every mosque. Secondly, Shiite mosques which represent a second branch of Islam are also quite numerous in the United States. Thirdly, mosques can be found both in metropolitan areas and suburbs. As for the places which are used for a mosque, one should note that they include purchased, built or rented facility. The position of a mosque in the American society has had influence on its practices. It was found that mosques in the US preach flexible interpretation of Quran which is suitable for modern circumstances. The local spiritual leader feel general atmosphere of acceptable by the community. They also encourage Muslims to take active part in American society. Finally, the rate of conversion to Islam in the America reflects general interest to this religion. All in all, one might come to the following conclusions. First of all, the presence of Muslims in the American population may be more that it is estimated. Secondly, mosques were able to integrate successfully into American society. Finally, mosques reflect the diversity of the American social environment. This report contains all the necessary information that might be used to research the topic of a mosque in the United States. Another big advantage of it is the fact that the information that it is based on is relatively recent and reflects of the important cultural events that happened in the American society. The primary focus of

Choose one Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Choose one - Essay Example They think creatively and can perform activities which other children of their age cannot and this factor creates problems in social and emotional adjustment of such children. Parents of such children who are gifted in any sense should acknowledge and understand the emotional needs of their child. Going for extremes is a very wrong strategy often implemented by parents. It is because controlling a child severely and hiring foreign coaches for training purpose can have negative effects. The tutors or coaches hired by the parents can use aggressive methods for training such talented children stubbornly overlooking their individual preferences and such a pattern of coaching can inculcate overwhelmingly strong feelings of rejection and anxiety in the child. Instead of grooming of the talent, complete severe controlling in terms of hiring tutors who may rely on aggressive techniques or subjecting the child to make use of options he/she may not want to use, can potentially ruin any excepti onal skills or talent such a child may have been born with. As in case of the movie (Searching for Bobby Fischer) when Joshua Waitzkin is discovered with a rare chess talent, his parents hire a strict coach Bruce Pandolfini for him who tries to control him by trying to transform him into someone else. In contrast, doing nothing at all to influence a child’s interests in fear of ruining the talent and pushing the limits is another extreme and should be considered a flawed parenting strategy by all. This is because not playing any role to make sure the talent is groomed and developed with time could also lead a child to slack off and not make full use of his/her skills. This is also because childhood is an age when children have raw minds and are not in the position to make mature decisions about themselves. Such incapability to decide for themselves coupled with total absence of any kind of parental supervision can execute harmful influence on a child’s raw talent. On g rounds of obnoxious influences produced by extreme parental strategies I feel compelled to stress on using mid way approaches when intending to groom a gifted child’s talent. It is implied by a Polish child psychologist and psychiatrist Dabrowski (cited in Silverman 113) that creatively gifted children are emotionally more complex than others and exhibit more pronounced and well developed responses to various types of external stimuli. Examining the moral sensitivity in highly intelligent, sensitive, and creative children, it is identified that external stimuli in the form of anger, frustration, pressure, and disappointment can all have disastrous effects on the gifted children and as they are claimed to be more emotionally groomed, they can show more sensitive responses to any such stimuli. Now children learn mostly from their parents and raising and nurturing a gifted child can prove to be very challenging for the parents. Responsive parenting could be one effective approac h in this regard. Spending enough time with the talented children is one way by which parents can effectively relate to them and tune in to their exceptional interests. Many times parents

The Changed Face of the New Colossus in the New Millennium Essay

The Changed Face of the New Colossus in the New Millennium - Essay Example been affected by these immigrations This essay shall envisage finding the answer to these questions, and shall compare the trends as described in three articles by Portes and Rumbaut (1996), Reed Ueda (1994), George J. Sanchez (1993) as a part of the analysis. It shall be argued that, there are clear differences in the emerging immigration patterns of present day, from the early immigrations in the nineteenth century; and discuss briefly, some of the factors like 1) Economic 2) Opportunities/aspirations 3) Cultural and Educational Background of immigrants, with a special mention on the Mexican immigration, shall conclude with a note on the shortcomings as well as the significance of such analysis. The 'old' and the 'new' immigration: Portes and Rumbaut (1996) have given one of the best classifications of immigrant patterns. Classified as 'old inflow' and 'new inflow' immigration, the former has taken place in the late nineteenth century and the latter in early twentieth century-the "contemporary immigration". There are unmistakable differences in the pattern and people, between the two. The "old immigration overwhelmingly European and white, but the present inflow is to a large extent non-white and comes from the countries of the Third World" (Portes and Rumbaut, 1996:404). The authors have given four classifications of immigrants: 1) Labor Immigrants: who were largely low-skilled, low literacy and who willingly accepted low-paid jobs, and were in great demand in the industrial, manufacture-oriented America. Coming in from Mexico, Jamaica, and the Caribbean etc. this group of immigrants constituted both legal and illegal. The employers had to pay far less wages to this divers e, non-white ethnic groups, and for the employee the approximate earning of $4.25 per hour was six times higher then the wages in Mexico and other such 'sending countries' (Portes and Rumbaut, 1996:406-9). 2) Professional Immigrants: This group is the opposite of the former. The immigrants of this group were highly educated and brainy; "labeled as the 'brain-drain' in the countries of their origin" this group did not take up menial jobs in the U.S. (Portes and Rumbaut, 1996:412-13). They were particularly of Asian Origin, with Chinese, Philippinos, Indians, and Taiwanese, and significantly large numbers. The one exception was the British, who also were a part of this group. After the passing of new provisions under the Immigration Act of 1990, in the year 1992, the number of Visas granted to this group tripled (Portes and Rumbaut, 1996:411). It is significant that this group opted for immigration probably because of the better opportunities available to them in their host country, w hich they perceived to be in proportion to their education levels. The earnings, especially of the Indians, were among the highest in 1990. They were perceived in a positive light, generally, since they rarely were considered a problematic community or manifested any signs of "tightly-knit ethnic community" (Portes and Rumbaut, 1996:411-12). 3) Entrepreneurial Immigrants: Immigrants from Korea, Cuba, Jews and Japanese belong to this group, predominantly. They enter with small entrepreneurship businesses and as their business expands they bring in others of their community to man their expanding set-up. Thus, their concentration as a strongly-knit ethnic

Synchronized Access to Shared Memory by Multiple Essay

Synchronized Access to Shared Memory by Multiple - Essay Example Various techniques which can be used to achieve this are discussed in the following paper. A multi-core processor (or chip-level multiprocessor, CMP) combines two or more independent cores (normally a CPU) into a single package composed of a single integrated circuit (IC). The below diagram "Dual CPU Core Chip" (Schmitz, 2004) gives an idea about it. The principle behind current Multi-Processing (MP) systems is that computations requiring large amount of CPU usage could be broken up into many relatively independent parts. These parts, called threads, while being executed simultaneously, could either be of the same or different process. Since these threads could be inter-dependant, issues of memory architecture and in particular memory consistency and cache behavior are 'key' to both correctness and performance in multi-processing systems. Multi-Core Processors (CMPs) could be broadly classified as Uniform Memory Access (UMA) processors in which all the CPUs are able to access all the memory with no specific preference or Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) processors, where each CPU may have its own special memory area. A system may maintain memory consistency using hardware or using a combination of hardware and software techniques. Hardware can provide a particular memory ordering guarantee, (hardware will maintain the sequential nature of program memory accesses), while software can be used supplement hardware-provided memory ordering by forcing additional ordering restrictions at desired times. The memory ordering scheme implemented is a design choice involving a tradeoff between hardware complexity, software complexity, and the desired ability to cache and buffer data. Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture Refer Diagram "NUMA Architecture." (Watson, n.d., p. 4) In NUMA architecture a processor can access its own local memory faster than non-local memory that is, memory local to another processor or memory shared between processors. In this type, all the MPs may or may not be of similar capacity (Asymmetric Multi Processing). Communication between processors is often based on use of shared memory between those processors. An 'Inter Process Interrupt' (IPI) allows CPUs to generate notifications to other CPUs to invalidate entries for a shared region or to request termination. Uniform Memory Access (UMA) Architecture Refer Diagram "UMA Architecture." (Watson, n.d., p. 3) When multiple processors can access the same shared memory, the MP system has to make sure that the ordering of memory access from one processor is made visible to the other processors. Memory Fencing One way to achieve 'Cache Coherence' in a MP environment would be by using 'Fencing' technique. Refer Diagram 'MFDA and MFDR Instruction" (Mittal, 1997, p. 26). In this technique, MP system (11) access and release of shared memory space (15) is done using two special instructions - MFDA and MFDR. The Memory Fence Directional - Acquire (MFDA) (16) instruction locks the specified area from being accessed by other processors. Once the operation is over and data can be released, the Memory Fence Directional - Release (MFDR) (17) instruction is issued. Since an MFDA instruction 'locks' the shared data until its

Christology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Christology - Essay Example Though Jesus taught them that He would resurrect on the third day, they were unable to understand its meaning until the miracle took place. This lack of hope is evident from the fact that they thought they were seeing a ghost when they saw the resurrected Jesus (Luke 24:37). Thus, this resurrection became the very foundation of their renewed vigour and hope. As a result, one can see this hope and faith developed through the resurrection of Christ in Acts and Epistles. Acts 2:32-32 says, â€Å"This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear†. Some other instances where this resurrection is the central theme are Acts 3:13-18; 4:10-12; 5:29-32; 10:37-43, and so on. Similarly, one can find this resurrection as the main theme in the Epistles. To illustrate, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul provides a number of reasons why this resurrection is the basis of Christian faith. When some people in Corinth fail to believe in the resurrection of the dead, Paul explains the various dire consequences in the absence of resurrection. First, the act of preaching Christ will be futile, and hence, even faith in Christ will be useless. If Jesus were not resurrected from the dead, no one would be redeemed from sin as promised. That means all the preachers would be liars and Christians would become a pitiable lot on the earth. Thus, one can see that it is this resurrection which gave the disciples enough courage and faith in what they preached. This strong influence of the miracle on their faith is visible throughout the Epistles and Acts. Secondly, the Old Testament is full of prophesy about the resurrection, and for those in Israel who believed in Scriptures, the saviour is the one who would win over death. To

Louise Essay Example for Free

Louise Essay The story is entitled by a woman’s name, therefore it gives a foreshadowing that the story will be about a woman or a girl named Louise. The first sentence begins with the personal pronoun I, which means that the story is written in the first person. Thus, taking into consideration that the author is a man, even before the reading, it is possible to suppose that the story will be about a woman who has left a great impression about herself. Usually it is a good impression even if it is about a one-way love. That’s why from the very beginning the story has surprised me much, because it begins with the sentences: â€Å"I could never understand why Louise bothered with me. She disliked me and I knew that behind my back she seldom lost the opportunity of saying a disagreeable thing about me.† Such statement (she disliked me) is a challenge for a curious reader and makes him read up to the end and find the reasons. Having read the story â€Å"Louise† I can say that the main theme of it is the relationships between people. The problem which the author raises is that some people can play on their neighbours’ feelings very easily. They use any possibility to do it. In case of the main character, Louise, it is her mystic heart disease. She could convince everybody, including herself, in its existence and there have not been any attempts to argue, before the narrator has done it. He tells the story in an ironic way, but at first it is a hidden irony. He does not comment on the events, he just presents them. For example, while Louise’s first husband Tom Maitland wants the narrator to believe in her bad condition and for that oxymoron â€Å"she’s dreadfully delicate† and metaphor â€Å"her life hangs on a thread† are used, the narrator brings the proofs of an absolutely different state of things, using the antithesis in parallel constructions: â€Å"I had noticed that if a party was amusing she could dance till five in the morning, but if it was dull she felt very poorly and Tom had to take her home early.† In such way, without any remark, just using antithesis in order to show how Louise’s words contradict her actions, the author shows the irony of the situation: Of course it will kill me, she said – It didnt kill her.† â€Å"Her friends asked her why she did not marry again. Oh, with her  heart it was out of the question, she answered – A year after Toms death, howe ver, she allowed George Hobhouse to lead her to the altar.† The uttered represented speech shows the way of Louise’s usual behavior and produces the necessary effect on the reader. And even that fact that she always repeated to her husbands that she wouldn’t live long and the fact that she â€Å"outlived† both of them produces an ironic effect. I think, it is possible to say that all Louise’s life is one big antithesis, because she has lived more than forty years softly making other people do what she wants but constantly repeating â€Å"I hate the thought of anyone sacrificing themselves for me.† All people who surrounded her describe her with such epithets: â€Å"a frail, delicate girl with large and melancholy eyes†, â€Å"dreadfully delicate†, â€Å"the most gentle wife† and no one has ever thought that it was just a mask. Only the narrator has mentioned the possibility of its existence: â€Å"Perhaps she knew that I alone saw her face behind the mask and she hoped that sooner or later I too should take the mask for the face.† And only at the end of the story he reveals his true attitude to her. He expresses his irony about her behavior openly and says: â€Å"I think youve carried out a bluff for twenty-five years. I think youre the most selfish and monstrous woman I have ever known. You ruined the lives of those two unhappy men you married and now youre going to ruin the life of your daughter.† Again the antithesis is used. Firstly the narrator himself describes her as â€Å"a frail, delicate girl with large and melancholy eyes† a nd then from his own words she appears to be â€Å"a selfish and monstrous† and even â€Å"a devilish woman†. Only now it is possible to answer why â€Å"Louise bothered† with the narrator. Only he has seen her real face. The plot structure of the story â€Å"Louise† is as following: 1. There is no exposition. The development of the action begins from the first sentence: â€Å"I could never understand why Louise bothered with me†. 2. The rising action is almost the whole story 3. The climax is in the last dialogue between the narrator and Louise. 4. The falling action is a wedding of Louise’s daughter 5. The denouement is Louise’s death.  The elements of plot are ordered chronologically. The line of narration is straight. There are two main characters: Louise and the narrator himself, where Louise is an antagonist and the narrator is a protagonist. There are  also some flat characters such as Tom Maitland, the first husband of Louse; George Hobhouse, her second husband, and her daughter Iris. Making a conclusion, I want to say that this is a true to life story, which can happen anywhere (the author does not even point to a place where the actions have been developing). To my mind, he decided to write this story because Louise really had impressed him much. It seems to me that in some cases he even admires the ability of this woman to make everything in a way she wants it to be done. It produces such effect that she dies at the day of her daughter’s wedding only because she wants to show that she is really ill and has had right that her daughter’s wedding will kill her. I think it is very topical nowadays, because a lot of people wear their masks in order not to show their real faces and intentions.

He Written Articles Essay Example for Free

He Written Articles Essay Loud speech. Bravado, boasting. Overly animated or entertaining. Boisterous. Overly friendly to other guests and employees. Drinking alone. Drinking too fast. Ordering doubles. Careless with money. Urging other people to have another drink. Annoying other guests and servers. Complaining about drink prices. Complaining about drink strength or preparation. Argumentative. Aggressive or belligerent. Obnoxious or mean. Making inappropriate comments about others. Crude behavior. Inappropriate sexual advances. Foul language. Making irrational statements. Depressed or sullen. Crying or moody. Radical changes in behavior. Speaking loudly, then quietly. Drowsy. Bloodshot, glassy eyes. Slurred speech. Difficulty remembering. Slow response to questions. Spilling drinks. Rambling conversation, loss of train of thought. Trouble making change. Difficulty handling money, picking up change. Lack of focus and eye contact. Difficulty lighting a cigarette. Lighting more than one cigarette at a time. Letting a cigarette burn without smoking. Clumsy, uncoordinated. Difficulty standing up. Unusual gait. Stumbling. Bumping into things. Swaying, staggering. Unable to sit straight in chair or on bar stool. Can’t find mouth with glass. Falling down. Mussed hair. Disheveled clothing. Falling asleep. Remember, just because a person exhibits one, or even several, of these signs it does not necessarily mean that the person is intoxicated. A sober person may exhibit some of these signs as well which makes determining intoxication even more difficult. However, if a person who is drinking alcohol shows a combination of several of these signs and/or exhibits significant change(s) in behavior, the likelihood of that person being intoxicated is increased. Ultimately, you must use your own judgment to decide whether or not a person is intoxicated. These signs are intended to help you make an informed judgment, and then articulate your decision.

Best Value Procurement Bids in Council Services

Best Value Procurement Bids in Council Services Empirical Work This paper is an empirical study on the strategic significance that Best Value (BV) Procurement adds to Birmingham City Council. The aim of the proposed research is to quantify the strategic link between the BV and the contemporary strategic Procurement. Then to create a model which will evaluate the contribution of the strategy when applied to Birmingham City Council. Best Value was introduced into the public sector in 1998, announced through the government’s white paper â€Å"Modern Local Government in Touch with the People†. This paper introduced extensive reform of local government, including the new initiative of BV. Within this BV is the e-Government, Community Planning, Strategic Partnerships and new political management structures (White Paper 1998). The theory of Best Value was aimed at improving local government services; this was introduced in the Local Government Act 1999. BV replaced the old system of Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT), and required local authorities to review over a period of five years, the method in which they conduct all their functions. This would take the form of consultation with the local community to deliver the most effective, economic and efficient services (Local Government Act 1999). The Governments intention to reform local government continued and in 2001 they published a further white paper entitled â€Å"Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Services†. Addressed within this paper were issues that included strong community leadership, continuous improvement, comprehensive performance assessment, financial freedom and modernisation of finance systems (White Paper 2001). The report in 2001 Delivering Better Services for Citizens, a review of local government procurement in England was published as a consultation paper. The report included the following recommendation; there should be clear political responsibility for procurement, with elected members taking a strategic role in securing outcomes. Best Value is about breaking down the boundaries between the public and private sectors in local service delivery. (The Byatt Report 2001) This research paper is based on the government white papers and reports which initially defined BV in procurement and established Strategic Management tools used to identify strategic choice within local authorities. The conceptual analysis is based on identifying the congruence of strategic links between the BV definition and chosen Strategic Management tools. The focus of the paper is Birmingham City Councils BV practices, and this will be measured against the resulting model. The output of this research is to measure the strategic worth of Best Value and the strategic worth of Birmingham City Councils delivery of Best Value. The paper will evaluate the relative merits of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Methodology The rationale of this chapter is to compare and discuss the research methods that could be used for this empirical research paper. When researching any paper there are numerous methods for collecting data, they do not always produce workable data that is easy to analysis. Therefore it is vital to review and plan the methods that will be employed. Before beginning any of the research a time scale will be composed, this will plan and set targets for the research. This plan is flexible, to allow for any considerable changes to the project due to unexpected research findings. Theoretically, the proposal should draw attention to any difficulties with the research question and the access to the data. Secondary Research The secondary research will discuss the theories and concepts which exist on the topic and be presented in the literature review. The findings from the primary research are then tested on these theories for validity (Saunders, M. et al 1997). Tertiary data sources will assist in the search for secondary data, this will reveal books, journals, newspaper articles, and Internet addresses on the topic (Bell, J. 2005). This section of the research will present some of the conclusions from the relevant Government’s White Papers as a secondary source of research data. Primary Research Primary research is vital to the project as it produces the raw data on the current situation in the organisations. A consideration when gathering primary research data, is obtaining the consent of both the organisation and individuals prior to initiating the research and this data must remain within the scope of the project (Saunders et al 1997). Primary Research Methods Method Type of Research Characteristics, Benefits and shortcomings Postal survey Quantitative Cost is low Response rate can be poor Answers may be incomplete Responses are pre-coded and simple so people can understand them this can mean the quality of information provided is lower than from other methods Telephone and/or email survey Quantitative Cost effective method of achieving robust sample allowing generalisations to be made Responses are pre-coded Certain groups do not have access to the telephone, so may be excluded from the sample It is difficult to ask sensitive questions over the telephone Works well with employers Face-to-face survey Quantitative includes both open questions as pre-coded Can achieve robust sample allowing generalisations if sufficient numbers are surveyed Expensive and time-consuming to administrator Ideal for gathering sensitive information or exploring complicated issues interview Qualitative In depth and detailed information can be gathered Interviewers are allowed more flexibility Answers to open questions can be difficult and time-consuming to analyse Expensive and time-consuming to administrator Focus group Qualitative A group discussion with around 8-12 people Can lasts up to 3 hours Capitalises on interaction between participants Participants are not representative of wider population which does not allow for generalisation Good method for gathering sensitive data Requires careful and unbiased analysis Case study Qualitative Researcher gains understanding of a individuals experience Provides good quotations and rich data Can bring alive other research, such as survey data Findings cannot be generalised to a wider population Qualitative Research Qualitative research is not just quality, it is the starting point where individuals understand and can talk about their lives. Qualitative studies attempt to explain social phenomena (for example experience, attitudes, behaviour, interactions and belief) in terms of the wider contexts of individual’s lives (Cresswell, J 1994). To gain this type of data methods such as direct, unstructured interviewing, or observation of real-life settings (ethnography) are used. The data that qualitative methods of research collect is usually words, rather than numbers, in the form of transcripts. That data is typically unstructured, and statistical methods cannot be used in its analysis (King, N. 1998). Individuals are surveyed or studied in order to understand their experience from their perspective, that is, what matters to them, rather than from the standpoint of the researcher or the professionals. Observational studies have been undertaken to understand the informal culture, of the organisation (King, N. 1998). Quantitative Research Quantitative research generates numerical data or data that can be converted into numbers, for example clinical trials or the National Census. Numbers are the main type of data that these methods collect, and those numbers will be analysed using mathematical or statistical techniques. Surveys that take the form of questionnaires are usually quantitative (Cresswell, J 1994). Conclusion This paper will combine both quantitative and qualitative approaches, using a qualitative study to guide the design of a subsequent quantitative study and by mixing elements of the one approach into the other. Questionnaires can contain both quantitative and qualitative questions. This paper will use both a quantitative and quantitative approach to the questions. This will be in the form of a ratings scale (1 to 5), whereas the qualitative questions will present a box where people can write in their own words. To obtain the strategic value in BV, a case study approach will be used; this will gauge the working practices and will enhance the data from the questionnaires. The secondary research will focus on the Governments white papers, and will introduce discussion from books and journals written on the subject. References Bell, J (2005) (4th Edition) Doing Your Research Project,  Open University Press, Buckingham Cresswell, J (1994) Research Design (Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches),  Sage publications, London King, N. (1998) Template analysis in G. Symon and C. Cassell (eds.) Qualitative Methods and Analysis in Organizational Research, Sage London Saunders, M. Et al (1997) Research Methods for Business Students,  Pitman Publishing, London. Papers White Paper (1998) Modern Local Government in Touch with the People,  Accessed through, www.communities.gov.uk Local Government Act 1999,  Accessed through, www.communities.gov.uk White Paper (2001) Strong Local Leadership, Quality Public Services,  Accessed through, www.communities.gov.uk The Byatt Report (2001) Delivering Better Services for Citizens,  Accessed through, www.woking.gov.uk

Comparison Of Bottled Water Ads :: Bottled Water Advertising

The product line that was chosen was Water. There are numerous brands that have been developed in the field of water, hence leading to tough competition. But out of the various brands namely Masafi, Gulfa, Oasis, Hatta and Evian. The one with the highest market share was found to be Masafi. Below is the detailed description of each ad in the respective media's and the appeal created by it:- A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Newspapers and Magazines- 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brand- MASAFI Ad Description- Masafi resorts to an attractive full-page advertisement. Masafi has always provided products, which reflect the consumers aspirations, trends and increasingly health-conscious demands. The Masafi ad in the newspaper and magazine focuses on the purity of the water and states the reason for the consumer to purchase the best, that is Masafi. To begin with, the ad is pictured on a desert where a cheerful girl is shown through an enlarged glass of water. This illustrates both the clarity of the picture and the purity of the water. In addition to this, the ad further symbolizes that just as a child is pure and serene, the same goes for the water, which is so pure that even a girl standing behind it can be seen through it. The ad states that Masafi is 'Clearly Outstanding' in comparison to the others. On interviewing the customers they mentioned that the ad created a positive emotional appeal. It also mentions that Masafi helps one perform its best both physically and mentally. For these reasons the advertisement motivates the people to buy Masafi. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brand- GULFA Ad Description-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Gulfa ad focuses on the water, which is collected, from the springs. The ad shows the Gulfa bottle behind which are a few rocks through which water is flowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Masafi ad focuses on the desert and a girl whereas the Gulfa ad emphasizes on the rocks and mountains from which the water is obtained. The ad states 'Our Production line in full swing' which refers to the fact that just as the water is continuously flowing from the springs, so is the production of Gulfa. The purity of the water can be ascertained as the ad states that it is produced by nature and bottled by Gulfa.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the viewers this ad creates a rational appeal among the people because it gives them information about the product. It mentions that the P.E.T. bottle is used which motivates the customer to buy the product as it is crushable and does not harm the ecological balance. Comparison Of Bottled Water Ads :: Bottled Water Advertising The product line that was chosen was Water. There are numerous brands that have been developed in the field of water, hence leading to tough competition. But out of the various brands namely Masafi, Gulfa, Oasis, Hatta and Evian. The one with the highest market share was found to be Masafi. Below is the detailed description of each ad in the respective media's and the appeal created by it:- A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Newspapers and Magazines- 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brand- MASAFI Ad Description- Masafi resorts to an attractive full-page advertisement. Masafi has always provided products, which reflect the consumers aspirations, trends and increasingly health-conscious demands. The Masafi ad in the newspaper and magazine focuses on the purity of the water and states the reason for the consumer to purchase the best, that is Masafi. To begin with, the ad is pictured on a desert where a cheerful girl is shown through an enlarged glass of water. This illustrates both the clarity of the picture and the purity of the water. In addition to this, the ad further symbolizes that just as a child is pure and serene, the same goes for the water, which is so pure that even a girl standing behind it can be seen through it. The ad states that Masafi is 'Clearly Outstanding' in comparison to the others. On interviewing the customers they mentioned that the ad created a positive emotional appeal. It also mentions that Masafi helps one perform its best both physically and mentally. For these reasons the advertisement motivates the people to buy Masafi. 2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Brand- GULFA Ad Description-   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Gulfa ad focuses on the water, which is collected, from the springs. The ad shows the Gulfa bottle behind which are a few rocks through which water is flowing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Masafi ad focuses on the desert and a girl whereas the Gulfa ad emphasizes on the rocks and mountains from which the water is obtained. The ad states 'Our Production line in full swing' which refers to the fact that just as the water is continuously flowing from the springs, so is the production of Gulfa. The purity of the water can be ascertained as the ad states that it is produced by nature and bottled by Gulfa.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to the viewers this ad creates a rational appeal among the people because it gives them information about the product. It mentions that the P.E.T. bottle is used which motivates the customer to buy the product as it is crushable and does not harm the ecological balance.

Fathers and Sons in Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet

Fathers and Sons in Hamlet      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hamlet's father, Old King Hamlet who he looked up to was recently killed, and his mother married his uncle within a month. He receives a visit from the ghost of his father which urges him to "revenge [Claudius'] foul and most unnatural murder" (I, v, 32) of Old Hamlet. It is only logical that under these circumstances, Hamlet would be under great duress, and it would not be abnormal for him to express grief. Fortnibra and Laertes also have to deal with the avenging their fathers' death. Fortinbras and Laertes are parallel characters to Hamlet, and they provide critical points on which to compare the actions and emotions of Hamlet throughout the play. They are also important in Hamlet, as they are imperative to the plot of the play and the final resolution. Hamlet, Laertes and Fortinbras are three young men who are placed in similar circumstances, that is, to get revenge for their fathers' deaths. The way they each come to terms with their grief and how they rise to the call of vengeance is one of the main contrasts between the three. Hamlet is the Renaissance man who is well rounded in all areas. He has a tremendous acting abilities, and he is a scholar who analyzes everything and is very philosophical, as was shown in his assessment of life in the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy. Hamlet's philosophical side is also brought to light in the prayer scene. At this point he has the opportunity to kill Claudius while he is attempting to repent. However, Hamlet does not take that chance because he desires kill Claudius "when he is drunk asleep, or in his rage/ Or in the incestuous pleasure of his bed," so that "his soul will be as damn'd and black/ As hell, wher... ...nalyzed and executed as he planned. Fortinbras ability to act upon reason and not emotion is one of the most significant differences he has with Hamlet. Hamlet and Laertes represent the extremes of action. Fortinbras therefore, is the midpoint of the two extremes; his ability to reason and the act upon the reason has resulted in his possession of both lands and throne as he set out to avenge. Works Cited Adelman, Janet. 1985. 'Male Bonding in Shakespeare's Comedies.' In Shakespeare's Rough Magic: Renaissance Essays in Honor of C.L. Barber, edited by Peter Erickson and Coppà ©lia Kahn. Cranbury and London: Associated University Presses, 73-103. Boklund, Gunnar. "Hamlet." Essays on Shakespeare. Ed. Gerald Chapman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965.   Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. T. J. B. Spencer. New York: Penguin, 1996.   

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie :: Then There Were None

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie The author: Agatha Christie was born in 1890 in Torquay in England. Her father was called Frederick Miller so she was born as Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller. She was educated at home and studied singing and piano in Paris. In 1914 she married Archibald Christie, but then World War I had broken out. Agatha worked as a nurse in a Red Cross hospital in Torquay at that time and that experience was useful later on. The book: I recently read a mystery book by the name of "And Then They Were None" by Agatha Christie. I read this book because a lot of people that read Agatha Christie’s books recommended them to me and because I like mystery stories. One of the mysteries to this book was, of course, who killed all of the innocent people. Another mystery was that every time another person was killed a little Indian figure would disappear from the edges of a serving plate. SUMMARY: Ten people are invited to an island, called "Indian Island", by letters that were signed by people they had met before. When they got to the island, they found out that their host, U.N.Owen, had not arrived yet. At dinner, they heard a voice, accusing each of them of a murder, which they were all guilty of. After one of them is killed, according to the first verse of a poem that is framed above each of their beds called "Ten Little Indians", they figure out that the murderer is one of them! As more people are killed off, one by one, the group narrows the suspect list down, until only one is left alive but she figured that she would never get off the island anyway, and she hung herself from the ceiling by putting a noose around her neck and kicking the chair away on which she was standing, but she was not the killer. SETTING: In "And Then There Where None" by Agatha Christie, they didn’t say when it took place, but I wouldn’t be surprised that it was in the 1900’s because that’s when she wrote it. It was on an island in the middle of the ocean. You couldn’t see any other land that surrounded it because it was really in the middle of nowhere! The general atmosphere was dark because there was a lot of trees and the ocean was nice but cold.

European expansion Essay

The importance of economics in the expansion of Europe and its empires in the time period between 1870 – 1914 will be the thesis of this paper. Since economics hinges for the most part in pre and post industrial empires upon war, the relevance of this factor will be the contributing factor in support of the economics in this heavy expansion. Since money is needed for a war, and after a war reformations are advised for countries, the Great War or World War One will be a focus of this paper as well. It is with economics and by extension war that empires grow or are lost. British Parliament, Change, and Expansion Within the British Parliament, the House of Lords has stood as the direct line between the House of Commons and the sitting monarch. In the fourteenth century, the Houses of Parliament officially formed; with the counties, cities and villages represented by the lower house, the House of Commons, and the upper house, the House of Lords, consisting of religious leaders and titled noblemen. The House of Lords became a hereditary body in the fifteenth century by removing the ability of the monarch to choose their ranks. It was also at this time, that the Lords Temporal, the non-religious members of the House of Lords, set their five ranks – Duke, Marques, Earl, Viscount, and Baron. (HoL 1) Until the suppression of the monasteries in 1539, the majority of the House of Lords consisted of bishops, abbots, and priors. However, following 1539, only bishops were able to attend the house, and the Lords Temporal formed the majority for the first time. (HoL 1) Other changes took place in the House of Lords in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These changes further limited the religious power in the House of Lords, added peers from Ireland and Scotland, and, in 1876, created the first Life Peerages. (HoL 1) The House of Lords also became the court of appeals for the kingdom in this era, and formed itself as the high authority in all judicial matters. It is with this type of autocratic power that the expansion and conquest of Great Britain took shape. In order for this geographic expansion into the West Indies, Australia, and parts of Mexico to take place however a necessary amount of money had to be acquired. The acquiring of this monies began with industry; not only was child labor used a considerable amount to lower the price of goods and create great revenue but also religious aid, the taxing of the poor, and the shipping industry aided in Great Britain’s travel across the sea and gaining new territory. The Parliament Act of 1911 drastically limited the power of the House of Lords which had a great influence on a lack of funding, or at least, the type of autocratic funding the country had become accustomed to in the previous century. The House of Commons asserted its power, and with the threat of a political coup, increased its power over the House of Lords by implementing two radical changes to the Parliamentary process. First, all money bills approved in the House of Commons would become law if they were unaltered by the House of Lords within one month. Secondly, all other bills, except those to extend the life of a Parliament, without consent of the Lords if it passed the House of Commons three times within two years. (HoL 2) Ireland  The history of the conflict between the people in Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of England has existed since King Henry VII re-conquered the island in 1485. In 1541 King Henry VIII proclaimed himself King of Ireland as well as England. Since this time, the people of Ireland were under the control of England, and tensions began to increase. However, the conflict did not rise to dramatic importance until the late 1700s. Following the success of the French Revolution, the people of Ireland began to stage small acts of rebellion. This culminated in 1798, when, aided by reinforcements from France, the United Irishmen staged a full scale rebellion. Previous to the 1798 rebellion, the occupation of Ireland by the English resulted in the killing of many Catholic and Protestant members of the group called United Irishmen. This killing was viewed as murder by the people of Ireland and rebellion was almost certain. The rebellion of 1798 failed to remove England from Irish soil – and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of United Irishmen and French soldiers. However, this event forced the English crown to reassess its possession of Ireland, and reform its policies on its occupation. In 1800, the Act of Union was passed, which unified England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales under one government. However, the rules that were imposed upon the Irish by the new laws still favored the English dramatically. During the industrial revolution, the facilities which were built in Ireland by the English created opportunities for several million unemployed Englishmen to move to Ireland. Though this was seen as another affront against Irish heritage. The next main source of tension between England and Ireland was exacerbated by the Great Famine of 1846. Thousands of people simply starved, particularly in rural areas. Many also died from typhus, scurvy and dysentery. The British set up soup-kitchens and workhouses for the poor but they drastically underestimated the scale of the disaster, and many people did not receive any aid at all. The problem was compounded by landlords who evicted Peasants who could not pay the rent because they had no potatoes to sell. The failure for the English to adequately deal with and avoid the dramatic loss of life and population of Ireland, created the idea that England would rather let Ireland die than support them. World War One, Economics and Expanding Empires The stalemate of World War I, in 1916, offered the opportunity for Ireland to remove the English from the island. The Easter Rebellion was the first large scale act against British rule of Ireland since the Rebellion of 1798 – and this one faired just as well. Though the rebels captured several important government Buildings in Dublin, the nation’s capital, they were forced to surrender after five days of heavy fighting. Following the end of World War I, the Sinn Fein, the main party of Irish liberators and politicians, attempted to gain Irish freedom during the redrawing of Europe – stating that Ireland should be free from English rule. However this request was ignored. The failure of the Sinn Fein to gain Irish sovereignty through political means prompted a reorganization of the Irish Volunteer Force, into the Irish Republican Army. The first act of the IRA was to kill eleven British agents, on November 21, 1920. This act of rebellion officially began the â€Å"War of Independence†. This war would last until the present day – with small events of violence occurring often. The actions increased in frequency during the 1960s. The World Wars in Europe were a defeating accomplishment because of the overall death toll. In order to have a grasp of the world wars in Europe, a short history of communication and rivalry in Europe will be discussed in order for a clear picture of why so many countries were involved in these world wars. A focus on the daily lives of countrymen, especially Germans and especially the women left to fend for themselves while the men fought in the war will be dissected since Germany was a country who suffered financially after each war and the cruel reality that the country itself made their own people suffer with hunger in order to win the war (because funds were being transferred to developing weapons and not to the people of the country). It was this financial struggle which left Germany in a quandary of financial burden to its citizenry which in turn promoted poor industry. With the loss of expansion for Germany in losing the war and the reformations it had to depend on other countries in order to survive. Since Germany lost the war, the reflection of this devastation is relevant to Germany’s economic loss and its subsequent lack of expansion in Europe and around the world. Not only were troops mobilized in the sea (which was part of the economic factor in acquiring new land and countries and power), which is common practice for war, but for the first time in history, a battle commenced in the sky. The death rate of this war was tremendous due to numerous factors, as Solar Navigator, states, the Battle of St. Mihel in 1918. Here, within a matter of one day, American troops, supported by tanks, airplanes, and artillery, advanced over 20 miles, clearing a salient that had been a thorn in the side of the French army since 1914. More than 9 million soldiers died on the various battlefields, and nearly that many more in the participating countries’ home fronts on account of food shortages and genocide committed under the cover of various civil wars and internal conflicts. In World War I, only some 5% of the casualties (directly caused by the war) were civilian – in World War II, this figure approached 50%. (Solar Navigator) These devastating facts highlight the true gruesome reality of World War One and its dramatic increase in deaths. The end of World War one saw the demise of many empires and the eventual creation of different countries. These included the end of the Russian Empire but the birth of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics which would become a world power. The destruction of the Ottoman Empire led to the Republic of Turkey and other Middle East states. Central Europe saw the rise of Czechoslovakia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Yugoslavia while other states were reestablished such as Austria, Hungary and Poland. Not only did World War One create new states of power and conflicting issues between these state would eventually lead to World War Two. In 1923 for example Fascists came into power in Italy and as Solar Navigator states, â€Å"†¦in 1933, 14 years after the war, Nazism took over Germany. Problems unresolved or created by the war would be highly important factors in the outbreak, within 20 years, of World War II† (Solar Navigator). Thus, the reflection of expansion is reflected in the country’s economic state which in the time period between 1870-1914 was greatly influenced by the many wars in Europe but especially World War One.

Teen Project

Teen Driving Issues Project Topic: Teen Crashes Part 1 – Identify the Issue * Why is this problem, especially for teen drivers? Teens are the ones who are mostly in crashes due to recklessness, drugs, being on the phone, under the influence, and road rage. * Statistics from research regarding teen crash rate. Show that teen have the highest involvement in all types of crashes. 10 teens lose their life every day in crashes.A most of the time it is because they are speeding and and trying to get around the road conditions. Also 65% of teen are on the phone while driving which leads them to not paying attention and lose control over their vehicle. * How is one organization or group trying to solve this problem? Name group and what they are doing. â€Å"Partnering with Safe Teen Driving Club† is another organization that communicates with parents and teens to tell the effects of certain things they are trying to reduce deaths of teen drivers. How another organization or gro up is working to solve the problem? Name the group and what they are doing. â€Å"Injury and Violence Prevention and Control†. They are and organization that tries to teach driver the dangers rate of road carelessness. * Web sites where this information was found. http://roadreadywatchdog. com/index. php? option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=57 http://www. safeteendrivingclub. org/stdc_page. php? age_ID=1151903270#Partner_Programs http://www. cdc. gov/injury/index. html Part 2 – Solutions for the Issue * Something else that should be done to help solve or curb the problem. You should have to be 18 before you can purchase a car and have insurance on it because until then you should be under you parents care , they are still aloud to drive just under more restriction and they have to follow the rules and speed limits and if pulled over more than twice their license will be revoked My own ideas for solving this problem. This may not be something that is currently being done more restrictions to help out guide the teens in a better directions * What I can personally do to make more people aware of this issue? I would have to speak up and show the DMV or anyone else to show how much better it would be for the teens to have a little more restrictions.

Overcome the Identified Weaknesses and Threats

Performance SWOT analysis IKEA is amongst the biggest retailers of furniture in the world. It has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1943. It sells more than 10,000 furnishing products from well over 300 stores in around 40 countries. The company has in excess of 600 million visitors to its stores, and it is very successful website attracts in excess of 600 million visitors every year. IKEA is a Scandinavian company famous for furniture from living rooms to children's bedrooms. The majority of IKEA's furniture is flat-pack, ready to be assembled by the consumer. Strength IKEA is an environmentally friendly business with a keen focus upon sustainability. In years gone by the company had been accused of encouraging wastefulness since it made a very large numbers of furniture products at low prices. As part of an integrated public relations campaign – IKEA now focuses on sustainability and made it an underpinning principle of its business philosophy. * A democratic design reac hing an ideal balance between function, quality, design and price. IKEA Cost Consciousness means that low prices are taken into account when each product is designed from the outset. * IKEA likes satisfied customers.The business manages to score highly in customer satisfaction surveys. Many marketing research companies rank IKEA in their top 10 companies for customer satisfaction. They managed to enhance their brand association with such great results. * IKEA has maintained long-term partnerships with its suppliers. By committing to buying large volumes over a number of years IKEA can negotiate lower prices. This ensures that the company has access to high-quality materials at reasonable prices. This also benefits the suppliers because they enjoy the greater security of having guaranteed orders. Weaknesses The business is experiencing problems in one or two home markets. For example in the European market of the United Kingdom, IKEA has recently opened more stores which means that t he number of visitors is divided by a greater number of retail outlets. So in the past the consumers would travel many miles to visit stores and each store had a large number of visitors, now these consumers have not really increased in number, but are now able to visit a more local store. This has reduced the footfall per store and any sales density * The size and scale of its global business. This could make it hard to control standards and quality.Some countries where IKEA products are made do not implement the legislation to control working conditions. This could represent a weak link in IKEA's supply chain, affecting consumer views of IKEA's products. The IWAY code is backed up by training and inspectors visiting factories to make sure that suppliers meet its requirements. * The need for low cost products. This needs to be balanced against producing good quality. IKEA also needs to differentiate itself and its products from competitors. IKEA believes there is no compromise betw een being able to offer good quality products and low prices. Opportunities * IKEA can further capitalize on the â€Å"green† movement and IKEA's customers' desire to have less of an impact on the environment to denoting the demand for cheaper and greener products .* IKEA has a number of areas of focus to its work with sustainability, each of which it supports in various ways such as offers tips and ideas online for costumers to create a more sustainable home , developing strong social responsibility by giving to a wide range of different charities and reducing carbon footprint by packing in less material. IKEA is traditionally famous for its diversification strategies. For example in the past they have sold food products and opened restaurants in their stores. So the online opportunity of trading through highly advanced e-commerce technologies is an ideal avenue for IKEA. Obviously this helps the business to overcome problems with out-of-town stores since consumers can stay at home to shop and then request that goods are delivered to their doorstep. Threats * Businesses such as IKEA will struggle against the larger portfolio suppliers such as Tesco in the United Kingdom and Walmart in the United States.For example Tesco's sells not only groceries, but TV sets and mobile phones, so it is only a matter of time before the business diversifies into a range of bedroom furniture or kitchens. * Like any global marketing company IKEA has to compensate for the global economic situation. The business needs people to move through the family life cycle. Empty nesters need to equip their homes with furniture. So interest rates need to be low enough so that they can afford to borrow money to equip their new homes. There needs to be plenty of low-cost housing for them to be able to do this.Do they have job security? The changing economic environment will impact and influence IKEA’s furniture business. * IKEA is trading in relatively mature consumer markets, an d has entered all plausible free markets countries. The new and emerging nations of India and China sometimes make it difficult for IKEA to embed itself as a supplier to new consumers. For example, there are often foreign ownership rules which mean that IKEA might have to take a local business partner. The new partner could take more than 50% of its business and this is not always acceptable to its board.

Carrie Chapter Eleven

Billy offered her a ride home from school one afternoon a week later and she accepted. He was what the other kids called a white-soxer or a machine-shop Chuck. Yet something about him excited her and now, lying drowsily in this illicit bed (but with an awakening sense of excitement and pleasurable fear), she thought it might have been his car – at least at the start. It was a million miles from the machine-stamped, anonymous vehicles of her fraternity dates with their ventless windows, fold-up steering wheels, and vaguely unpleasant smell of plastic scat covers and windshield solvent. Billy's car was old, dark, somehow sinister, the windshield was milky around the edges, as if a cataract was beginning to form. The seats were loose and unanchored. Beer bottles clicked and rolled in the back (her fraternity dates drank Budweiser; Billy and his friends drank Rheingold), and she had to place her feet around a huge, grease-clotted Craftsman toolkit without a lid. The tools inside were of many different makes, and she suspected that many of them were stolen. The car smelled of oil and gas. The sound of straight pipes came loudly and exhilaratingly through the thin floorboards. A row of dials slung under the dash registered amps, oil pressure, and tach (whatever that was). The back wheels were jacked and the hood seemed to point at the road. And of course he drove fast. On the third ride home one of the bald front tyres blew at sixty miles an hour, the car went into a screaming slide and she shrieked aloud, suddenly positive of her own death. An image of her broken, bloody corpse, thrown against the base of a telephone pole like a pile of rags, flashed through her mind like a tabloid photograph. Billy cursed and whipped the fuzz-covered steering wheel from side to side. They came to a stop on the left-hand shoulder, and when she got out of the car on knees that threatened to buckle at every step, she saw that they had left a looping trail of scorched rubber for seventy feet Billy was already opening the trunk, pulling out a jack and muttering to himself. Not a hair was out of place. He passed her, a cigarette already dangling from the corner of his mouth. ‘Bring that toolkit, babe.' She was flabbergasted. Her mouth opened and closed twice, like a beached fish, before she could get the words out. ‘I-I will not! You almost k-you-almost-you crazy bastard! Besides, it's dirty!' He turned around and looked at her, his eyes flat. ‘You bring it or I ain't taking you to the fuckin fights tomorrow night.' ‘I hate the fights!' She had never been, but her anger and outrage required absolutes. Her fraternity dates took her to rock concerts, which she hated. They always ended up next to someone who hadn't bathed in weeks. He shrugged, went back to the front end, and began jacking. She brought the toolkit, getting grease all over a brandnew sweater. He grunted without turning around. His teeshirt had pulled out of his jeans, and the flesh of his back was smooth, tanned, alive with muscles. It fascinated her, and she felt her tongue creep into the corner of her mouth. She helped him pull the tyre of the wheel, getting her hands black. The car rocked alarmingly on the jack, and the spare was down to the canvas in two places. When the job was finished and she got back in, there were heavy smears of grease across both the sweater and the expensive red skirt she was wearing. ‘If you think-‘ she began as he got behind the wheel. He slid across the seat and kissed her, his hands moving heavily on her, from waist to breasts. His breath was redolent of tobacco; there was the smell of Brylcreem and sweat. She broke it at last and stared down at herself, gasping for breath. The sweater was blotted with road grease and dirt now. Twenty-seven-fifty in Jordan Marsh and it was beyond anything but the garbage can. She was intensely, almost painfully excited. ‘How are you going to explain that?' he asked, and kissed her again. His mouth felt as if he might be grinning.' ‘Feel me,' she said in his car. ‘Feel me all over. Get me dirty.' He did. One nylon split like a gaping mouth. Her skirt, short to begin with, was pushed rudely up to her waist. He groped greedily, with no finesse at all. And something – perhaps that, perhaps the sudden brush with death – brought her to a sudden, jolting orgasm. She had gone to the fights with him. ‘Quarter to eight,' he said, and sat up in bed. He put on the lamp and began to dress, His body still fascinated her. She thought of last Monday night, and how it had been. He had (no) Tune enough to think of that later, maybe, when it would do something for her besides cause useless arousal. She swung her own legs over the edge of the bed and slid into gossamer panties. ‘Maybe it's a bad idea,' she said, not sure if she was testing him or herself. ‘Maybe we ought to just get back into bed and-‘ ‘It's a good idea,' he said, and a shadow of humour crossed his face. ‘Pig blood for a pig.' ‘What?' ‘Nothing. Come on. Get dressed.' She did, and when they left by the back stairs she could feel a large excitement blooming, like a rapacious and night-flowering vine, in her belly. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 45): You know, I'm not as sorry about all of it as people seem to think I should be. Not that they say it right out; they're the ones who always say how dreadfully sorry they are. That's usually just before they ask for my autograph. But they expect you to be sorry. They expect you to get weepy, to wear a lot of black, to drink a little too much or take drugs. They say things like: ‘Oh, it's such a shame. But you know what happened to her-‘ and blah, blah, blah. But sorry is the Kool-Aid of human emotions. It's what you say when you spill a cup of coffee or throw a gutterball when you're bowling with the girls in the league. True sorrow is as rare as true love. I'm not sorry that Tommy is dead any more. He seems too much like a daydream I once had. You probably think that's cruel, but there's been a lot of water under the bridge since Prom Night. And I'm not sorry for my appearance before The White Commission. I told the truth – as much of it as I knew. But I am sorry for Carrie. They've forgotten her, you know. They've made her into some kind of a symbol and forgotten that she was a human being, as real as you reading this, with hopes and dreams and blah, blah, blah. Useless to tell you that, I suppose. Nothing can change her back now from something made out of newsprint into a person. But she was, and she hurt. More than any of us probably know, she hurt. And so I'm sorry and I hope it was good for her, that prom. Until the terror began, I hope it was good and fine and wonderful and magic †¦ Tommy pulled into the parking lot beside the high school's new wing, let the motor idle for just a second, and then switched it of. Carrie sat on her side of the seat, holding her wrap around her bare shoulders. It suddenly seemed to her that she was living in a dream of hidden intentions and had just become aware of the fact. What could she be doing? She had left Momma alone. ‘Nervous?' He asked, and she jumped. ‘Yes.' He laughed and got out. She was about to open the door when he opened it for her. ‘Don't be nervous,' he mid. ‘You're like Galatea.' ‘Who?' ‘Galatea. We read about her in Mr Evers' class. She turned from a drudge into a beautiful woman and nobody even knew her.' She considered it. ‘I want them to know me,' she said finally. ‘I don't blame you. Come on.' George Dawson and Frieda Jason were standing by the Coke machine. Frieda was in an orange tulle concoction, and looked a little like a tuba. Donna Thibodeau was taking tickets at the door along with David Bracken. They were both National Honour Society members, part of Miss personal Gestapo, and they wore white slacks and red blazers – the school colours. Tina Blake and Norma Watson were handing out programmes and seating people inside according to their chart Both of them were dressed in black, and Carrie supposed they thought they were very chic, but to her they looked like cigarette girls in an old gangster movie. All of them turned to look at Tommy and Carrie when they came in, and for a moment there was a stiff, awkward silence. Carrie felt a strong urge to wet her lips and controlled it. Then George Dawson said: ‘Gawd, you look queer, Ross.' Tommy smiled. ‘When did you come out of the treetops, Bomba?' Dawson lurched forward with his fists up, and for a moment Carrie felt stark terror. In her keyed-up state, she came within an ace of picking George up and throwing him across the lobby. Then she realized it was an old game, often played, well-loved. The two of them sparred in a growing circle. Then George, who had been tagged twice in the ribs, began to gobble and yell:- ‘Kill them Congs! Get them Gooks! Pongee sticks! Tiger cages!' and Tommy collapsed his guard, laughing. ‘Don't let it bother you,' Frieda said, tilting her letteropener nose and strolling over. ‘If they kill each other, I'll dance with you.' ‘They look too stupid to kill,' Carrie ventured. ‘Like dinosaurs.' And when Frieda grinned, she felt something very old and rusty loosen inside her. A warmth came with At. Relief. Ease. ‘Where'd you buy your dress?' Frieda asked. ‘I love it.' ‘I made it.' ‘Made it?' Frieda's eyes opened in unaffected surprise. ‘No shit!' Carrie felt herself blushing furiously. ‘Yes I did. I †¦ I like to sew. I got the material at John's in Andover. The pattern is really quite easy.' ‘Come on,' George said to all of them in general. ‘Band's gonna start.' He rolled his eyes and went through a limber, satiric buck-and-wing. ‘Vibes, vibes, vibes. Us Gooks love them big Fender viyyybrations.' When they went in, George was doing impressions of Flash Bobby Pickett and mugging. Carrie was telling Freida about her dress, and Tommy was grinning, hands stuffed in his pockets. Spoiled the lines of his dinner jacket Sue would be telling him, but fuck it, it seems to be working. So far it was working fine. He and George and Frieda had less than two hours to live. From The Shadow Exploded (p. 132): The White Commission's stand on the trigger of the whole affair – two buckets of pig blood on a beam over the stage – seems to be overly weak and vacillating, even in light of the scant concrete proof. If one chooses to believe the hearsay evidence of Nolan's immediate circle of friends (and to be brutally frank, they do not seem intelligent enough to lie convincingly), then Nolan took this part of the conspiracy entirely out of Christine Hargensen's hands and acted on his own initiative †¦ He didn't talk when he drove; he liked to drive. The operation gave him a feeling of power that nothing could rival, not even fucking. The road unrolled before them in photographic blacks and whites, and the speedometer trembled just past seventy. He came from what the social workers called a broken home; his father had taken off after the failure of a badly managed gas-station venture when Billy was twelve, and his mother had four boyfriends at last count. Brucie was in greatest favour right now. He was a Seagram's 7 man. She was turning into one ugly bag, too. But the car: the car fed him power and glory from its own mystic lines of force. It made him someone to be reckoned with, someone with mana. It was not by accident that he had done most of his balling in the back seat. The car was his slave and his god. It gave, and it could take away. Billy had used it to take away many times. On long, sleepless nights when his mother and Brucie were fighting, Billy made popcorn and went out cruising for stray dogs. Some mornings he let the car roll, engine dead, into the garage he had constructed behind the house with its front bumper dripping. She knew his habits well enough by now and did not bother making conversation that would simply be ignored anyway. She sat beside him with one leg curled under her, gnawing a knuckle. The fights of the cars streaking past them on 302 gleamed softly in her hair, streaking it silver. He wondered how long she would last. Maybe not long after tonight. Somehow it had all led to this, even the early part, and when it was done the glue that had held them together would be thin and might dissolve, leaving them to wonder how it could have been in the first place. He thought she would start to look less like a goddess and more like the typical society bitch again, and that would make him want to belt her around a little. Or maybe a lot. Rub her nose in it. They breasted the Brickyard Hill and there was the high school below them, the parking lot filled with plump, glistening daddies' cars. He felt the familiar gorge of disgust and hate rise in his throat. We'll give them something (a night to remember) all right. We can do that. The classroom wings were dark and silent and deserted; the lobby was lit with a standard yellow glow, and the bank of glass that was the gymnasium's east side glowed with a soft, orangey light that was ethereal, almost ghostly. Again the bitter taste, and the urge to throw rocks. ‘I see the lights, I see the party fights,' he murmured. ‘Huh?' She turned to him, startled out of her own thoughts. ‘Nothing.' He touched the nape of her neck. ‘I think I'm gonna let you pull the string.' Billy did it by himself, because he knew perfectly well that he could trust nobody else. That had been a hard lesson, much harder than the ones they taught you in school, but he had learned it well. The boys who had gone with him to Henty's place the night before had not even known what he wanted the blood for. They probably suspected Chris was involved, but they could not even be sure of that. He drove to the school minutes after Thursday night had become Friday morning and cruised by twice to make sure it was deserted and neither of Chamberlain's two police cars was in the area. He drove into the parking lot with his lights off and swung around in back of the building. Further back, the football field glimmered beneath a thin membrane of ground fog. He opened the trunk and unlocked the ice chest. The blood had frozen solid, but that was all right. It would have the next twenty-four hours to thaw. He put the buckets on the ground, then got a number of tools from his kit. He stuck them in his back pocket and grabbed a brown bag from the seat. Screws clinked inside. He worked without hurry, with the easeful concentration of one who is unable to conceive of interruption. The gym where the dance was to be held was also the school auditorium, and the small row of windows looking toward where he had parked opened on the backstage storage area. He selected a flat tool with a spatulate end and slid it through the small jointure between the upper and lower panes of one window. It was a good tool. He had made it himself in the Chamberlain metal shop. He wriggled it until the window's slip lock came free. He pushed the window up and slid in. It was very dark. The predominant odour was of old paint from the Dramatic Club canvas flats. The gaunt shadows of Band Society music stands and instrument cases stood around like sentinels. Mr Downer's piano stood in one corner. Billy took a small flashlight out of the bag and made his way to the stage and stepped through the red velvet curtains. The gym floor, with its painted basketball lines and highly varnished surface, glimmered at him like an amber lagoon. He shone his light on the apron in front of the curtain. There, in ghostly chalk fines, someone had drawn the floor silhouette of the King and Queen thrones which would be placed the following day. Then the entire apron would be strewn with paper flowers †¦ why, Christ only knew. He craned his neck and shone the beam of his light up into the shadows. Overhead, girders crisscrossed in shadowy lines. The girders over the dance floor had been sheathed in crepe paper, but the arm directly over the apron hadn't been decorated. A short draw curtain obscured the girders up there, and they were invisible from the gym Floor. The draw curtain also hid a bank of lights that would highlight the gondola mural. Billy turned off the flashlight, walked to the left-hand edge of the apron, and mounted a steel-runged ladder bolted to the wall. The contents of his brown bag, which he had tucked into his shirt for safety, jingled with a strange, hollow jolliness in the deserted gymnasium. At the top of the ladder was a small platform. Now, as he faced outward toward the apron, the stage flies were to his right, the gym itself on his left. In the flies the Dramatic Club props were stored, some of them dating back to the 1920s. A bust of Pallas, used in some ancient dramatic version of Poe's ‘Me Raven,' stared at Billy with blind, floating eyes from atop a rusting bedspring Straight ahead, a steel girder ran out over the apron. Lights to be used against the mural were bolted to the bottom of it. He stepped out on to it and walked effortlessly, without fear, over the drop. He was humming a popular tune under his breath. The beam was inch-thick with dust, and he left long shuffling tracks. Halfway he stopped, dropped to his knees, and peered down. Yea. With the help of his light he could make out the chalk lines of the apron directly below. He made a soundless whistling. (bombs away) He X'd the precise spot in the dust, then beam-walked back to the platform. No one would be up here between now and the Ball; the lights that shone on, the mural and on the apron where the King and Queen would be crowned (they'll get crowned an right) were controlled from a box backstage. Anyone looking up from directly below would be blinded by those same lights. His arrangements would be noticed only if someone went up into the flies for something. He didn't believe anyone would. It was an acceptable risk. He opened the brown bag and took out a pair of Playtex rubber gloves, put them on, and then took out one of two small pulleys he had purchased yesterday. He had gotten them at a hardware store in Boxford, just to be safe. He popped a number of nails into his mouth like cigarettes and got the hammer. Still humming around his mouthful of nails, he fixed the pulley neatly in the corner above the platform. Beside it he fixed a small eyehole screw. He went back down the ladder, crossed backstage, and climbed another ladder not far from where he had come in. He was in the loft – sort of a catchall school attic. Here there were stacks of old yearbooks, moth-eaten athletic uniforms, and ancient textbooks that had been nibbled by mice. Looking left, he could shine his light over the stage flies and spotlight the pulley he had just put up. Turning right, cool night air played on his face, from a vent in the wall. Still humming, he took out the second pulley and nailed it up. He went back down, crawled out the window he had forced, and got the two buckets of pig blood. He had been about his business for a half hour, but it showed no signs of thawing. He picked the buckets up and walked back to the window, silhouetted in the darkness like a farmer coming back from the first milking. He lifted them inside and went in after. Beam-walking was easier with a bucket in each hand for balance. When he reached his dust-marked X, he put the buckets down, peered at the chalk marks on the apron once more, nodded, and walked back to the platform. He thought about wiping the buckets on his last trip out to them – Kenny's prints would be on them, Don's and Steve's as well – but it was better not to. Maybe they would have a little surprise on Saturday morning. The thought made his lips quirk. The last item in the bag was a coil of jute twine. He walked back out to the buckets and tied the handles of both with running slipknots. He threaded the screw, then the pulley. He threw the uncoiling twine across to the left, and then threaded that one. He probably would not have been amused to know that, in the gloom of the auditorium, covered and streaked with decades-old dust, grey kitties flying dreamily about his crow's nest hair, he looked like a hunched, half-mad Rube Goldberg intent upon creating the better mousetrap. He piled the slack twine on top of a stack of crates within reach of the vent. He climbed down for the last time and dusted off his hands. The thing was done. He looked out the window, then wriggled through and thumped to the ground. He closed the window, reinserted his jimmy, and closed the lock as far as he could. Then he went back to his car. Chris said chances were good that Tommy Ross and the White bitch would be the ones under the buckets; she had been doing a little quiet promoting among her friends That would be good, if it happened. But, for Billy, any of the others would be all right too. He was beginning to think that it would be all right if it was Chris herself. He drove away. From My Name Is Susan Snell (p. 48): Carrie went to see Tommy the day before the prom. She was waiting outside one of his classes and he said she looked really wretched, as if she thought he'd yell at her to stop hanging around and stop bugging him. She said she had to be in by eleven-thirty at the latest, or her momma would be worried. She said she wasn't going to spoil his time or anything, but it wouldn't be fair to worry her momma.