Circumcision As An Initiation Into The Jewish Community

Circumcision has be a topic that has been discussed and debated for centuries. This childhood ritual has had evolving purposes and has been used in numerous cultures. This research paper will be specifically focused on the male circumcision as an initiation into the Jewish community as one of its members. It will also discuss the other childhood ritual of introducing the Torah on cakes baked with honey. There are many questions associated with this topics and many myths as well. What is circumcision? Why introduce the Torah to boys on cakes? What does it represent? How has it changed over time? What connection if any, does it have to Christianity? Does it involve ritual sacrifice? Is this practice still around today, and if so how has it†¦show more content†¦Genesis states that the first person to be circumcised was Abraham. God had told Abraham to not only circumcise himself, but his children, his slaves, and any males in his household as well. This was a practice that was to be done from generation to generation. In early history during BCE, this was used as a way to separate the Israelites from the Philistines. Years earlier, there wasn’t much difference between the Israelite community and its neighboring people. But with the arrival of the Philistines changed how they identified themselves as a separate group of people. As time progresses, so do the opinions when it comes to circumcision. There was a huge threat to the Jewish tradition due to the efforts of Jews to cover their marks of circumcision. Assimilation into the communities that Jews lived in was a common challenge. Keeping with tradition when living in a community that wasn’t always accepting, was difficult. Especially when it was sometimes punished greatly. Because circumcision was strongly associated with Judaism, many Jews would try to remove the marks of this ritual off of their bodies. During the rule of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, there was great crisis for the Jews that were living in Jerusalem. Previously, Antiochus III allowed Jews to live according to their customs, but that was different under the rule of Antiochus IV. There was bans on religious traditions and even violations of temples. Because of Antiochus IV

Creative Writing; Point of View from a Stuffed Animal Kitten Free Essays

Sitting up high, I felt like the king of the world. All of my peers sat below me and some sat at my side like Louis the XIV’s assistants would sit by him. Because they were all below me, they all looked up to me. We will write a custom essay sample on Creative Writing; Point of View from a Stuffed Animal Kitten or any similar topic only for you Order Now I would see that they leave my land happily with welcoming denizens who carefully picked them out. A plethora of young aliens would frequently skip back and forth along my lane, picking up and hugging my soft and furry subjects with glee. Occasionally some of my peers found themselves laying lonely on the ground, but help always came. A much taller, weathered-looking alien came by and swept the helpless up and put them back on their shelves. I never fell though, of course. Nothing could touch me at the time, until I met the day that would bring my demise as a king of my land. It was a normal day like every other. I was watching over my peers with full intention of protection when I noticed a peculiar little alien. This alien was different and very unlike all other little aliens that came through my land. He wore a frown on his round face and stomped his feet out of displeasure to the middle of the lane. After a quick perusal, his zealous eyes threw angry glances towards me as I remained patient while enduring utmost disrespect. Before I could register in my mind what was happening to me, I was being squeezed by the fractious alien’s hands. He squeezed and pinched every part of my body: ears, nose, whiskers, tail, and paws. I was violated over and over as I was scanned and thrown into a plastic bag. Leaving my kingdom, I felt uncomfortable warmth all over my body. I couldn’t see through the translucent bag, but the bright light which passed through blinded me. I was roughly tossed into what I now know is a transportation vehicle, hitting my head. Quickly, the vehicle turned on, made a loud noise, and began moving. It hit many bumps and I hit my head continuously leaving my entire body sore. I was being smothered by the plastic bag I was contained in and soon lost consciousness. Within moments, my life had gone from greatness to nothing. I was once the beloved king of my people, but quickly became an obsequious slave. I was thrown at walls, wailed into furniture, stomped on the floor, and dropped in dirt. My face would be drilled into the mud many times over the years. Sticky juice and soda pop would be spilled on my once soft, clean fur. My long whiskers were cut, and my white fur was dirty. I felt more ugly than I looked. The giant family dog and the alien boy often played tug-of-war with my sore body, pulling me back and forth ripping the stitches at my limbs. Thick dog slobber would drip down my snout, further dirtying my fur. All I wanted was to be loved. All I wanted was to be cared for. It wasn’t too long until the alien boy stopped playing with me. The dog forgot about my existence as well. The feeling was bitter-sweet. I wasn’t being mistreated anymore, and I wasn’t constantly exposed to pain and discomfort, but I felt alone more than ever. Minutes felt like hours, hours felt like days, and days felt like weeks. I laid in a dusty corner for months facing the banal wall, only able to hear my surroundings. This feeling was common, common to anyone forgotten and mistreated. This is how I thought I would spend eternity. Soon life would change once more for me. One morning I found myself in a large bag with many others like me. There were teddy bears, toy horses, dolls, and cars. I was surprised to find out that they had been treated the same way I had been by the alien boy. Just like me, they all once had good lives which were ripped away from them by the alien. They were beaten and dirtied, but eventually forgotten. We were taken to the transportation vehicle and tossed into it. It started up, and within minutes we were at our destination. After being emptied out of the bag, my eyes met the faces of many little girl aliens. They rhapsodized over us, for their faces were filled with smiles as â€Å"oohs† and â€Å"ahhs† poured out of their mouths. They bounced up and down with excitement and anticipation. One alien gently grabbed my body and hugged me tightly to her chest. For the next several hours she swung me on the outside swings and took me everywhere she went. In the evening she would put me back on the top of my shelf – my new kingdom – for a respite and get me down again the next day. All of the new little aliens brought something to me I never had before. They brought me love that I had yearned for. How to cite Creative Writing; Point of View from a Stuffed Animal Kitten, Papers

Bingo Long Traveling Essay Example For Students

Bingo Long Traveling Essay Ask someone either at home or at work, How are you doing today? Several replies will be forthcoming. Some respond Ok, Fine or Surviving. As long as Sallie Potters Louisville Ebony Aces were playing ball in the Negro League circuit, times and surviving were good. A steady salary, Potters bus, driven by Potter, with reclining seats, which carried the team from one scheduled game to another, black hotels, black restaurants and night clubs made for an indulgent and uncomplicated life on the road. When Potter released veteran player Raymond Mikes, because he broke his foot rounding third base, playing the Philadelphia American Stars, Bingo organized the players and revolted against owner black owner Potter. After all, Bingo thought he knew all the ins and outs of the game, having watched Potter and fellow hustler Lionel Foster all these years. How hard could it be owning and managing a ball club? With Lionel backing Bingo with a little capital until things got going, a barnstorming baseball outfit was born. Bingo first recruited fellow teammate Leon Carter, the best pitcher alive, and then one by one talked Potters Aces into becoming Bingos All-Stars. Even Raymond Mikes had agreed to come along as bookkeeper. With third baseman Louiss Lincoln convertible and Bingos Auburn, the team was set and left for Pittsburgh to play the Elite Giants. Lionel had helped Bingo set up games in Cleveland, Toledo and Chicago, after that, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then Iowa. Life was good and surviving was no problem. Bingo knew hustling baseball games in small rural towns was a lot different than playing the usual scheduled games in the Negro League and tried to acquaint his teammates, who had not traveled west of Chicago, with this fact. We got to be polite and cheerful all the time even when we aint feeling it (Brashler 50). Life in segregated America was not easy for Negroes. White restaurants and hotels did not permit them inside. It was necessary to find black establishments, who would serve Negroes. If no place was found to put them up for the night, they slept in cars or outside on the ground in bedrolls. Even if they had money and were able to pay, prejudice and bigotry took charge and made life for the Negro, as a second class citizen. Bingo was aware of this, but he was going to find out first hand how it really was. Life would become survival. Once the All-Stars left the Eastern cities and established Negro League baseball schedules, they would have to hustle their own games. Because theses games were in smaller populated areas, the All-Stars would have to play more games just to break even. Lionel had advised them to play as many games as possible. Road travel was difficult and slow, streets and highways were not paved. Cars lumbered over the roads at a snails crawl. Dust not only covers the passengers, but also plugged up the cars engines. At times, after the last game, the players filed back into the cars, got as comfortable as possible and were driven by Bingo and Louis, or back up drivers, on to the next town, the next game. Showmanship was necessary. Upon entering small towns, it was necessary to drive down the business district, the driver would honk the horn as the players stood up in the car and waved to the people. Then they would change into their uniforms, re-enter the town, driving down the main streets, honking the horn, players would walk behind the car and wave and bow to the people, all in an effort to gain interest and enthusiasm in the upcoming ball game. At the beginning of the games, were hot ball routines, infield pantomimes and pitching shows. Then there was the baseball fields, in some cases just pastures with a couple of wooden benches and a broken down backstop. If an admissions stand could not be built, then the All- Stars would pass the hat in small rural areas. .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .postImageUrl , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:hover , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:visited , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:active { border:0!important; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:active , .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u9c6d9a5f4393bb91557aaf5bcd57130f:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: How The Other Half Lives Essay Paper SegregationAfter all, expenses have to be met. The strain of the road eroded players mentally and emotionally. Day in and day out it was the same routine over and over again. The ever present discrimination and class distension appeared in many different themes. Louis was razored for propositioning a white call girl, a white car mechanic took advantage of Bingos ignorance concerning needing new spark plugs for Bingos Auburn, Bingos car was destroyed when a white womans truck hit it, there were small white town hecklers at the ball .

Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson Essay Example

Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson Essay In the song ‘Man in the Mirror’ sung by Michael Jackson, an important idea is ‘making a change to those living in poverty’. Michael Jackson has shown this through the use of language techniques such as pronouns and rhetorical questions. Michael Jackson has also shown this through the music video. The important idea of ‘making a change to those living in poverty’, is shown through the use of pronouns. By using the pronoun ‘I’ Michael Jackson gives the impression that he wants to make a change to the world and those living in poverty, to make it a better place. Because he wants to make a change to the world we want to follow in his footsteps. The use of ‘I’ is different to when Michael Jackson uses the ‘you’ because using ‘you’ is his instruction to us to make a change to the world, whereas when he says ‘I’ he is referring to himself. Michael Jackson has used a pronoun many times in the song which gives us the impression that Michael Jackson wants him to make a change to the world. By using ‘I’ and ‘you’ Michael Jackson is saying that we can all make changes as individuals to make the world a better place. The important idea of ‘making a change to those living in poverty’, is shown through the use of a rhetorical question. By using a question we are questioning ourselves. Michael Jackson is getting the listener to think about what they do for those living in poverty. An example of rhetorical questions that Michael Jackson has used is â€Å"Who am I to be blind?†. This question comes before the lyrics â€Å"pretending not to see their needs†. By having these two lines next to each other Michael Jackson wants the listener to think about what they do and if they choose not to see the people in need or if they actually don’t see the people living in poverty. This is a challenge to us to think about how we can help those people and how fortunate we are not to be in that situation. Another question M We will write a custom essay sample on Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer

O Henry essays

O Henry essays The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, is the most famous short story he has written. This story, like many of his other short stories, was written while he was at the Ohio Penitentiary. O. Henry wrote in a manner that most readers were able to identify with the situations in the story. "The Gift of the Magi" was no different, as it showed what one couple does for love in the face of financial destitution. O. Henrys life influenced his stories. William Sydney Porter, better known to readers as O. Henry, was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina (W.S. Porter 1 of 1). He was the son of Algernon and Mary Virginia Swaim Porter. His father was a physician and his mother spent her time writing poems. Unfortunately, his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only three-years-old (American Literature 1846). Upon his mothers death, he was left to be raised by his grandmother and his Aunt Lina (American Literature 1846). His aunt and his grandmother frequently read to him when he was a child. Henry didnt have many friends as a child. He spent most of his time at home (Linder 1 of 1). O. Henry loved to read and developed a lifelong love for literature (Kirjasto 1 of 1). Henry was not like many other famous writers. He left school at the age fifteen (Kirjasto 1 of 1). He didnt attend college nor did he receive any other formal education. The only education he got was from his Aunt Lina (W.S. Porter 1 of 1). O. Henry didnt established many long lasting relationships in his lifetime. Henry got married in July of 1887 to Athol Estes. He and Athol had one daughter together, Margaret (American Literature 1846). Athol became ill in 1897 and died a few months later (W.S. Porter 1 of 1). He later remarried to his childhood friend, Sarah Lindsay Coleman. His marriage with Sarah was not a happy one though; they separated in...

How Fluoride Works to Prevent Tooth Decay

How Fluoride Works to Prevent Tooth Decay Fluoride is the fluorine ion added to toothpaste and dental rinses to help protect your teeth from cavities. While increasing the concentration of systemic fluoride (e.g., through fluoridating drinking water) has not been proven to reduce the incidence of tooth decay, direct contact between fluoride and teeth strengthens and helps remineralize damaged enamel. The Chemistry Behind Dental Health The calcium and phosphate compound which makes up tooth enamel is a modified form of hydroxyapatite, which is susceptible to attack by acids. Bacteria that thrive on the sugars found in the mouth multiply on dental surfaces and produce acids. Mechanical brushing of teeth dislodges these bacteria and rinses them away, but doesnt do anything to address the ongoing damage to enamel from acid exposure. Fortunately, saliva neutralizes these acids and teeth use compounds found in saliva to remineralize the enamel. So, as long as the rate of demineralization and the rate of remineralization remain in balance, teeth remain strong and healthy. When more minerals are lost from teeth than are replaced, dental caries or cavities form. Fluoride helps by interacting with hydroxyapatite to form a stronger compound that is less susceptible to acid attack. Also, fluoride remineralizes damaged enamel (though it cant fix a cavity once one has formed). There is some evidence fluoride may inhibit the growth of bacteria on teeth or limit their capacity for producing acid. Even though you spit out toothpaste and probably rinse your mouth, enough fluoride remains on your teeth and in your saliva to confer protection for a while after brushing your teeth or using a fluoridated rinse.

Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 5

Microeconomics - Essay Example This paper discusses the concept of monopolistic competition using a variety of theories and real data. It also presents an existing case where specific aspects of monopolistic competition can be highlighted. Monopolistic competition refers to a market characterized by many firms that offer similar products but not identical. The products and services can be considered as substitutes but not complete identical to each other. This aspect means that the cross-price elasticity of demand is huge but not infinite. The firms in this kind of competition can enter the market freely as well as exit freely when they please. It is effortless for new organizations to enter the market with own brands. Similarly, firms that have been in the market for long can also leave when their products become unprofitable (Morton & Goodman, 2003:203). Monopolistic competition is like a monopoly because the organizations in this market have a downward-sloping demand curve meaning that the prices exceed the marginal cost. Organizations that exist in monopolistic competition markets have similar rules to monopolies in terms of profit maximization. They choose the output level where the marginal cost and the marginal revenue are similar and they set their prices by looking at the demand curve so that the goods produced must be bought by the customers (Zhelobodko, Kokovin, Parenti & Thisse, 2012:2765) There are different theories that explain monopolistic competition. First, the Krugman model (1980) offers a formal description of the profits gained from a particular form of trade in the absence of comparative advantage (Bertoleti & Etro, 2014: 459). This model was branded a new trade theory because it influenced a lot of research on trade and industrial organization between the 1980s and 1990s. The Krugman model explains that product differentiation at the firm level leads to monopolistic competition because such competition comes about when

Analysis od Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and The Essay

Analysis od Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe and The American Promise, a History of the US by James L. Roark - Essay Example A new world of colonial society was created in which many people were displaced from their native land. In the early 1763, the British colony emerged as one of the imperial power in North America. However, some of the British in America rebelled against the British rule and joined together to form their new country known as United States. The United States as a young nation expanded to pacific and started creating tension to other nations around the world by promoting slave trade. The novel â€Å"Uncle Tom’s cabin† examines the slave trade that took place in United States. It reveals how American people involved themselves in the slave trade. This is revealed when Mr. Shelby the main protagonist in the novel and a slave trader discusses the number of slaves he needs to sell in order to settle his debt. This shows that slaves were regarded as commodities that could be found in the market freely. American large scale farmers bought the slaves to work in their farms where they were highly mistreated. On the other hand, the book â€Å"The American Promise, a History of the United states† explores the American people’s life from a traditional to modern society. It gives an account of the transitions and conflicts that have shaped United States. This paper is a critical analysis of the novel â€Å"Uncle Tom's Cabin† by Harriet Beeecher Stowe and the book â€Å"The American Promise, a History of the United states† by James L. Roark. Analysis of Uncle Tom's Cabin Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a classic novel that provoked the American civil war in early 1600s. It discusses the issue of the slave trade that prevailed in United States. In addition, it also reveals the cruel behavior of the white masters towards their slaves. The author of the novel has a negative attitude towards slave trade in the American society. His main concern is to show that African-American have feelings like any other people in the society. This is because , during this period, white plantation farmers viewed black people as degraded human species. In addition, slave sellers and auctioneers had no feeling for the African-American people. This is evidenced by their behaviors of separating children from their mothers without feeling of the loss (Stowe 7). Harriet Beecher Stowe writes this novel to show that African-American people are normal human beings and should be treated with equality in the society. In his writing, he approaches the issue of the slave trade in an unwavering Christian viewpoint. The novel narrates the story of Uncle Tom who is the main character. He is very intelligent and honest middle aged, black man in the American society. The author also introduces Mr. Shelby a slave trader and a master to Uncle Tom. He has a great trust of Uncle Tom and allows him to carry out various dealings in the house. In addition, he also entrusts him to take care of a large sum of money whenever he is on a business trip. Uncle Tom on t he other hand is loyal to his master and does not want to violate the trust. This is evidenced with his act of not running away with the money even after getting a prime opportunity (Stowe 37). Uncle Tom enjoys the comfortable lifestyle in Mr. Shelby’s home. Due to his Christian values he is highly respected by Mr. Shelby. This makes him enjoy freedom in the house of a slave trader. However, the turning point of their relationship arrives when Mr. Shelby find himself in a debt of another slave trader known as

The Triumph of Science Over Religion In the West Essay Example for Free

The Triumph of Science Over Religion In the West Essay By the sixteenth century, the Western experience with religion had turned bitter. The Catholic Reformation, also referred to as a Counter Reformation, was a response to the great Protestant Reformation in Europe during this period of time. There were two elements of the Catholic Reformation. First of all, Catholics were being called for a renewal of piety and of virtue in the form of renewed commitments to prayer as well as mysticism. This component of the Reformation was particularly evident in the clerical orders. The ordinary folks had nothing whatsoever to do with this component of the Reformation, seeing that even the clerical orders were not looked upon as worthy guides. Secondly, the Church was being asked to reform in order to deal with unparalleled as well as swift changes in society, and abuses that accompanied those changes. There was turbulence witnessed in the societal structure, and one of the reasons why it was necessary to initiate the Catholic Reformation was that the humanists had revived classical pagan philosophy in the fifteenth century, using the new miracle of printing to shift the attention of society from the after life to the present. At the same time as the classical pagan philosophy was being circulated, the Church was going through a period of decline with a desiccation of scholastic thinking. Internal abuses at the Church were also well-known, and these involved simony, the sale of indulges, multiple benefices, and much more. The Church could not be trusted as much as it was meant to be. As a matter of fact, the condition of religion in the sixteenth century was characterized by turmoil. King Henry VIII of England created the Church of England in the year 1533 A.D. by splitting from the Roman Catholic Church. Around the same time, the French Wars of Religion were waged between the Catholics and the Huguenots in France. How much confusion such chaos would have given birth to in the minds of Western Christians with respect to their religion could only be imagined. Christianity was, after all, supposed to be a religion of peace and unconditional love. The Western religion around 1500 A.D. was chiefly Christian, and the sixteenth century has been described as â€Å"probably the most intolerant period in Christian history.† It was not the scientists that were killed during this time because they came up with new ideas. Rather, in the sixteenth century, there were thousands of people that were killed because they were called heretics. Michael Servetus was only one such individual. He was burned in 1553 A.D., alive, on the order of John Calvin in addition to the city authorities, because he had made theological speculations that Calvin was sure were falsehoods. To put it another way, the religious authorities of the time would not allow people even to deviate in their thinking with respect to religion. Christians of the West were required to think of Christianity in the way that the religious authorities felt was appropriate. Critical thinking or questioning was not allowed by any means. What is more, the religious authorities themselves were known to be corrupt enough for places of worship to be closed down. Lindsay Clarke reports: In January, 1535, the newly appointed Vicar-General of the English Church, Thomas Cromwell, sent out his agents to conduct a commission of enquiry into the character and value of all ecclesiastical property in the kingdom. Overtly, they were reformers, exercising the new powers accorded to the Crown by the Act of Supremacy: from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempts and enormities . . . which ought or may be lawfully reformed. But Dr. Richard Layton, Dr. Thomas Legh, Dr. John London, and the other tough-minded and venal officials chosen for the job had no doubt what the Crown expected of them. It took them only six months to submit for Cromwells scrutiny an accurate and detailed tax-book, the Valor Ecclesiasticus. Along with it came evidence of corruption and scandalous immorality in Englands monasteries. Such evidence was not hard to find, for by the 16th century many of the religious houses had long since lost their sense of purpose. The religious turbulence of the sixteenth century was continued into the seventeenth century. The government of England had become known for its harassment of Catholics as well as Jesuits. On 20 May 1604, certain religious men began to plot the destruction of the government after having heard Mass. A priest knew of this plotting, and was made to pay the price of this knowledge later on. And yet, the religious authorities of the Near and Far East were not facing religious turmoil around this time. Nor were the people of the advanced civilizations of the Near and Far East being confronted with religious confusion. Furthermore, scientists of the Near East were especially involved with their work during the sixteenth century, as for a number of centuries before. The Ottoman astronomer, Taqi al-Din, created astronomical tables in the sixteenth century. These tables were considered as accurate as the ones made by Tycho Brahe in Denmark during the same period of time. All the same, the Ottomans are known to have ceased their support for scientific innovations and research a century later, as their priorities took a shift. The West, however, continued scientific explorations even after the sixteenth century. The East had maintained its religions. It was only the West that had showed immense intolerance toward different religious beliefs and practices, even with respect to its own faith. Whereas religious authorities stopped Westerners from thinking and reasoning, science opened up a new world to the ordinary people. They were not called heretics because of their new scientific ideas. Rather, people who came up with new scientific ideas were in the company of many others who came up with great new ideas in the scientific arena. Giordano Bruno, Girolamo Cardano, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, William Gilbert, Johannes Kepler, Paracelsus, John Napier, and Andreas Vesalius are only few of the important Western scientists of the sixteenth century. Besides, this century saw the birthing of Copernicus’ theory, the import of new plant species from the Americas into Europe, and new inventions that revolutionized manufacturing and other features of living. The wheel-lock musket, the helicopter, the spinning wheel, the pocket watch, the diving bell, the seed drill, the camera obscura, the knitting machine, the compound microscope, the Gregorian Calendar, and the enameling of pottery were all brought into the world in the sixteenth century. So, while religion disappointed people, science brought renewed hope of existence through new products and discoveries. No scientist could be killed in the name of science. Hence, science was safely meant to stay on in the West despite the good or bad luck of religion. Bibliography 1. Clark, Lindsay. â€Å"The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th Century.† Available from http://www.historynet.com/. Internet; accessed 31 March 2007. 2. Hogge, Alice. God’s Secret Agents: Queen Elizabeth’s Forbidden Priests and the Hatching of the Gunpowder Plot. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2005. 3. MacroHistory. â€Å"How the Idea of Religious Tolerance Came to the West.† Available from http://www.fsmitha.com/review/index.html. Internet; accessed 31 March 2007. 4. Lewis, Jone Johnson. Women Saints: Doctors of the Church. London: Penguin, 1998. 5. Magic Dragon Multimedia. â€Å"Timeline 16th Century.† Available from http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/timeline16.html. Internet; accessed 31 March 2007. 6. Olin, John. Catholic Reformation: From Cardinal Ximenes to the Council of Trent, 1495-1563. New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. 7. Pollen, J. H. â€Å"The Counter Reformation.† The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: K. Knight, 2004.

The Growth of American Government from the End of Reconstruction and th

In the past, the nation’s government took the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach to dealing with the economy and/or free market affairs. The government intervened as little as possible, asserting the belief felt that if left alone, economic problems would be resolved without government interference. However, this approach was not guaranteed, and at times, the government had to put aside the â€Å"laissez-faire† approach of the past. The government had no other choice but to intervene in these instances to return balance to the economy and protect its citizens it served. The government changed both its approach and its size through programs initiated by the Industrial Revolution, New Deal programs during and following the Great Depression, and World War II, forever changing the relationship between Americans and their Government. During the Industrial Revolution with the massive railroad production across the country, the railroad executives were clever, strong-minded, mostly dishonest men who bribed congressmen, and conducted crooked financial deals who became known as â€Å"robber barons†. 1 As railroads expanded transportation across the country, it opened up a vast market for competition and over production of farm products. The railroad executives took advantage of the fact that the railroad was the only transportation that some farmers had to ship their products. Since the railroads had formed monopolies, they were free to charge whatever rates they saw fit and took full advantage of this by price discrimination. They offered discounts and rebates to big corporations with large loads which the individual farmer did not have. Nor did farmers have the political influence to fight the railroads on these matters.2 Therefore, in 1877, t... ... 11. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 book pg 1086-87 12. HI 1073 United States History 1877-Present Discussion Manual Spring 2011 CH 5 – The Interwar Years, 58. Social Security Act (1935). 13. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 book Page 1197 14. HI 1073 United States History 1877-Present Discussion Manual Spring 2011 CH 6 – World War II, 70. The GI Bill of Rights (1944). 15. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 pg 1209 16. American A Narrative History 8th Edition, George Brown Tindall and David Emory Shir, W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., New York 2010 page 1218

Article Critique Essay

The thought that peer exclusion is correlated with children’s classroom achievements and adjustment has been hypothesized since the 1930’s. Much research and empirical evidence for such hypotheses have since been collected, and seem to agree with the premise of the correlation. Peer acceptance is the main measurement of this study. In contrast with other types of peer relationships, peer group acceptance, or rejection, is strongly connected with academic readiness and achievement. This article focuses on peer sentiments and its effect on children’s adjustment. It differs from past studies in that its approach is to measure non-observable feelings about classmates, rather than only the observable interactions. The article begins by outlining past research, and developing a premise for the study from those previous studies. The main study that this research builds upon is that of a 2001 study by Eric S. Buhs and Gary W. Ladd, who also conduct this study along with Sarah L. Herald. The premise of the study, based on the 2001 study, is that once classmates express negative feelings and actions upon a peer, those feelings and actions act as a visible marker for further rejection by the larger peer group, and the rejected child as well; as a result, the rejected peers are flagged by their peers, and are left out of classroom interactions, and as a consequence, the rejected child’s learning is impacted ultimately leading to lower levels of achievement (Buhs, Ladd, and Herald, 2006, p. 2). The prior 2001 study found that â€Å"early peer rejection was negatively related to later achievement and that this association was partially mediated through peer maltreatment and declining classroom participation, respectively† (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 2). The authors developed a hypothesis that built upon their previous study. Their hypothesis was stated as, â€Å"it was hypothesized that prolonged peer maltreatment increases the probability that children will disengage from classrooms (or the school context) and that increasing disengagement impairs children’s achievement. Thus, it was predicted that longer rather than shorter histories of peer maltreatment, after controlling for contemporary exclusion or abuse, would mediate the link between early peer rejection and later classroom disengagement† (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 3). The authors further state that their purpose for conducting this study was to bridge the gap between the limitations of the previous study (it was only a one year study that attempted to predict students future outcomes) by conducting a more comprehensive longitudinal study over a six year period (kindergarten through fifth grade). Methodology The research study constructed six variables to measure the children with. They include, peer group acceptance/rejection, peer exclusion, peer abuse, classroom participation, school avoidance, and achievement. Peer group acceptance/rejection was conceptualized to mean â€Å"the extent to which individuals were liked/ disliked by classroom peers,† and operationalized by sociometric ratings that were collected from peers during kindergarten. One problem with this operationalization is the ability to comprehensively scale the true feelings of one peer toward another, especially during younger years. Scales, questionnaires, and observations might be too incomplete to capture the true meaning behind the dynamics of peer to peer interactions. Another issue is of how to evaluate separate peer groups. Many times classrooms encompass only a selection of developed peer groupings throughout the grade, and might be unfairly balanced toward one group. An example of groupings would be defined by the terms, â€Å"popular,† â€Å"punk,† or â€Å"nerds. † The research might be biased toward one group, if only because they were over represented in a class room. The variable Peer Exclusion was conceptualized as â€Å"the extent to which children were the target of peers’ nonaggressive rejecting behaviors, including behaviors such as ignoring, avoiding, or refusing to associate with them in the classroom context† (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 3). The Variable Peer Abuse—the second form of peer mistreatment—was conceptualized to mean â€Å"the extent to which children were recipients of classmate’s aggressive and harassing behaviors† (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 3). These two variables contained indicators to distinguish between chronic peer abuse, and situational peer abuse. Again, the issue that arises is the effectiveness of these measures. The interactions between childhood peers are complex, and can change daily. The variables Classroom Participation, and School Avoidance were used to measure disengagement from the classroom environment. A large issue with this is how to distinguish individuals who might be avoiding class as an outcome of separate circumstances. If poor participation and avoidance was only observed from the angle of peer interactions, then this view is biased toward the study. The study is seeking a correlation, and if outside factors aren’t controlled for, then they will biasly effect the results of their study. A child’s family life, neighborhood, economic status, innate ability, among other factors, could influence all of the variables that this study examines. The last variable, Achievement, was defined as â€Å"the accuracy with which children could solve progressively more advanced reading, mathematics, and spelling problems on an individualized achievement test† (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 4). The issue that comes to mind with this variable is the way it uses tests to gauge â€Å"achievement†. Some students fare better on tests than others, while some students take time to develop adequate test taking skills. Another problem is how to control for separate curriculums in different classrooms, and the quality of what is being taught. Data (From the text) Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 5 Participants The data used in this investigation were gathered from a total sample of 380 children (190 girls These children were followed longitudinally from age 5 (kindergarten) to age 11 (fifth grade31 kindergarten class rooms across 10 schools, and by the fifth-grade data collection period, children were in 162 different classrooms across 32 schools. The sample contained nearly equal proportions of families from urban, suburban, or rural midwestern communities, and the sample’s ethnic composition was 17. 4% African American, 77. 1% Caucasian, 1. 6% Hispanic, and 3. 9% â€Å"other. † Family incomes were distributed as follows: 10. 9% of the sample reported total household incomes from $0 to $10,000, 10. 9% reported incomes from $10,000 to $20,000, 12. 6% reported incomes from $20,000 to $30,000, 12. 6% from $30,000 to $40,000, 12. 9% from $40,000 to $50,000, and 40. 3% reported incomes above $50,000. Results The study reports it’s results as, â€Å"peer group rejection is predictive of a range of chronic, negative peer behaviors that may alter both the social environment of the classroom and children’s adaptive responses within that context across the elementary school years. † (Buhs et al. , 2006, p. 11). It suggests that the facet of peer exclusion leading to reduced participation, and ultimately delayed achievements needs further study. It goes on to say that with further study, and thus more knowledge, an empirically based intervention program can be developed. Conclusion It can be argued that to have a complete understanding of the ever evolving and complex world of the social interactions in a school environment is close to impossible. The authors came into their study with a set premise, and expectations of the outcomes, and have seemed to found what they were searching for. The question becomes, how valid are the author’s findings, and can they be applied in a general manner across learning environments. I believe studies that look at complex interactions between children over several years, such as this study, might have too many outside interactionary forces that could effect the data and results. Works Cited Buhs, Eric S. , Ladd, Gary W. , and Herald, Sarah L. (2006). Peer Exclusion and Victimization: Processes That Mediate the Relation Between Peer Group Rejection and Children’s Classroom Engagement and Achievement?. journal of Educational Psychology 2006, Vol. 98, No. 1, 1–13.

Discuss ‘sensibility’ in the poetry of Felicia Hemans: The Grave of a Poetess

In this essay I will define the meaning of ‘sensibility' in the poetry that I have encountered in this course. Then, I will discuss the gender writing, women's poetry and whether ‘sensibility' is a characteristic of women's poetry alone. In poetry, sensibility could be defined as a mental responsiveness and awareness, which refine sensitivity to pleasurable or painful impressions. It also, considered as a cult of feeling, which arose in the eighteenth century in response to philosophical theories. Those theories investigate the power of feeling to communicate directly between people. In the eighteenth century, sensibility celebrated the man feeling, presented with the feelings of sympathy and pity in response to the suffering of others. Sensibility takes us into an internal world of psychology. Curran argues that the link is a crucial one to understanding Romanticism when he writes that the ‘poetry of sensibility is at base a literature of psychological exploration, and it is the foundation on which Romanticism was reread' (Romantic Writing, p. 113). The images of woman on the eighteenth century, was one source of the figure of the domestic woman. Within the culture of the Romantic period, the main role for woman was taking care of children, house and husband. Literature in that era, was influenced by sensibility, and seems to celebrate feeling and femininity. Although sensibility appears among males' poems, most of them refuse sensibility and consider it as a type of feminine. Many of Wordsworth's poems return to the literature of sensibility, such as the distress suffered by a young woman and meeting an old man on the roadside. Wordsworth accepted sensibility as a male sensibility, but Blake refuse completely the sensibility, which represented in his perspective woman femininity. Sensibility meaning was different in the point of view of some women writers. Some of them take their literary identity from it, such as Williams. Whereas, others consider it as an aspect of femininity at best, and at worst, as a means to celebrate all that is most false and decadent in the contemporary emergence of male romantic poetry. No one can deny that romanticism periods' writers, such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Byron and Shelley, had borrowed significantly from female authors and feminine types of literature. Hence, we have to admit that there is a shared culture between men and women throughout the period of romanticism. Wollstonecraft argues that to deny women the opportunities of education and an active role in society is to transform them into domestic slaves. What connects women and slaves, for Wollstonecraft, is that they are both seen and treated as commodities. The revolutionary period gave fresh movement to debate and concern about femininity and women's role in society. James Fordyce's Sermons to Young Women (1765) was One of the most frequently republished volumes. In that volume, writer expresses strong views on the dangers to women of too much novel reading. According to Fordyce, female intellect is limited, whereas, most of life activities which need human intelligence such as ‘war, commerce, politics, exercises of strength and dexterity, abstract philosophy, and all the abstruser sciences, are more properly the province of men. In thinking about the relation between gender and writing in the romantic period, we should note the Polwhele claims an inherited masculine perspective, locating his contemporary readers in the context of their fathers' experience. According to Polwhele, women's writing is an affront to God-given, ‘natural' gender roles. In this masculine way of seeing, women are objects of the male gaze, they are defined by their appearance and behaviour. It follows that if women engage in certain types of writing, this will involve the loss of the ‘softer charms' that are bound up with these ideals of femininity. (Romantic Writing, p. 180). Nevertheless There were influential poets in the beginning of the nineteenth century, such as Anna Barbauld, Anna Seward, Charlotte Smith and Mary Robinson. The work of those women writers were going through many editions, but they have subsequently been erased from literary history or pushed to its margins. Women writers were very popular, and women readers gained a new economic visibility through the rise of fashionable magazine.. the beginning of women entrance to literary marketplace was in significant numbers during the 18th and 19th centuries, but in the historical context in which they wrote, they could not easily claim to speak with authority. To write as a woman was to be transgressive: entering the literary marketplace and competing with male authors for readership challenged conventional gender boundaries. As a result, many women authors adopted authorial personae that fit, rather than challenged, conventional gender definitions. Since women were generally understood to be emotional rather than rational, women authors often wrote about feelings, emotions, and, especially, love. They often adopted styles that fit their subject matter: to seem more feminine, they employed highly emotional language. By so doing, they could find an audience yet not risk being perceived as excessively ambitious. But this created a double-bind: to speak as a woman was to play the part of an emotionally sensitive and irrational human being. And whereas male authors could cite an infinite number of literary ancestors to establish their authority, female authors had just a handful of literary antecedents. Male poets were increasingly forced to respond to women writers such as Joanna Baillie, a Scottish poet and successful dramatist, who published a 72 page polemic arguing for naturalness in poetic language two years before Wordsworth wrote his ‘Preface† to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, in which he makes the same plea. Women Poets such as Baillie and other preceded Wordsworth and brought the vigour of common life and language to their writings. Many of the most popular poets, such as Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L.E.L), published their poems in annuals and ornamental giftbooks, which were directed towards a largely female readership. L.E.L. edited and wrote most of Health's Book of Beauty, and contributed to countless other. They promoted, particularly through their illustrations, an ideology of feminine beauty, providing models for women to emulate and confirming that the ideal woman was the object, not the subject, of the gaze. In this sense, we will represent Felicia Hemans: â€Å"The Grave of a Poetess†. Sensibility is appear obviously in this poem which succeed in transferring the human suffer among its verses. In such a poem which written by woman, the death seems strangely bound up with expression, and it show how might this bundling affect the poem's agenda. In the final stanza of The Grave of a Poetess, Felicia Hemans completes the turn of her poem from one of melancholy lament at the passing of fellow poet Mary Tighe to one instead celebrating the apparent freedom of expression that follows a poet's earthly death. In closing, Hemans writes to Tighe, â€Å"Where couldst thou fix on mortal ground / Thy tender thoughts and high? / Now peace the woman's heart hath found, / And joy the poet's eye†. The Grave of a Poetess, ends up carrying a fair amount of dramatic potency, as it both points to repression of the female voice, and implies the loss this creates for all of humanity. An effective tension is thus lent to Hemans poem through the direct and indirect of injection of her frustrated Romantic yearnings for the attainment of full expression for her and her fellow poetesses, the denial of which leads her to resort to the Christian-like notion of a vindicating afterlife seen in this poem. Charlotte Smith was born in London. Her mother Anne died when she was only three, and at the age of six Charlotte was sent by her Aunt to a school in Chichester and later a school in Kingston. At the age of sixteen she was the subject of an arranged marriage to Benjamin Smith, with whom she was to have twelve children. There life together was far from straightforward, and the couple had many financial difficulties which led to her husband being imprisoned in debtors prison for seven months. Despite all her problems she was however a talented translator, and prolific writer of prose, plays and poetry. Including the Elegaic Sonnets in 1784 of which the Glow Worm was sonnet 58. She died in 1806 and is buried in Stoke. In Charlotte Smith's sonnet, she showed a high power of sensibility and she used a power of nature to represent her feeling among the sonnet. â€Å"I love to listen to the hollow sighs/ Through the half-leafless wood that breathes the gale;/ for at such hours the shadowy phantom pale†: in these lines she express her sadness and feelings through the use of nature elements. She used the expression â€Å"half-leafless† to show that the leaves had fallen down. Also she use the expression â€Å"shadowy phantom† to show that it is as a shadow, and this expression is a kind of mystery. Dorothy Wordsworth: â€Å"Floating Island† is another example of woman poetry, which represent sensibility among her writing. Dorothy start her poem with a force of nature: â€Å"Harmonious Powers with Nature work/ on sky, earth, river, lake, and sea:/ Sunshine and storm, whirlwind and breeze/ All in one duteous task agree†. In this poem the poet employed the nature to express the feeling of security in the preface of the poem. Although common poets refused to accept feminine sensibility, their work was influenced by sensibility in getting to the mind of human feeling and describing suffering and emotion. Wordsworth show sensibility in his famous poems, such as â€Å"Lucy†. In that poem, Wordsworth describe a story of a woman and express her beauty and shy. Then he ended his poem by telling his audience that Lucy had dead and no one know where she had lived: â€Å"She lived unknown, and few could know/ But she is in her grave, and oh†. All these emotions considered as a type of sensibility. In contrasting with William Blake: â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper†, we find that the poet interest in showing a political and social suffering among his poem. In this poem the Blake is suggesting that it is a state of affairs which cannot be changed, and all we could do would be to accept our earthly fate and expect our reward in the afterlife: â€Å"And so Tome awoke, and we rose in the dark,/ So if all do their duty they need not fear harm†. Although men such as Wordsworth, Blake, Keats and Shelley refused to admit that they use sensibility in their poems, no one can deny that there is a considerable amount of shared culture between men and women throughout the period of romanticism. In comparing with women sensibility, Wordsworth, Blake, Keats and Shelley express their sensibility among their poems in their poetry, and mainly they concern in human existence and the political situation. Sensibility was appeared more in Blake poems, as he was more sensitive and involved in human and political suffering and he was considered as a radical member during the revolution. On the other hand women sensibility interest in domestic matters and social and family sadness and women suffering. Further more they interest in the story of love and families and they use gothic elements in their poetry. In conclusion, we defined sensibility as a matter of sensitivity and expression of emotions which arose in eighteenth century poetry. Both of men and women used sensibility in their poetry, but each of them employ it in a different way. The work of Wordsworth and Coleridge, Keats Byron and Shelley borrows significantly from female authors and ‘feminine' types of literature, such as sensibility, even though it seeks to mark its own works as masculine and to sever the association with female writers and readers. Sensibility arose in men's poetry as a matter of expressing the refusal to the political situation and the social suffering. Whereas, it arose in women sensibility among their awareness of domestic needs and women suffering. In men's perspective the woman is a poem not a poet, and that was what we notice in Wordsworth poem â€Å"Lucy† as he used Lucy as a passive character, he interest in describing her beauty, but there were no considered to her intelligence.

Regression to Childhood in Greasy Lake

Regression to Childhood in Greasy Lake "(I was nineteen, a mere child, an infant, and here in the space of five minutes I'd struck down one greasy character and blundered into the waterlogged carcass of another.)" (7)After mistakenly interrupting the romantic interlude of a greasy man and his girlfriend at Greasy Lake, the evening becomes a succession of negative events for the three boys. Following a fight with the greaser, the boys then turn their attention to his screaming girlfriend, as her man lies unconscious on the ground. The narrator and his two friends are suddenly interrupted during their assault of the greaser's girlfriend by two fraternity boys and must flee the scene of their various crimes. The narrator runs in a blind panic through the woods and unconsciously wades into Greasy Lake. As he thrashes wildly through the murky water, his progress impeded by the feculent growth, the narrator flounders into a corpse.Greasy Lake & Other StoriesShocked, a moment passes before the narrator realizes what he has encou ntered. Upon doing so, he becomes more panicked: "Understood, and stumbled back in horror and revulsion..."(7) It is at this point that the narrator abandons all pretence of being a 'bad' character by displaying his true emotions and reactions, of fear and disgust, towards the events that have transpired, and the environment in which he finds himself. Throughout the evening at Greasy Lake, the narrator discards his defiant, adolescent persona and regresses significantly in confidence and maturity due to the traumatic events endured, until he consequently reverts to a temporary infantile mentality, until finally regaining some composure in order to escape Greasy Lake."Greasy Lake" begins with the narrator describing the qualities which were prevalent among boys during his adolescence. "There was a time when courtesy and winning ways went out of style, when it was good to be...

How To Ramp Up Results Even When Your Industry Lags With Ted Horan

How To Ramp Up Results Even When Your Industry Lags With Ted Horan Different industries directly impact the marketing processes, tactics, and tools that prevent marketers from being productive, organized, and focused. Is your industry leading or lagging in marketing and technology consumption? Today’s guest is Ted Horan, vice president of marketing in eCommerce at RDO Equipment Company. Ted describes how the company overcomes makeshift marketing to be a leader in the construction and agriculture industry.   Candid Customer: What works and what doesn’t with tool Farmer to Founder: Ron Offutt’s entrepreneurial spirit for equipment business Evolution of Equipment Industry: Sales-heavy, outdated, one-man operation Catch up vs. Keep up: Create a digital presence to sell more and be relevant   Ultimate Goal: Become a strategic partner with those driving revenue every day Ever-changing Tech Environment: Rely on tools to react, pivot, and adapt Pop-up Projects: Prioritizing flow of ideas and fire drills depends on budget, resources, and capacity Qualifiers: Find tools to manage/optimize workflow in a way that makes sense Are you winning? Surround yourself with a strong team and necessary skill sets   Links:   RDO Equipment Company John Deere Vermeer Microsoft Teams Gartner for Marketers (formerly CEB) The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson The Challenger Customer by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson New Marketing Suite If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Ted Horan: â€Å"Marketing has evolved out of necessity. When those commodity prices dipped, it created a perfect storm. In many industries, it exposed opportunities.†Ã‚   â€Å"These tools are only as important as the capacity we have to use them.† â€Å"There’s really no cookie-cutter tool that speaks to my team to the extent that it answers all our challenges and issues.† â€Å"You have to understand so much about today’s buyer and the journey they’re on to be successful. That is challenging.†

What is the impact of SOA in industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is the impact of SOA in industry - Essay Example oach that asserts the intention to build software assets in an organization in order to improve the organization efficiency in meeting its needs (Marks, 2013, p.98). In this context, the term service refers to a unit of functionality that is self-contained like doing and online shopping or a retrieval of a bank statement in the internet. It is as a result of SOA that computer that are interconnected in an organization are able to cooperate, with adoption of the SOA rapidly gaining some popularity in the modern world especially in the large businesses and centralized organizations. Service-oriented architecture creates a situation whereby every computer in the network can perform indiscriminate number of services while still capable of exchanging different information in an easy way. Exchange of information between the various computers that are interconnected is made possible without any need for human interaction or change in the primary program .Application of SOA is associated with numerous advantages that make it appear like it is the dominant form of enterprise architecture in the modern world. One of this key advantage that has made the system become popular is the ability of the system to allow continuous use and easy-sharing of data between various programs vendors without necessarily having to buy an additional program or make changes to the services. Moreover, in most cases the services provided by the system are reusable, a factor that lowers the total cost in terms of the development and maintenance cost, while at the same time providing much valu e after the development and testing of the service. However, SOA is not likely to make any difference or be beneficial to a business organization especially if the organization adopting is small (does not have two or more primary systems that require a degree of integration), or the organization is large but is far much decentralized. Despite the above-mentioned benefits of using SOA in an organization, there

The Bookshop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Bookshop - Essay Example The Bookshop, a novel by Penelope Fitzgerald got published in the year 1978. The novel primarily deals with a small English town in the late 50s, where the parochial attitude and approach towards things and issues bring to test the very grit and resilience of the ordinary people trying to achieve ordinary goals in a somewhat extraordinary way. The Bookshop attempts a realistic approach towards a moral and ethical map making of this small English town that is not only marvelously piercing in its force, but is also rather imbued with a wry and ironically comical animation (Wolfe 30). The Bookshop is a novel whose true strength does not lie in the unfolding action. Nor is this book peculiarly marked by an intensely exciting plot. Rather the books conjures up the reader’s interest and participation by its evocative delineation and chronicling of the prosaically ordinary times, and how the very ordinary people try to come to terms with and succeed against the limitations and constr aints imposed by these times (Janik & Jankik 125). The Bookshop is primarily about the extraordinary persistence and will required by the ordinary people to fulfill their seemingly simple and readily accessible goals. It celebrates the courage mustered by the ordinary people against the stifling narrow mindedness, starkly limiting regimentation, and the blatant injustices imposed by the financial and social inequalities in the ordinary day to day life (Lewis 27).

Sheet Pile Design Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sheet Pile Design - Coursework Example The latter is caused by earth pressures reaching the limiting state on both side of a considered retaining structure, which thereafter moves towards the excavated area until the full-zone failure is reached. As movement can occur on the bottom part of the wall, the analysis of the structure will be taken as a free body. Thus there will be modified free earth support method (The free earth support revised method) and fixed earth support method. It is worth mentioning that both methods have assumed that active stress condition have been fully developed behind the retaining wall while the passive stress is right in front of the structure. This will allow for calculation using coulomb or Boussinesq theories that consider the actual stress distribution. 1. Modified free earth support method of analysis According to Clayton et al (1993, pp213-214), this method often gives the most economical design for retaining walls. For structure such as cantilever wall, the soil at the lower part of th e pile should be strong enough to resist overturning moments. As shown in the above figure, the passive zone should be adequate in order to prevent lateral deflection and rotation at the lower end of the wall. However, the main principle behind the modified free earth support method of analysis is the assumption that the embedment of the wall is allowed to move and this will be to a certain distance under the action of the applied lateral earth pressure; this will cause the occurrence of negative bending moments at the considered location. This results in a statically determinate structure, only stable under certain conditions. Therefore, if a cantilever wall is to be designed based on this analysis, only the external passive and active forces will be considered. For the fact that the former will not be sufficient to cancel out the latter, in case of large and tall retaining structures no equilibrium will be meet. This will be because no fixity has been assumed at the bottom of the pile, as a consequence the structure will be under mechanism. When the structure has a height greater than 3m, this will not be the ideal design as the negative moment at the bottom of the file will increase with respect to height (increase of the active stress). As a consequence, to achieve equilibrium, strut or anchor must be added in the design. The addition will placed at the top of the structure, as shown in the picture below, to cancel out the negative moment at the base. Hence, the number of anchor will be directly proportional to the height of the wall. (Delattre, 2001,p3) When anchor or tie is added, the bending moment diagram of the wall will be as shown in the picture below. It can be seen that when moment is created by the anchorage at the top, at the bottom of the pile, the negative moment has been cancelled out; this will be only if both are equal or the former is greater than the overturning moment. As a consequence equilibrium has been satisfied; a moment created by the tie is balanced by the active earth pressure above it. Lancellotta (1995, pp305) explained: â€Å"the failure mechanism envisaged in this case involves a rotation about the anchor†. Here, the rotation of moment at C (shown in the above picture) will enable for calculating the depth by which the pile has to be embedded to satisfy equilibrium against rotation; in other words, the shear strength of the soil is mobilised with respect to the depth of embedment. The equilibrium of horizontal translation gives then the force of the anchor as a high anchorage force will result in movement of the pile

Merger between Vodfone and Mannesmann

Merger between Vodfone and Mannesmann INTRODUCTION The case on merger between two competing firms- British telecommunication firm, Vodafone Airtouch and German cellular provider, Mannesmann AG- shall be my highlight of this report. In short, this case illustrates a hostile takeover by Vodafone. Vodafone initiates the merger as it sees it as an opportunity for the firm to expand in a rapidly changing communications technology environment in Europe at that point in time. Initially, Mannesmann rejected the proposal. However, in a twist of event, it was eventually left without a choice but to merger with Vodafone. Third parties were enraged as they view this move as anticompetitive. They argued that the merging entity would gain dominant market power, raise barriers to entry and reap economies to scale which they could only dream of. The case was brought forth to the European Commission which only allow for the merger to succeed after Mannesmann de-merge with Orange and also after Vodafone ensured that it will enable third party non-disc riminatory access to the merged entitys integrated network so as to provide advanced mobile services to their respective customers. The Commission viewed these undertakings as sufficient to remove the competition concerns linked to the inability of third parties to provide competitive seamless pan-European mobile services. In this report, Ill analyze the economic benefits, how merger impacts upon consumers and/or producers benefit, as well as, the total welfare. Ill also touch on how merger has the potential to reduce competition and finally, the reasoning of the competition authoritys decision that leads to the success of the merger. ECONOMIC ANALYSIS The merger between Vodafone is Mannesmann is considered to be a horizontal one since both companies operates within telecommunication industry. The merger of the two entities reduces the number of competing firms by one and at the same time, increases the industrial concentration. In theory, a reduction in number of firms competing reduces supply whilst increasing prices of the good which is deemed to be harmful to consumers. The concept of improving/diminishing consumer surplus is further discussed later in the report. It is not always true that fewer firms and higher prices necessarily translate into higher profits for the merging firms. For instance, profitability of each firm is  ¼ in a four-firm industry. So, profits of two individual firms simply add up to  ½. Now, three firms remain after the merger of two. We observe a decline in profitability from  ½ to 1/3 for the merged firms. And although higher industrial concentration improves sales, this increase in sales is not enough to offset the rise in prices charged. Profitability still declines making the merging firms worse off. Thus, charging at price equals to marginal cost provides no incentive to merge unless all firms in the industry merge to form a monopoly. Having mentioned the above, merger doesnt only take place only when all firms merge. In reality, cases such as Vodafone/Mannesmann showed that mergers can lead to cost reduction. The efficiency that arises could be strong enough to drive this merger. Firms will want to produce at the minimum point of the AC curve where theyll be producing efficiently. They avoid duplication of fixed costs when they consolidate management and not employing two people to perform an identical task. By doing so, the firms are able to lower their cost of labour. In addition, both firms are only required to pay a fixed cost such as land and operating facilities, only once after the merger. Effectively, a cost saving of the fixed cost will increase profits, providing an incentive to merge especially when they increase their prices. Hence, the firms may do away with redundant labour, assets and facilities. As we know, a merger would lead to a rise in price as lesser firms are left competing in the industry. Firms are better off with a higher price imposed on consumers and when they gain from higher producer surplus. The opposite applies for consumers who are worse off when prices increase. When the increase in producer surplus outweighs the decrease in consumer surplus, total welfare is said to have increase. However, when the merger reduces marginal cost for Vodafone and Mannesmann, the merged firms may pass on such lower cost to their consumers in the form of lower prices. Lower prices are generally beneficial to consumers. As consumer surplus rise, there will be a subsequent increase in total welfare. Moreover, there might again be cost efficiencies which explain why merged firms can incur a lower marginal cost than the two pre-merger firms. Synergies can be easily exploited between the merging firms. Each firm knows what the other firm is capable of doing and thus, they only produce goods and services that give them the competitive advantage. Overall, a fall in marginal cost would mean cost saving that facilitates profitability. This profitability, in turn, promotes merger. Price, P P2 P1 = C1 C2 Demand, D 0 Q2 Q1 Quantity, Q Figure 1: Diagram illustrating welfare effects of a cost reducing merger (Adapted from lecture slides) From Figure 1, there is no producer surplus when price equals to cost (P1 = C1). Firms are only earning profits while producing at Q1. At this stage, consumer surplus resides in the area under the demand curve and above the C1 horizontal cost curve. After the merger between Vodafone and Mannesmann, lesser firms are left competing and therefore, price increases from P1 to P2. Consumers are gradually worse off with the rise in price. Now, their surplus is reduced to the area under the demand curve and above P2. The area enclosed within P2, P1 and Q2 is the surplus that is transferred from consumer to producer. On the other hand, the triangular areas under the demand curve, but bounded within Q1, Q2 and P1 signifies the deadweight loss. This deadweight loss refers to the surplus that is no longer gained by consumers and producers. Concurrently, there could be synergies between the merging firms that enable cost saving. This cost efficiency lowers cost from C1 to C2. Firms are better off. As shown in Figure 1, the area enclosed within P2, C2 and Q2 represents total producer surplus after the merger. The area within C1, C2 and Q2 is the surplus gained by producers from synergy that render better opportunities to grow margins. Looking at the above, we see that it is beneficial for firms to merge as they incur producer surplus. Total surplus improves as a result of a rise in producer surplus. Moving on, we shall consider competition with regards to the merger between Vodafone and Mannesmann. Assuming that theres no cost saving, a rise in price due to merger will ultimately erode consumer surplus substantially, to a point where losses to consumer outweigh gains to producers. From the producers point of view, this may provide an incentive for them to seek excuses to merge. They may falsify information to convince competition authorities to approve merger. Taking the impact of merger into account, competition authorities have to critically decide on whether to approve a merger especially those which involve large firms like Vodafone and Mannesmann. Such decision process will require them to get hold of accurate information which is not always easy to obtain. One main concerned of competition authorities is the size of the merged firm. Markets dominated by large firms tend to further inflate prices and force down consumers welfare. With reference to the case at hand, competition authorities were initially reluctant to grant merger to both firms. They were concerned that merger between the two large firms will turn out disastrous as they are already producing beyond Q* due to their sheer size. Approving their merger would only mean that these firms operate beyond the MES. Firms that merge at this stage face diseconomies of scale when cost is driven up as they continue to increase output along the AC curve. Cost, C Average Cost, AC MES 0 Q* Quantity, Q Figure 2: Diagram illustrating Minimum Efficient Scale (MES) on the AC curve. Rival firms strongly disapprove Vodafones proposal to merge with Mannesmann as they view the move as being anti-competitive. They argued that the merged entity will be able to provide exclusive services on a seamless basis because the merged entity has the integrated network that such services require. In the proposal, however, Vodafone claimed that if an interconnected network did develop it would not give rise to competition concerns, both because there will be scope for such networks to develop, and because there will be other routes for operators to ensure fair competition within the telecommunication industry. In any event, Vodafone considers that other operators will be in a position to provide seamless services on the same scope in the near future. COMPETITION AUTHORITIES DECISIONS The Commissions investigation has shown that with the complexities involved in agreeing on the modification on the existing network configuration, centralised management solutions and cost and profit allocation will make it exceedingly difficult for third parties to replicate. In addition to the uncertainty as to the replication of the merged entitys network by means of the right combination of mergers, this process would be extremely costly, time consuming and fraught with regulatory delays given the need for regulatory approval. This is supported by the significant number of failures over the past years in building similar solutions in related markets within the framework of joint ventures or strategic alliances. The merged entity would be the only mobile operator able to capture future growth through new customers who would be attracted by the seamless services offered by Vodafone/Mannesmann on its own network. Rival firms which could not offer a comparable service to attract enough market shares will find themselves losing out in the competition. Furthermore, given their inability to replicate the new entitys network, competitors will have, at best, i.e. if they are allowed access to Vodafones network at all, significant costs and performance/quality disadvantages given its dependency on Vodafone/Mannesmann. The merged entitys power to refuse third parties access to the its network or to allow access on terms and conditions entrench the merged entity into a dominant position and diminishes third party offerings. Whats more, customers would generally prefer Vodafone/Mannesmann to other mobile operators given its unrivalled possibility to provide advanced seamless services across Europe. This reinforces the merged entitys position in the industry as a dominant player. And through its unrivalled large customer base and position, Vodafone/Mannesmann will be in a unique bargaining power against handset manufacturers to negotiate design functionalities unavailable to competing operators. Customizing handsets make it more difficult for roamers from competing mobile operators to take advantage of the advanced pan-European services available over Vodafones network. Again, competitors lose out if the merger were to be approved. Upon investigation the Authorities revealed that the merged entity would face stiff competition from other operators and will not enjoy a dominant purchasing power in the long run. They agreed that the merged entity will be a strong buyer in the market for mobile handsets and network equipment, but there remain many other comparable incumbents competing in the market. So, the merged entity would not achieve the necessary buying power to become dominant on the market. In the light of the above the authorities concluded, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the notified transaction does not lead to the creation or strengthening of a dominant position in the global markets for mobile handset and mobile network equipment as a result of which effective competition would be significant impeded in those markets. Meaning to say, the authorities do not view the merger as a significant threat since its powers would have been neutralized by other relevant competitors within the industry. Further precautions were taken in ensuring fair competition within the industry as seen in the demerger of Orange with Mannesmann. This move aims at diluting the powers of Vodafone and Mannesmann after the approval of their merger. It is a well-received decision as it removes the competitive overlaps in the United Kingdom and Belgian markets of telecommunication services. Besides Vodafone has, on its own account, pledged to enable third party non-discriminatory access to the merger entitys integrated network that includes undertakings which cover exclusive roaming agreements, third parties access to roaming arrangements, third parties access to wholesale arrangements, standards and SIM-cards and a set of implementing measures aimed at ensuring their effectiveness. On top of that, it has proposed to set up a fast track dispute resolution procedure in order to solve disagreements in the mentioned aspects and also to reduce its anticompetitive stance. The undertakings as well as demerger is thought to be justifiable since it eliminates the competition concerns linked to the inability of third parties to provide similar competitive seamless pan-European mobile services. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Vodafones proposal to merge with Mannesmann is seen as an anticompetitive threat to other telecommunication service provider. Rival firms were concerned that the merger would bestow substantial market power to the merged entity. Thus, they were strongly against the merger proposal. However, after much consideration by the competition authorities, they concluded that the merger would not inflict much threat due to the presence of a number of strong, large and powerful buyers in the market which prevent Vodafone/Mannesmann from achieving dominant position on the provision of the related services. Moreover, the demerger of Orange with Mannesmann will erode market power of the merged entity. Furthermore, Vodafone submit undertakings that allow third parties access to its networks. Following the implementation of these undertakings, third parties will be in a position to offer competing advanced pan-European mobile services which also prevent the emergence of a dominant pos ition on the provision of these services. The possibility to offer similar services in competition with Vodafone will, in turn, also develop incentives for third parties to develop competing networks. Therefore, the authorities approved of the merger between Vodafone and Mannesmann. To some extent, I disagree that the merger should be approved. The authorities argument that the presence of comparable incumbents will be sufficient in reducing market power of the merged entity comes across as weak to me. Only few of such incumbents operate within the telecommunication industry. Thus, its influence on the merged entitys market power is almost negligible. Vodafone/Mannesmann could still operate like a monopoly by setting high prices and reducing output while erecting barrier to entry to deter competition. Consumer welfare would be greatly harmed as a result of the merger. On the other hand, I support the merger as it encourages innovations. In todays competitive society, only the strongest emerge as champions. Therefore, rival firms may invest in Research and Development (RD) in creating an innovative communicative technology or network system that gives it a competitive edge over Vodafone/Mannesmann existing resources. This encourages a forward-looking competitive that benefits society as a whole. Producers gain as it may develop ideas to increase efficiency while consumers may gain from perhaps cheaper pricing that is passed on to them from lower production cost incurred by producers. APPENDICES European Competition Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m1795_en.pdf, assessed on 11 November 2010 Kendall (2010), Markets, Competition and Regulation Lecture Notes Session 8: Mergers; and Session 9: Competition Policy Merger Control and Remedies Policy in the E.U and U.S: the case of Telecommunications Mergers, http://www.cerna.ensmp.fr/Documents/GLB-TelecomMergerRemedies.pdf, assessed on 12 November 2010 United Kingdom Competition Commission, http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/2003/475mobilephones.htm#full, accessed on 15 November 2010 Europa Press Release Rapid Commission clears merger between Vodafone Airtouch and Mannesmann AG with conditions, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/00/373 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/630166.stm, assessed on 16 November 2010

Rasmussens Encephalitis :: essays research papers

The human immune system is an amazing system that is constantly on the alert protecting us from sicknesses. Thousands of white blood cells travel in our circulatory system destroying all foreign substances that could cause harm to our body or to any of the millions of processes going on inside. Now imagine a condition where this awesome system turns against the most complex organ in the human body, the brain. Deadly as it is, this condition is known as Rasmussen’s encephalitis. The meaningful research on Rasmussen’s encephalitis was begun (unintentionally) by Scott Rogers and Lorise Gahring, two neurologists, who were at the time measuring the distribution of glutamate receptors in the brain. Later on when more provocative information was found they enlisted the help of James McNamara and Ian Andrews, epilepsy experts at Duke University Medical Center. The details on Rasmussen’s encephalitis were very bleak at the time when the men began their research. All that was known is that Rasmussen’s encephalitis was a degenerative disease of the brain that caused seizures, hemiparesis, and dementia normally in the first ten years of life. The seizures that were caused by Rasmussen’s encephalitis were unstoppable by normal anti-seizure drugs used conventionally. What the worst part of the disease was that the pathogenesis for it were not known and even worse was how it developed. The first clue was delivered when Rogers and Gahring were trying to register the distribution of the glutamate receptors using antibodies, that tag on to the receptor itself. The proteins that make up the glutamate receptors(GluR) are only found inside the blood brain barrier(BBB). Glutamate and a few related amino acids are the dominant form of excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of mammals. If one of these GluRs happens to wander into the actual bloodstream, that is outside the BBB, it would be considered an outsider and destroyed immediately. So if these GluRs were put into the normal blood stream then the immune system would produce antibodies which could then be used in the searching for the glutamate receptors. In order to test this theory the researchers injected the GluRs into the blood stream of a normal healthy rabbit hoping to produce good results. At this point the experiment took a dramatic turn, after receiving a few doses of the protein two of the three rabbits began to twitch, as though they were suffering the pain of an epileptic seizure.

Succubus Blues CHAPTER 19

Carter brought me daffodils the next morning. I had no idea where he could have found them this time of year. He'd probably teleported to another continent. â€Å"What are these?† I demanded. â€Å"You aren't coming on to me after all, are you?† â€Å"I'd bring roses for that.† For the first time since I'd known him, the angel looked embarrassed. â€Å"I don't know. You seemed upset last night. I thought†¦ I thought these might cheer you up.† â€Å"Thanks†¦ that's nice, I guess. About last night†¦ when I snapped at you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shook it off. â€Å"Don't worry about it. We all have moments of weakness. It's how we recover from them that really counts.† I put the daffodils in a vase, considered putting them on the counter. Roman's bouquet, now wilting, was already there, and the red carnations I'd bought the night Duane had died had long since been thrown away. It seemed unfair to give Roman's flowers competition, so I put Carter's on the windowsill in my bedroom. After that, the days fell into a comfortable routine. Carter and I never became best friends, but we managed a sort of pleasant equilibrium. We hung out together, watched movies together, and even on occasion cooked together. The angel turned out to be pretty dapper in the kitchen; I was still inept. At work, he followed me around, as invisible and unobtrusive as promised. I wasn't sure what he did during my shifts. He gave me the impression he wandered the store, people-watching. Maybe even browsing books. I also knew he spent a good deal of time waiting in my office, even if I wasn't there, hoping another nephilim note might appear. None came. The occasional nephilim flashings did, however, and Carter would disappear for a while without even telling me, either giving me a brief feathery touch on the cheek to indicate his return or speaking a few quick words inside my mind. I also started having coffee with Seth before my shifts. He had been waiting for me that first day back with a white chocolate mocha, and to my surprise, one for himself as well. â€Å"Bruce made it decaf for me,† he had explained. The gesture had been too cute to refuse, so I'd sat and talked with him that day, and the next, and the next†¦ It was hardly cutting him off as I'd intended, but I did stay pretty firm in refusing any other attempts at socializing outside of work. The coffee encounters seemed good enough for him, fortunately, and an interesting dynamic soon developed. Since I was still depressed over Roman, I moved and acted sluggishly, talking very little, too caught up in my own personal misery. Seth must have sensed a bit of this, and rather than let our coffee conversations die in the water, he took the lead in discussion – a notable change for him. It seemed a bit forced at first, but once he grew more comfortable, I found he truly could speak as well as he wrote. I marveled at the shift and enjoyed our time together, finding my heartache over Roman soothed a bit. He's really nice, Carter noted one morning after I'd left Seth to go work the information desk. I don't know why you spend so much time mooning over that other guy when you've got one like this. It isn't as simple as Seth being nice or not, I snapped back, still feeling a little weird about the mind-to-mind communication higher immortals employed so readily. And it's not like I'm looking for a new guy anyway. Besides, you didn't even know Roman. How can you talk? I know that you didn't know him for that long. How much could have really developed between you guys? Plenty. He was really funny. And smart. And good looking. I suppose relationships have been built on less. Still, I'm putting my money on Seth. Go away. I have to work. Angels. What did they know? While walking home from the bookstore on my fourth day at work with Carter, he asked, You want to go see Erik? I frowned, thinking. I had worked the early shift today and had to go back tonight to teach the staff's final dance lesson. I had two hours before that happened and had figured the angel and I would continue our newly formed habit of watching old movies together. â€Å"What do you have in mind?† I asked aloud, once we were safely inside my apartment. He materialized beside me. â€Å"I want to test the waters. We've had no nephilim activity in a while. No notes. No attacks. Yet, we know it's still around because I keep getting those little flashings. Why? What's its game?† I pulled a can of Mountain Dew out of my refrigerator and sat on a stool. â€Å"And you haven't ruled out Erik as a leak.† â€Å"No, I haven't. Like I said before, I don't want it to be Erik, but he is probably the biggest mortal source of immortal information around.† â€Å"And,† I concluded drearily, â€Å"if he communicates with the nephilim, he might know some of its plans. What are you going to do, shake him down for information? Because I don't want to be around for that.† â€Å"I don't work that way. I can tell if people are lying, but I'm not particularly good at†¦ oh, how shall I put this, teasing information out of them. As you noted recently, I'm not exactly charming. You, however, excel at charm.† I didn't like where this was going. â€Å"What do you want me to do?† â€Å"Nothing out of the ordinary, I promise. Just talk to him like you normally would. Like you were following up on your last conversation. Allude to nephilim if you can, and see what happens. He likes you.† â€Å"What will you do?† â€Å"I'll be there, just invisible.† â€Å"We're going to be cutting it close to drive back here in time for the dance lesson.† â€Å"Not true. I'll teleport you.† â€Å"Ugh.† I had had higher immortals do that for me a handful of times over the years. It was not pleasant. â€Å"Come on,† he urged, sensing my reluctance. â€Å"Don't you want to put this nephilim business to an end?† â€Å"All right, all right, let me change clothes. I'm still not convinced we won't be cramming at the end.† He made some Jerome-like comments about my desire to adorn myself the old-fashioned way, but I ignored him. When I was ready, we both turned invisible, and he gripped my wrists. There was a feeling, only a millisecond long, like wind rushing over me, and then we stood inside a corner of Erik's store. A faint wave of nausea, similar to what I'd had while drinking heavily, rolled up in me and quickly faded. Seeing no one around, not even Erik, I turned visible. â€Å"Hello?† A few moments later, the old shopkeeper stuck his head out from the back room. â€Å"Miss Kincaid, my goodness. I didn't hear you come in. It's a pleasure to see you again.† â€Å"Likewise.† I gave him a prizewinning succubus smile. â€Å"You're dressed up tonight,† he told me, taking in my dress. â€Å"Special occasion?† â€Å"I'm going dancing after this. In fact, I can't stay long.† â€Å"Yes, of course. Do you have time for tea then?† I hesitated a moment, and Carter spoke in my head: Yes. â€Å"Yes.† Erik went to put on water, and I cleared off our table, both of us falling into usual roles. When he returned with the tea, I learned it was yet another of his themed herbals, this time called Clarity. I complimented him on it, smiling the whole time, doing my best to play up the charming part. I even made a bit of small talk before finally plunging ahead with my mission objective. â€Å"I wanted to thank you for your help last time with the scripture reference,† I explained. â€Å"It helped me understand the whole fallen angel bit, but I confess†¦ it sort of sent me off in a weird direction.† â€Å"Oh?† His bushy gray eyebrows rose as he brought the cup to his lips. I nodded. â€Å"In mentioning angels falling†¦ it also mentioned those who married and had offspring. Who had nephilim.† Boy, you don't waste time, Carter noted dryly. The old man nodded along with me, as though I had made a perfectly ordinary observation. â€Å"Yes, yes. Fascinating topic, the nephilim. Quite a controversial subject among biblical scholars.† â€Å"How so?† â€Å"Well, some adherents don't like to acknowledge that angels, the holiest of the holy, would engage in such base activities, fallen or no. That their half-divine bastards might be walking the world is more startling still. It makes a lot of faithful very angry.† â€Å"But is it true then? That there are nephilim out there?† Erik gave me one of his canny smiles. â€Å"Once again, you ask me questions I'm surprised you don't know the answer to.† See? This is what he does to me too. Evades the question. You and Jerome do it to us all the time, I shot back to the angel. To Erik I replied, â€Å"Well, like I've said before, my scope is rather limited.† He only chuckled, and I pushed the issue. â€Å"So? Are they, or aren't they out there?† â€Å"You sound like someone chasing extraterrestrials, Miss Kincaid. Ironic, since some conspiracy theorists claim alien sightings are actually nephilim sightings and vice versa. But to reassure you – or not, perhaps – yes, they are indeed out there.† â€Å"Aliens or nephilim ?† I joked, trying to keep the conversation light, though I knew he had meant nephilim. I already knew they existed, but I was glad to hear him reaffirm it so readily. Surely if he wanted to hide being a nephilim's ally, he would have been more evasive. â€Å"Both, actually, if you spent extensive time around my previous place of employment.† I laughed out loud, recalling how Krystal Starz did indeed stock books on how to commune with beings from outer space. â€Å"I'd forgotten about that. You know, I've actually had a few run-ins with your former boss recently.† Erik's eyes sharpened. â€Å"Have you? What happened?† â€Å"No big deal. Just professional differences, I guess. I poached a few of your old coworkers – Tammiand Janice? – from her. Helena wasn't very happy.† â€Å"No. I imagine she wouldn't be. Did she do anything?† â€Å"Came to my work and made a lot of noise, gave me some doom and gloom predictions. No big deal.† â€Å"She's an interesting woman,† he observed. â€Å"That's an understatement.† I realized we'd gotten sidetracked and half expected Carter to chastise me for it. He didn't. â€Å"So, do you know of any way to spot a nephilim ? Anticipate where it'll be next?† Erik gave me a strange look, not responding right away. I felt my stomach lurch a little. Maybe he did know more about our nephilim. I hoped not. â€Å"Not really,† he finally said. â€Å"Identifying immortals isn't so easy.† â€Å"But it can be done.† â€Å"Yes, of course, but some are better at hiding than others. Nephilim especially have reason to stay hidden since they're continually pursued.† â€Å"Even when not being nuisances?† I asked, surprised. Neither Carter nor Jerome had mentioned that. â€Å"Even then.† â€Å"That's kind of sad.† I remembered the blurb from Harrington's book, recalling how both heaven and hell had rejected the nephilim. Maybe I'd be really pissed off in that case too, wanting to cause trouble and let both sides know I didn't approve of their policies. Erik had little more to offer on nephilim, and our conversation digressed further and further. An hour went by to my surprise, as I would have expected Carter to stop me by now. Making my own excuses, I apologized to Erik, telling him I needed to get going. I bought some of the tea as usual, and he urged me to come back anytime, also as usual. When I got to the door, he called hesitantly, â€Å"Miss Kincaid? About nephilim†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I felt gooseflesh rise on me. He did indeed know something about all of this. Damn it. â€Å"Remember, they're immortal. They've been around for a long time, but unlike other immortals, they have no agendas or divine plots to carry out. Many try to simply live meaningful and even ordinary lives.† I pondered this weird piece of information as I walked outside, imagining a nephilim commuting to a day job. Hard to juxtapose that with the horrific images I had otherwise been fostering. Evening had long since fallen, and the parking lot was empty. Turning invisible, I waited for Carter to take us out. And waited. And waited. â€Å"Well? What's the holdup?† I murmured. No answer. â€Å"Carter?† No answer. Then it hit me: Carter had left on another nephilim hunt. I was alone. Great. What was I supposed to do? I had no car, and regardless of what the angel had said about me being safe when he did this sort of thing, I felt uneasy standing out here alone in the dark. I stepped back inside the store, visible. Erik looked up at me with surprise. â€Å"Do you mind if I wait here for a ride?† â€Å"Not at all.† Of course, now I had to get a ride. Pulling out my new cell phone, I debated who to call. Cody would be the ideal choice, but he lived far south of the bookstore and I was north. He would already be on his way to the dance lesson, and coming up here would only ensure we were both late. I needed someone who lived close by, but I didn't know anybody except†¦ well, Seth lived in the University District. That wasn't too far away from Lake City. The tricky part was whether he was actually at his home or still in Queen Anne. Taking the plunge, I called his cell. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"It's Georgina. Where are you at?† â€Å"Urn, home†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Great. Would you mind giving me a ride?† Fifteen minutes later, Seth arrived at Erik's. I'd half expected Carter to show back up in that time, but there'd been no sign of him. Thanking Seth, I slid into his car. â€Å"I really appreciate you doing this. My ride kind of flaked out on me.† â€Å"I don't mind.† He hesitated and gave me a sidelong glance. â€Å"You look beautiful.† â€Å"Thanks.† I had on a red sleeveless dress with a corset-like top. â€Å"It could use a flannel shirt, though.† It took me a moment to remember the ensemble I'd worn to his brother's, a moment longer still to recall I'd never given him the shirt back. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I told him after I pointed the same thing out to him. â€Å"I'll bring it back soon.† â€Å"Not a problem. I'm still holding your book hostage, after all. Fair is fair. Feel free to wear it some more, so it smells like you and that perfume.† He abruptly shut up, apparently fearing he'd said too much, which was probably true. I wanted to laugh the comment off, ease his embarrassment a little, but instead all I could imagine was Seth holding the flannel shirt to his face, inhaling deeply, because it smelled like me. The image was so sexy, so utterly provocative, that I turned slightly away from him, looking out the window to hide my feelings and suddenly heavy breathing. What a shameless strumpet I was, I decided as the rest of the car ride proceeded in dead silence. Crying over Roman one minute, suddenly wanting to jump into bed with Seth the next. I was fickle. I gave out mixed signals to men, flitting from one to another, beckoning with one hand and pushing away with the other. Admittedly, the Martin energy ride was fast coming to an end, so most males were starting to look pretty good again, but still†¦ I had no shame. I didn't even know who or what I wanted anymore. When Seth parked but refused to come in with me to Emerald City, I felt guilty, knowing he thought that I thought he must be a pervert or something for the perfume comment. I couldn't let that go, couldn't stand the thought of him feeling bad over me. Especially when the perfume remark had been kind of a turn-on. I had to fix things. I leaned toward him, hoping the corset top would do half my work for me in smoothing the matter over. â€Å"Do you remember that one scene in The Glass House? The one where O'Neill walks that waitress home?† He raised an eyebrow. â€Å"Um, I wrote that scene.† â€Å"If I recall, doesn't he say something about what a shame it is to abandon a woman in a low-cut dress?† Seth stared at me, expression unreadable. Finally, a not-so-dazed smile flickered onto his face. â€Å"He says, ‘A man who leaves a woman alone in a dress like that is no man at all. A woman in a dress like that doesn't want to be alone.' â€Å" I looked back at him meaningfully. â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Well, what?† â€Å"Don't make me spell it out. I'm in this dress, and I don't want to be alone. Come inside with me. You owe me a dance, you know.† â€Å"And you know I don't dance.† â€Å"You think that'd stop O'Neill?† â€Å"I think O'Neill kind of goes off the deep end sometimes. He doesn't know his limits.† I shook my head in exasperation and turned away. â€Å"Wait,† Seth called. â€Å"I'm coming.† â€Å"Cutting it close, aren't you?† Cody asked me later when we arrived in the cafe of the now closed bookstore, practically running. I gave him a quick hug, and he and Seth nodded cordially at each other before the author blended off into the crowd of staff. â€Å"It's a long story.† â€Å"Is it true?† Cody whispered in my ear, leaning toward me. â€Å"Is Carter hanging around right now?† â€Å"No, actually. He was, but then he just bailed on me. That's why I'm late. I had to call Seth to pick me up.† The young vampire's serious mien relaxed. â€Å"I'm sure that was a big sacrifice for both of you.† Ignoring the jibe, I rounded up the troops so the lesson could get under way. As we had observed last time, most were about as ready as they would ever get. We didn't teach anything new, choosing instead to review old techniques, making sure the basics were solid. Seth, as he had stated, did not dance. He had a harder time resisting, however, as most of the staff knew him well by now. Many of the women tried to entreat him. He remained obstinate. â€Å"He'd dance if you asked him,† Cody told me at one point. â€Å"I doubt it. He's been refusing all night.† â€Å"Yeah, but you're persuasive.† â€Å"Carter implied the same thing. I don't know when I got this reputation as Miss Congeniality.† â€Å"Just ask him.† Rolling my eyes, I walked over to Seth, noticing his gaze was already on me. â€Å"All right, Mortensen, last chance. Are you ready to make the switch from voyeur to exhibitionist?† He inclined his head toward me curiously. â€Å"Are we still talking about dancing?† â€Å"Well, that depends, I suppose. I heard someone once say that men dance the same way they have sex. So, if you want everyone here to think you're the kind of guy who just sits around and – â€Å" He stood up. â€Å"Let's dance.† We stepped out, and despite his bold declaration, his nervousness came through loud and clear. His palm was sweaty as he grasped my hand, his other hand almost too hesitant to fully rest its weight on my hip. â€Å"Your hand swallows mine up,† I teased him gently, easing mine inside his. â€Å"Just relax. Listen to the music, and count the beats. Watch my feet.† As we moved, I had the impression he had done the basic step before. He had no trouble remembering the pattern. His problem was coordinating his feet with the music, a behavior which came instinctually to me. I could tell he literally counted beats in his head, forcefully lining them up with his feet. Consequently, he spent more time looking down than at me. â€Å"Are you going to come with us when we go out?† I asked conversationally. â€Å"Sorry. I can't talk and count at the same time.† â€Å"Oh. Okay.† I did my best to hide a smile. We continued on this way, in silence, until the lesson ended. It never became a natural process for Seth, but he never missed any steps, paying attention to them with steadfast determination and diligence, sweating profusely the entire time. Standing so close to him, I could again feel something akin to static in the air between us, heady and electric. I made the rounds with Cody as things closed down, telling everybody goodbye. Seth was one of the last to leave, approaching Cody and me as we walked out the back door. â€Å"Nice job tonight,† Cody told him. â€Å"Thanks. My reputation was on the line.† Seth turned to me. â€Å"I hope I redeemed myself with the whole dancing-sex comparison.† â€Å"I suppose there were a couple of notable similarities,† I observed, holding a straight face. â€Å"A couple? What about attention to detail, heavy exertion, lots of sweat, and single-minded determinedness to get the job done and done well?† â€Å"Mostly I was thinking you just don't talk during sex.† Mean perhaps, but I couldn't resist. â€Å"Well, my mouth has better things to do.† I swallowed, my own mouth dry. â€Å"Are we still talking about dancing?† Seth told us good night and left. I watched him go wistfully. â€Å"Anyone else here feel like swooning?† â€Å"I sure do,† came Carter's jovial voice behind us. Cody and I both jumped. â€Å"Christ,† I exclaimed. â€Å"How long have you been back?† â€Å"No time for small talk. Hang on, kids.† After giving a quick glance around to ascertain we were alone, the angel suddenly grabbed our wrists. I felt that nauseating, rushing feeling again, and the next thing I knew, we stood in a very elegantly decorated living room. I had never seen this place before, but it was beautiful. Coordinated leather furniture adorned the room, expensive-looking art hung on the walls. Opulence. Style. Magnificence. The only problem was, the entire place had been trashed. Slashes marred the posh furniture, tables had been knocked ‘over, and the art was either askew or defiled or both. On one wall, a huge symbol I didn't recognize had been spray-painted: a circle with one line crossing it vertically and another cutting through at an angle, left to right. The glamour mixed with such desecration left me utterly dumbfounded. â€Å"Welcome to Ch §?eau Jerome,† Carter announced.