Holden’s Trust Issues

Throughout the book Holder shows multiple signs of people trying to help him, but he ultimately pushes them away. I believe that this stems from his original problem when he lost both of his brothers. He trusted that his family would stay and protect him, but when Allele died and D. B. â€Å"sold out,† his parents sent him away. So to Holder, the word trust means betrayal. When Allele passed away, Holder thought that Allele had left him.He knew in his mind that Allele did not die on purpose but Holder could not decide who else to blame. He â€Å"broke all the windows in the garage†¦ Even tried to break all the windows on the station wagon†¦ But [his] hand was already broken. † (Slinger 39) And to literally add insult to injury, the fact that he could no longer put his hand into a fist constantly reminded him of Allies departure. According to Holder, It had not been long after Allies death when D. B. Left. When D. B. Left, to Holder, that was the ultimate betra yal. At the time of the narrative, D.B. Lived â€Å"out in Hollywood†¦ Being a prostitute† (2). The one word Holder used the most was probably phony. When his brother sold himself out, Holder probably became furious for leaving and called him a phony. Holder's bitterness towards â€Å"phoniness† probably came from the betrayal he received from his brother. But this still did not anger him as much as the betrayal he received from their parents. Holder believes that his parents hate him because they keep shipping him to different schools after he continues to get kicked out of them.He thinks that they are disappointed and ashamed of him. At the beginning of the story, he predicted that they will be â€Å"pretty irritated about [getting kicked out again]†¦ [since] this is the fourth school [he's] gotten kicked out of† (9). He thinks that his parents have given up on him and Just keep sending him to different schools to keep him out of trouble. Due to his emotional trauma, Holder cannot trust anyone anymore. He tries to make friends with a lot of people throughout the book, but something always came p that would not allow him to.This probably came from his belief that he will be betrayed and humiliated if he got to close. So he tried to be friends, but his subconscious made excuses to push these people away. He begins realizes this at the end of the book when he begins to leave New York, but his sister, Phoebe, tries to go with him. He realizes that him pushing his sister away is Just what his family did to him, and he does not want to scar his sister as well, so he decides to stay. Holder's Trust Issues By administer

Application of project management skills

Management of any project requires the management and leadership skills for it to be successful. Projects are initiated to solve a specific problem which has been identified and they exist within a limited time frame. Most of the time, projects have to operate under the constraints of a limited budget and resources so they have to be completed to address the problems they were designed for.  People initiate and implement projects and a lot of team work and good leadership is needed for their completion. When one works in an organization, there will always be a manager who is in charge to see that the goals and objectives of the organization are achieved. Managers, who are accountable to the owners, have to ensure that the objectives are fulfilled within a limited time and budget.Team work is very vital at work places and different individuals have to work harmoniously to achieve the goals and objectives similar to execution of projects (Landes, 2007). If anyone is in management at work they need to apply different types of leadership to address different problems that face the organization. It is crucial for the manager to have a good knowledge of the organization as it helps him in dealing with challenges that face it daily.  Managers provide leadership which concerns itself with influencing people in places of work to achieve certain things that are vital for the success of the organization. Problems that need to be solved daily in places of work are like projects since they require unique solutions which have to be executed within a span of time (Landes, 2007).When an organization comes up with its objectives and goals aimed at improving or boosting its performance specific tasks are distributed among the employees. Management in a places of work concerns it self with drafting a budget that is strictly followed to ensure its success.  Every task that is delegated to an employee has a strict deadline that must be observed. Management skills are very cru cial in places of work as they ensure that the organization runs smoothly and there is no conflict. Like in projects people play a vital role in the achievement of all the goals and objectives of the organization.A lot of challenges are experienced when trying to manage people at work places and the relationship of those in the helm of leadership in an organization and the led is a key determinant of its failure or success.Leadership in places of work can motivate workers to achieve the goals that have been laid out within a limited span of time and within a certain budget. Management in places of work concerns itself with management of people, ensuring customers are satisfied, working with colleagues, and ensuring the creation of environments that are conducive for workers to give an excellent performance in the confines of a budget and on limited time superseding the expectations of stake holders (Landes, 2007).The applications of this module are very relevant in any place of work . There are many aspects in work places that need intensive attentions and a lot of planning to optimize the performance and the project management skills can be utilized in such instances. The management and leadership skills that see the completion of projects to satisfactory levels come in handy in work life when applied at all levels. People are vital in both work places and projects and they can lead to success or failure of either.BibliographyLandes, C. 2007, Project management skills in startups, retrieved on April 1, 2009, from https://www.startupnation.com/forums/3327/1/1/print

Joseph Stalin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Joseph Stalin - Essay Example Stalin, nevertheless, sought affiliation to a secret organization known as Messame Dassy whose members advocated Georgian independence from Russia. Driven by its cause, Stalin expressed his object of interest in radical activism through which he necessitated to communicate subversive political perspectives of the monarchical Russian government at the time and this led to his expulsion from school in 1899 prior to graduation. As a continuing endeavor of his young yet dynamic passion to oppose and change the system of government in Russia, Stalin fully immersed himself in the studies of communist principles, with particular devotion and credit to the views of prominent socialist figures, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Then he decided to join revolutionary underground Marxist movement in Tpilisi where his active membership to the committee of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party brought about his arrest, imprisonment, and exile to Siberia from which he managed to escape in 1904. After being caught several times and being able to evade the police authorities in corresponding number therein, Stalin thought of regarding himself as the â€Å"man of steel†, having withstood and released himself from the exile to Turukhansk, an extremely far village lying outside of the Arctic Circle. By the time he reunited with the Marxist movement in Tpilisi which split into two factions – the â€Å"hard† (supporters of Lenin), otherwise known as the ‘Bolsheviks’ and the â€Å"soft† (supporters of Martov) or the â€Å"Mensheviks†, Stalin distinguished himself with the former. Though he played no direct involvement in the October Revolution of 1917, Stalin proved useful in the Bolshevik party due to his practical yet professional application of democratic centralism, a profoundly revered ideology of Vladimir Lenin. Between 1905 and 1906, Both Lenin and Stalin initially met in the congresses of the Russian Social Democratic Worker s Party held in London and Sweden. During the revolution, many detested Stalin’s hostile methods of protest against the government of Russia which used to be consisted of the Romanov dynasty that reigned for 300 years until the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II through the February Revolution. Lenin, however, perceived him a loyal activist that this consequently took Stalin to earn the advantage of handling various posts in the government by Lenin’s approval. For Lenin, who designated him at the Bolsheviks’ Central Committee in 1912, his act of organizing bank robberies and money transport raids back in the years 1904-1905 must be justified as a means to help Bolsheviks raise funds for the revolution even if the Mensheviks treated it as rather an utter deviation from the true philosophy of revolutionary socialism (Joseph Stalin Biography). When Stalin emerged with growing control and power especially over matters dealt with by the Communist Party’s Central Co mmittee where he got appointed the General Secretary in 1922, he gradually formulated agendas that would make him acquire the most suitable path toward higher order of leadership. Upon Lenin’s death in 1924, the triumvirate that constituted him, and the other two prominent

Muscle Dysmorphia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Muscle Dysmorphia - Essay Example Adolescent boys are more susceptible of acquiring the disorder since during the adolescent stage; they start developing physically and psychologically to adults (Baghurst & Kissinger, 2009). Therefore, special attention will be considered on them. One of the major manifestations of the condition is excessive amounts of exercise among the teens. This leads them to experiment with performance-enhancing substances i.e. steroids and working out hard in the Gym (Cafri, Olivardia, & Thompson, 2008). Thus, the location of the audience is very appropriate for the program as the program targets adolescent students in the school who exercise and work out hard in the school’s Gym facilities. Therefore, the primary audience and location for the program is very appropriate. According to studies, the condition has become more serious and prevalent in today’s youths especially among the male population than it has been commonly given credit for, thus recognizing the predisposing factors and manifestations is very important to help in reducing the instances of the disease in the general population (Grieve, Truba, & Bowersox, 2009). This is crucial as it will enable the students to grow healthy and achieve their goals. Cafri, G., Olivardia, R., & Thompson, J. K. (2008). Symptom characteristics and psychiatric comorbidity among males with muscle dysmorphia. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 49, 374–379. doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2008.01.003 Pope, C. G., Pope, H. G., Menard, W., Fay, C., Olivardia, R., & Phillips, K. A. (2005). Clinical features of muscle dysmorphia among males with body dysmorphic disorder. Body Image.

Comparing History and Historiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Comparing History and Historiography - Essay Example Likewise, historiography is a complex part of history course that many students struggle to understand and lack confidence in discussing. This essay will aim to elucidate what history and historiography are, analyze differences between the two terms and discuss why it is essential to have an understanding of them. Definition of terms History can be defined as the study of past events and the originality, compilation, organization, and arrangement of information about these events. Additionally, history can be termed as the intellectual discipline that utilizes narratives to scrutinize and inspect a series of historical events, and aim at establishing the patterns of cause and the effect that verify them. Precisely, history is the study of past events whereby the authors and scholars of history are referred to historians (Stunkel, 2011). On the other hand, historiography can be defined as the study of how historians and other scholars construe the past primarily as a study of their wr iting. In addition, it can also refer to the different ways of understanding or interpreting historical events, groups or leaders, and also understanding the reasons why there is the existence of different interpretations and theories. Candidly, historiography is an intriguing field of discussions and arguments regarding preceding and present illustrations of the past (Jayapalan, 2002). Differences between History and Historiography The differences between history and historiography are numerous and miniature starting from the meaning of the words themselves to other ways in which the subjects are applied in the academic sphere and beyond. From the definition, history is the exploration of past events while historiography is the examining of how history is studied and transmitted. As a matter of fact, the discipline of history is not going anywhere (Watts, 1997). On the other hand, the decisive perspective of historiography is becoming more vital to the field of history through offe ring latest conclusion regarding the past events and people’s relationship to them. While historiography is a sub-discipline of history, history is a discipline itself, with other sub-disciplines such as chronological theories, social and cultural history, amongst others such as political and economic history, and historical anthropology. "History" is an academic discipline nevertheless it is also a frequently used the word that does not fundamentally represent academia. "History" can be used colloquially to mean any approved period of time or stories associated with it. On the other hand, "historiography" came into existence in1979, and was introduced by Stanford University professor and scholar Lawrence Stone. As a result, "Historiography" cannot be applied conversationally. As much as historiography is a sub-discipline of history, they both fall into diverse form of discipline due to their methodology. History is classified under humanities because of its emphasis on philo sophy, art, literature and other fields that are not sciences, whereas historiography is classified under social sciences because of its social scientific approach to history. Furthermore, history is a narrative when considering its nature and character, whereby it is portrayed history as sequential, chronological and logical storytelling. On the other hand, historiography is a "new history" which focuses on analysis and not on narratives, and it is "structural history" since it emphasizes more on the state of humanity than on the accurate, objective conditions. Therefore, historiography emphasizes on the "how," of the past whereas history on the "what." Hence, historiography is extremely focused and wide (Gustafson, n.d). Importance of understanding history and histo

Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Gulf Coast Research Paper

Proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Gulf Coast - Research Paper Example It summarizes key arguments for and against the pipeline presented by the pipeline’s developers, federal agencies, environmental groups, including other stakeholders’. Finally, this report points out the reasons why the remainder of this project has not been approved and how politics has influenced this approval. How likely the project is to be approved after the just concluded November U S presidential election? The Keystone Pipeline is a project designed for transportation of synthetic crude oil from North Alberta’s oil field in Canada, to various destinations in Texas US. The Keystone XL extension of this pipeline was proposed in 2008. In September 2009, the hearings started, with the extension project being approved on March 11, 2010 by the Canadian National Energy Board. However, the issue became politicized and has faced several lawsuits and rigorous criticism from citizens and environmentalists groups. The development of the pipeline came to a standstill in November 2011 as an ultimate decision was postponed into 2013. The pipeline is owned by TransCanada Pipeline- a Canadian energy company. Founded in 1951 in Calgary, the company is a leading North American energy company developing and operating energy infrastructure in North America. It has a pipeline network of approximately 59000km. TransCanada signed contracts with Bakken oil producers to carry oil from the keystone region through the keystone pipeline. This project would be operational by 2013 if the Keystone XL Pipeline received regulatory approvals. The project seeks to double the capacity of the initial keystone pipeline system by connecting it with the US gulf coast. This will make possible the delivery of an estimated 1.1 million barrels of Canadian crude oil to the US market daily (http://stateimpact.npr.org). The proposed route would start from Hardisty, Canada and connect to the existing network in Steele city, Nebraska until Cushing, Oklahoma,

How the organization communicates with prospective and current Case Study

How the organization communicates with prospective and current customers - Case Study Example The use of digital media made Coca Cola to deviate from the traditional strategies that would promote the product such as developing new products or extending the existing brands. Marketing is an important aspect of creating a strong brand while helping to reach out to the existing and potential customers. Every marketing strategy faces three uncertainties that are supposed to be weighed before engaging; the fear of failure, the return on investment and the fear of the unknown. Investing resources in the digital media for marketing brings forth all these uncertainties. However, these uncertainties can be assumed based on the advantages that come with the digital media. First, learning from failure can help device workable strategies in the digital space. Second, the digital media exhibits a very rapid growth while the marketers get to understand it better day by day. Finally, digital media is less expensive, therefore, learning from it especially on optimizing the return on investment is worthy. Coca Cola opted to ‘go digital’, and take advantage of the huge online traffic. This was done through a simple social concept that encouraged customers to exhibit brand loyalty while encouraging others to join the wagon. In the summer of 2011, they devised the ‘Share a Coke Campaign’ (Coca Cola, 2013). It began with the customers creating a can for a special friend and then finding their names and having a coke bottle bearing the name to developing customized coke bottles with people’s names. This campaign has gone global and it is still in progress after it demonstrated that it can facilitate the strengthening of the brand as well as increment in the sales volume. The campaign was focused on increasing the consumption of Coke during the summer of 2011 while bringing an appeal on the strength of the brand. Despite Coca Cola being known as a strong brand, they needed to

Reading response paper 2 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading response paper 2 - Assignment Example It never mattered if a piece of work was ornamental or representational, but the significance was the quality of aliveness. The quality that appears from artistic value does not necessarily depend on subject matter or motif. The first attempt to come up with realistic scenes in a pictorial form is found during the period of warring states (The Great Painters of China 3). The scenes are found in relieve and intaglio on bronze, which represent the figures of warriors, hunters, boats men, and musicians. Figure 6 is a clay title from Szechwam that shows less imposing objects. These objects are a clear representation of birds’ hunters at the lake at the upper side while the lower side is a representation of people harvesting in the field. The lake is symbolized by flowering lotus and big fish instead of being represented. On the other hand, the sky is full of wild ducks in flight and there is no appearance of a distant shoreline (The Great Painters of China 5). The harvesters are seen standing on a tilted position and this is evident through simple device thinning rows of the plants on them. In addition, while most of the figures are seen on an imaginary ground near the lower edge, one of the men is seen at the deeper space. Originally, it is evident that painting was concentrated on ornamental design. However, during the early parts of Han dynasty, there was a change by representation of reality in pictorial form from various sources. The most important thing was creating expressive conversation. The scene showed in figure 13 represents the story of a grandson Yuan Ku who in a period of starvation saved his grandfather from dying in the wilderness. In addition, he saved his father from the guilt of parricide. At the left side of the picture, the grand father is seen squatting abandoned under a cedar tree by the stream. Yuan Ku picks an empty stretcher to go and fetch his grandfather, but his father yells at him saying that the

I.T. Assesment of ABC Inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

I.T. Assesment of ABC Inc - Essay Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is ABC Inc., a multinational corporation based in the United States of America and deals with the designing and selling of computer software, personal computers as well as consumer electronics. The company has produced some of the well-known types of computers that are being used allover the world. The company has more the four hundred retail stores in fifteen nations, together with an online store. The company is the largest publicly traded worldwide by market capitalization. Whereby it overtops the Exxon Mobil by about sixty billion dollars, and also the largest and most popular technology corporation in the world in terms of profit and revenue, making it worth more than Microsoft and Google put together. As of November 20, 2011, the corporation had more than sixty five thousand permanent employees working around the clock and three thousand temporary full-time workers all over the world; its total annual sales hit the sixty five billion dolla r mark, moving up to one hundred and eight billion dollars in the year 2011. The company was even in the year 2008 named by the Fortune magazine as the most admired company in the United States of America. Therefore, this means that this is the biggest company in the industry of the production of computer-related products. The assessment of the company’s general control environment should be done determining the level at which the General Accounting Office management control standards are included in the plans, strategies, procedures and guidance that govern operations and programs. In its assessment, the following have been ensured (English 87). Compliance with the law: All costs, obligations and operations adhere to the applicable regulation and law. The allocation of resources is effectively and efficiently done for the rightly authorized purposes. Reasonable safeguards and assurance: The management controls give rational assurance that the company’s assets are prot ected or safeguarded against misappropriation, loss and waste. The management controls are rationally complete, logical, efficient and effective in the accomplishment of the objectives of management. Competence, attitude and integrity: Personal integrity is encouraged among the workers and managers. All personnel are compelled to support the programs of agency ethics. There is also effective communication between and within offices. GAO Specific Management Control Standards The following specific control standards have been addressed: Delegation of Organizational responsibilities and Authority: The management has ensured that there is appropriate definition and delegation of responsibility, accountability and authority in accomplishing the company’s mission statement. The company also has an appropriate organizational structure for the purposes of effectively carrying out the program responsibilities. Supervision and Separation of Duties: The key responsibilities and duties i n authorization, recording, reviewing and processing of official agency operations are separated or delegated among different individuals. There is proper managerial supervision for the purposes of ensuring that duties and responsibilities assigned to various individuals are not abused or exceeded (Albrecht and Albrecht 63). Accountability for and Access to Resources: There are some measures in place for limiting

Coptic Christians Essay Example for Free

Coptic Christians Essay As one of the most dominant sources of primary readership in the world newspapers have a great deal of power over what their recipients read and believe; with this being the case it is no surprise that it is the editorial standpoint of the articles presented in your local newspaper that dictate how you feel about particular subjects, especially those of international appeal, not unlike the varying views of the recent pig culls in Egypt. With tensions in the area high and ready to boil over the Egyptian government has started a controversial pig cull that has left outside nations confused and poverty stricken pig farmers throwing stones. After having learned some very hard lessons with mad cow disease and bird flu fatalities, the Egyptian government began the cull to prevent the infestation of swine flu and it has since been deemed a general health measure of great concern and unending debate. People consider newspaper articles to be almost as valid a source as a first-hand account, often viewing news reports as individuals writing â€Å"live† from the location of the story as if a part of the incident taking place; it is never taken into account the fact that a great deal of newsprint stories are taken down from the Associated Press and reported in the way that the writer and editors of newspaper should see fit. Thus, with the story being reported and relayed differently the perceptions of readers in France, America, the United Kingdom and various other parts of the world are likely to be very different when it comes to stories like this one. Although the story has been reported all over the world, the only way to get the mixings of the real story with all of its elements would be to include the information obtained in every newspaper that has covered the story, or to at least take representative samples from varying parts of the world like what has been done here. Where one country may report predominantly on the religious aspects of the dispute another country may focus more on money and another on class, so in order to get the full story you must put together the pieces that you receive from the sources you review. In presenting information like the fact that the World Health Organization reports that the swine flu outbreak was spread through a person-to-person system of transmission and that in none of the more than 700 cases reported worldwide was there believed to be any animal-to-person transmission, nor were there any fatalities or serious cases reported outside of Mexico it is clear that BBC News is attempting to portray the views and understandings of various international organizations like the United Nations and their World Health Organization. This newspaper is attempting to present how the issue is being perceived by international health officials. BBC News also spent a great deal more time presenting the religious argument than on the monetary aspects and the class issues over the controversy of physical disputes. They reported that most people living in Cairo are Muslim, so it is the belief of the pig farmers, as Coptic Christians, that the pig cull is a personal attack on them as a direct insult against their chosen faith. With Muslims having taken a vow against pork, the pig farming and consumption that takes place in Egypt is enacted by its Coptic Christian minority, which constitutes only about 10% of the Egyptian population. BBC News is trying to make clear here that the Coptic Christians are being unfairly targeted as the lower class minority, an element not very well touched on in some of the other periodicals.

Business Intelligence Advantages and Disadvantages

Business Intelligence Advantages and Disadvantages Introduction The purpose of this report is to discuss the both the advantages and disadvantages of using Business Intelligence within a business. As well as to discuss the potential algorithms which could be used to achieve datamining which will allow for discovery of information who may be existing or potential future customers. By the end of this report I aim to make it clear the advantages of incorporating these tools and techniques within the business, and the benefits that will be seen. Business Intelligence Business Intelligence (Business Intelligence , 2007) is a collection various technologies and tools which are used for collecting, organizing and analysing data and information, and then providing the user with the information in a form which will help them with making business decisions. There are 3 major parts to business intelligence Reporting, Integration and Analysis. Reporting is essentially the creation and use of reports, while integration is about taking data from a source and being able to modify it to fit another purpose and data source. Finally, Analysis is the producing and organizing structures that have been filled with data taken from a separate source, commonly tools such as OLAP (OLAP, n.d.) (Online Analytical Processing) are used in order to achieve this. This process if often referred to as Data Mining. Using Business Intelligence has numerous advantages and is something that every company should consider using. One of its most obvious advantages is that it can help show trends and correlation in statistics (E.G user activity, sales, and complaints) and this can then be used by businesses in order to improve. Another considerable advantage of using Business Intelligence is also the reliability of the presented information and allows for relatively accurate prediction which greatly improves planning. Although it should be noted that there are some disadvantages to using Business Intelligence, this is that the historical data that is recorded needs to be stored somewhere, and this takes up more memory, which not only means more cost in storage, but also a speed reduction as there will be a huge amount data to be analysed. Another notable disadvantage is the potentially high initial cost, as well as maintenance cost, and although these costs should pay for themselves with improved decision making there is a possibility of the investment not paying off. There are not many disadvantages to using business intelligence, but they should still be taken into consideration. (Disadvantages of Business Intelligence, n.d.) A good example of business intelligence being used by other recognisable companies is that Netflix (Business Intelligence, 2015), the online media streaming service, using this system of business intelligence to work out which shows will be popular, and which of their categories may need a little reworking. This gives them the information they need to stay ahead of the curve and to make sure the shows that remain on the site are popular. Datamining algorithms With computers being used more and more within businesses, the information that the business needs to function is also stored on these computers (E.G Sales records, customer information etc.) so the ability to scan and analyse these massive amounts of information is incredibly beneficial to not only making business based decisions, but to predict sales trends or areas in need of improvement. There are a wide range of different Data Mining algorithms available to use, the ones discussed here will be the Decision tree, Bayesian Classification as well as K-Means. I have chosen to discuss and compare these 3 as they are quite different in how they operate.    One of the most commonly used Data Mining algorithms is the Decision Tree (Decision Tree Algorithm, n.d.), at the top of the decision tree we have a Root, which is essentially a check on an attribute, and from there the answers to the check make the branches. The leaves of the tree are in fact formed from each class label. The advantages of using this algorithm compared to the others is that in order to function it requires to prior knowledge of the domain, the other huge advantage which makes an attractive solution is that it is also very easy to follow and understand compared to more complex algorithms. The complexity for this algorithm can be worked out by the number of leaves that the decision tree has. This algorithm is often called Supervised Learning, this basically means that the data is already labelled within classes. (Image taken from (http://www.saedsayad.com/decision_tree.htm(Decision Tree Algorithm, n.d.)) The second mostly commonly used algorithm for Data Mining is known as Bayesian Classification (Bayesian Classifcation, n.d.), this algorithm effectively works via predicting the probability that a pattern or set of information belongs to a specific class. This algorithm is often favoured among the Data Mining techniques for its efficient results, although it needs to be taken into consideration that if the data is highly random then another algorithm would be preferred over the Bayesian Classification. It is also not recommended to use this algorithm with small data sets as this came mean a very low precision as well as recall. Although this algorithm might seem simple, its also highly accurate and is used often in filtering software (email spam, language filters). This algorithm is a supervised learning, as the user provides it with an already labelled dataset. The third algorithm which should be considered for the Crowd Funding System is K-Means (k-means, n.d.). This algorithm works by creating groups based on the set of objects this results in the in the members of the group more similar, this algorithm is often referred to as Cluster Analysis. Cluster Analysis is a collection of different algorithms which all follow the same pattern (Clusters, n.d.). The pattern being that they create groups (or clusters) in a way which means that the cluster members are much more similar as opposed to non-grouped members. This is not quite unsupervised nor supervised learning, this is because the user states the number of clusters needed, but it still features unsupervised learning as well as the algorithm learns where the cluster belongs without the user needing to provide it with any more information. Ive compared 3 algorithms, a decision tree based one, a clustering based one and a naà ¯ve one. My recommendation for use with the Crowd Funding Software would be the Decision Tree, this is for a number of reasons, the first being that its extremely easy to follow, even by someone who has no prior knowledge to the algorithm. Also because its easy to follow and understand its also easy to maintain and tweak it depending on the circumstance. Another major reason that I would chose decision tree is that they work quickly as well being non-parametric. Non-parametric means that the algorithm doesnt need specific data distribution in order to function. Data-mining advantages and disadvantages The main advantage of using Data-Mining for the Crowd Funding System would be that it could use Affinity Analysis (Affinity Analysis, n.d.), this is basically a scan off all the customers previous shopping history and then be able to advertise to them directly. This applies to the Crowd Funding System as we can use data mining to find out what projects a customer prefers and then advertise those projects directly to them. (E.G If a particular user often supports Gaming Software projects on the webpage, then we can use this information to have all Gaming Software projects as the top hit on their home page.) Affinity Analysis can often be used to detect fraud, which is useful for any company. Another advantage that this business can gain from Data Mining is Customer Segmentation, this is the process of breaking the customers down into smaller group based on say age, occupation or even gender. The advantage of doing this is that you can then target your advertisement to people who will be highly interested, and the more effective the advertising the more money people will donate to the projects. This applies directly to the Crowd Funding Systems first example, using this customer segmentation the film writer / director will be advertise her project to all her previous fans, or even people who are interested in that genre, this will mean she can reach a much more interested user base. The other huge advantage of Data Mining that can be applied to the CFS is that it can help to achieve Sales Forecasting, this is exactly what it sounds like, and it uses previous sales records to relatively accurately provide predictions for future sales. This can be used by the system for the second example the Kinect mobile phone battery, if they can predict how many donations the project is going to get they can either boost its advertisement, or perhaps communicate with the user that previous similar projects havent been able to reach their goal or at least direct them where they went wrong. One of the concerns the current business has is damage to its reputation, using data mining techniques they will be able to not only boost their donations and improve their advertisement, but also be able to learn more from the customers, and this can only be beneficial for the company. Donor exhaustion was also on the companies list of concerns, but data mining will be able to prevent this because it can be used to keep track of what advertisement has been sent to who, and what projects they are likely to bid on, so routinely changing the projects they are advertised will keep the users hopefully interested. CRM CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management (CRM, n.d.) And is used by businesses to keep their customers happy, it uses data mining techniques in order to get feedback and improve on their products constantly. The data mining algorithms discussed earlier are extremely useful for gathering and analysing information and data about customers and opinions on projects. We can then use this information to make improvements or changes where they are needed, and this will greatly increase customer satisfaction as customers will be able to see the changes they wanted. Although it is recommended to only try this with a vast amount of data, and huge amount of transactions. As smaller amounts of data can provide in accurate information. Using CRM will greatly improve the Crowd Funding Companys reputation and mean they have a lot more satisfied donors. Conclusion In conclusion I strongly recommend that the crowd funding system decides to include data mining algorithms. It has a long list of advantages including sales prediction, improved advertisement, and mostly importantly improved customer satisfaction. I would also highly recommend the use of the decision tree algorithm as its easy to follow and can easily be modified depending on the information that needs to be collected. It should be noted that choice of data source is important, as some of them may provide useful information, but there are quite a few that should be ignored.   CRM should also be taken into consideration, as using this software has proven to greatly improve the publics opinion of a business. A modern business cant afford not to use these data mining techniques, as failure to utilize these tools will mean a huge disadvantages against its competitors. The more information that can be collected from this companies customers, the more value the company can provide them, and the happier the customer the more donations that will be made. References Affinity Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_analysis Bayesian Classifcation. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.tutorialspoint.com/data_mining/dm_bayesian_classification.htm Business Intelligence . (2007, March 6). Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/2439504/business-intelligence/business-intelligence-business-intelligence-definition-and-solutions.html Business Intelligence. (2015, Febuary 26). Retrieved from http://businessintelligence.com/big-data-case-studies/data-driven-proof-netflix-needs-buy-blockbuster/ Clusters. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis CRM. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM Decision Tree Algorithm. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.saedsayad.com/decision_tree.htm Disadvantages of Business Intelligence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://business.mapsofindia.com/business-intelligence/disadvantages.html k-means. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K-means_clustering OLAP. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://olap.com/olap-definition/ Star Schema Notes The use of BLOB is so that the users can store there video sales pitches within the database, after some research I realised there wasnt a dedicated media storage format and instead have to suffice story it in binary.

The McDonaldization of Education Essay -- McDonaldization and Higher E

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Education remains a cornerstone for society as it has for decades. Technology advances, the economy fluctuates, and politics change, but education remains, not only important but imperative for personal and social growth. Yet, as important as it is touted to be, the quality and purpose of learning is often lost in the assembly-line, manufactured process of education that exists today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In a highly structured and economics-driven world, the educational system may be viewed as a machine designed to churn out future workers and employees. Like the fast-food industry, education has been standardized in an attempt to provide the comforts of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. In our aptly named McDonaldized society, aspects as important as quality are sacrificed in lieu of speed and profit. As far as education is concerned, however, this attempt to systemize and order something as complex as learning proves futile and detrimental to the basic tenet of enlightenment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The standardization of the learning process proposes a simplified, singular approach to providing education to those who can afford it. Limiting material provided and lessons taught, tests, grading, function to create an easily controlled system. â€Å"Education† has been transformed and has come to connote â€Å"the transmission from a central source of knowledge to passive recipients† (McClellan. Online). However, the question remains whether this definition can actually suffice. The futility of a packaged education is put into context when it is realized that â€Å"meaningful learning, deep knowledge, collective wisdom and innovative action do not come from slick, pre-packaged course materials and efficient one-way transmission of information† but rather through the more complex idea called learning (McClellan. Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Unfortunately, the purpose of the education system, as seen in most institutions of higher education, is in fact to instill in people the notion that they are incapable of learning. The standardization of education highlights the underlying assumption that people â€Å"cannot learn without a pre-determined set of institutionalized options forced upon them† (Kyhall. Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The view of education as a commodity, rather than a means for intellectual, spiritual, or interpersonal growth, results in most educators and teachers offering st... ...onal and social growth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The cost of McDonaldization is clear. In terms of standardizing education, the model is â€Å"anti-diversity, anti-creativity, and anti-democratic† (Kyhall. Online). As a whole, the consumption of the simple solution called education will not solve the problems. The modern world is much too complex to be solved in a single approach. Furthermore, education creates danger in the world by devaluing learning and dehumanizing people. Learning cannot be confined to formal allotments such as school or colleges, and in our changing times, it becomes even more imperative that education be not a product to sell but a tool to enlighten, a means to promote growth rather than division. This is the true purpose of education. And it does not come pre-packaged. Works Cited Gidley, J. and S. Inayatullah. Youth Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions. (2002): 34. Kyhall. "The McDonaldization of Education" 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.    http://fundamentalsofsoc.edublogs.org/2012/11/15/the-mcdonaldization-of-education/ McClellan, Jock. â€Å"Metaphors, Words, and Models of a Wiser World.† The Swaraj Foundation. Web. 28 Oct. 2014.

Mansfields Bliss :: essays research papers

Katherine Mansfield thoughtfully named her story Bliss, to ask the question, â€Å"What is bliss?† Webster’s dictionary defines bliss as, â€Å"complete happiness†. In Bliss, the main character, Bertha, feels she is blissful. She has the perfect family, the perfect life, and a party that night. However, that perfect life is a faà §ade, which the reader along with Bertha at times learns. After arranging the fruit for the evening party, Bertha like a child at Christmas runs upstairs to the nursery to see her baby, Little B. The scene goes, â€Å"she looked up when see saw her mother and began to jump.† (Mansfield 2) The Nanny quickly takes control of the baby and in facial expressions showing her displeasure of being interrupted. When the Nanny tells of the dog’s ear that B touched, she does not voice her objections to the Nanny’s judgment of letting B touch the dog’s ear. Bertha also has to beg Nanny, like a child rather, than an employer, to finish feeding her child. Showing that Bertha’s bliss with her baby is not true, â€Å"because the nanny has constant control over her care.† (Sonja Cerne, para. 1). Bertha’s bliss with her husband also is fake. He is having an affair with her â€Å"a find of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton.† (Mansfield 3). According to Megan Nussbaum, â€Å"Subconsciously Bertha knows that her husband must be messing around with someone. He's always coming in late and doesn't mind her ‘coldness’ in bed.† However she has no idea that it is her fascinating friend, after all Harry, Bertha’s husband, constantly criticizes Miss Fulton, â€Å"[he] voted her dullish, and `cold like all blond women, with a touch, perhaps, of anemia of the brain.† (Mansfield 3). Later in the story, Harry and Miss Fulton almost arrive one after another, â€Å"like they rode to the house together and then came in separately.† (Kate Campbell, para. 1). At the end,† Harry almost pushing his wife [Bertha] over when Miss Fulton is ready to leave†¦and then he pulled Miss Fulton towards him and his lips said, ‘I adore yo u. Mansfields Bliss :: essays research papers Katherine Mansfield thoughtfully named her story Bliss, to ask the question, â€Å"What is bliss?† Webster’s dictionary defines bliss as, â€Å"complete happiness†. In Bliss, the main character, Bertha, feels she is blissful. She has the perfect family, the perfect life, and a party that night. However, that perfect life is a faà §ade, which the reader along with Bertha at times learns. After arranging the fruit for the evening party, Bertha like a child at Christmas runs upstairs to the nursery to see her baby, Little B. The scene goes, â€Å"she looked up when see saw her mother and began to jump.† (Mansfield 2) The Nanny quickly takes control of the baby and in facial expressions showing her displeasure of being interrupted. When the Nanny tells of the dog’s ear that B touched, she does not voice her objections to the Nanny’s judgment of letting B touch the dog’s ear. Bertha also has to beg Nanny, like a child rather, than an employer, to finish feeding her child. Showing that Bertha’s bliss with her baby is not true, â€Å"because the nanny has constant control over her care.† (Sonja Cerne, para. 1). Bertha’s bliss with her husband also is fake. He is having an affair with her â€Å"a find of Bertha’s called Pearl Fulton.† (Mansfield 3). According to Megan Nussbaum, â€Å"Subconsciously Bertha knows that her husband must be messing around with someone. He's always coming in late and doesn't mind her ‘coldness’ in bed.† However she has no idea that it is her fascinating friend, after all Harry, Bertha’s husband, constantly criticizes Miss Fulton, â€Å"[he] voted her dullish, and `cold like all blond women, with a touch, perhaps, of anemia of the brain.† (Mansfield 3). Later in the story, Harry and Miss Fulton almost arrive one after another, â€Å"like they rode to the house together and then came in separately.† (Kate Campbell, para. 1). At the end,† Harry almost pushing his wife [Bertha] over when Miss Fulton is ready to leave†¦and then he pulled Miss Fulton towards him and his lips said, ‘I adore yo u.

Unhappy Cows – Short Essay

The California dairy Industry would like us, the consumers, to believe that their dairy cows In some mysterious way are â€Å"happy cows†. They literally use this term, thus insinuating that for some reason or another, milk from California is better. Or, perhaps they are trying to convince us that cows in other states are too â€Å"sad† to produce quality milk. However, I say this campaign is nothing but a big pile of manure. Pun intended. I have found no research supporting the claim that California cows are â€Å"happy sows†.At least, no happier than normal. In fact, Californians practices are quite the same If not Identical to any other states. It Is very sad that they use a campaign of hope and happiness when in all reality their dairy cows are mistreated just like the rest. Dairy cows endure annual cycles of artificial insemination, mechanized milking for 10 months out of each year, which includes 7 months out of the 9 months a cow may be pregnant. Cows both In California and around the nation are given hormones so hat they might produce more milk.This active and rigorous cycle overburdens the cows, thus only making them useful as dairy cows for two years. These particular cows are usually slaughtered at four years old. Dairy cows are expected to produce one calf per year per cow according to the U. S. Department of Agriculture fact sheet. Just imagine what kind of strain this must be on the animal! This would be comparative to a human running or jogging 6 hours a day, every day for a year while pregnant! Does that sound Like a happy cow to oh?Most female dairy calves are eventually put onto the milking line while most of the male calves are found to be useless and are often sold into the veal industry. Yes folks, even the calves from the â€Å"happy' California cows are sold to these kinds of industries. Hundreds of thousands of little baby calves are shoved into cages so small they can't so much as turn around until they are roughly 12 to 14 months old and then they are slaughtered for their meat; the meat that has gone tender after so many months of little to no activity.California is essentially capitalizing on American citizens ignorance of what is happening right in front of them. If people of this country would bother to read the facts, I doubt they would be supporting this ridiculous â€Å"happy cow' business. Perhaps Californians campaign should be a bit more realistic, such as the way we treat our cows will make your milk curdle'. â€Å"Farm Bill : Laws and Regulations : National Agricultural Library. † Information Centers : National Agricultural Library. US Department of Agriculture. Web. 10 Novo. 2011.

Can We Trust Our Emotions In The Pursuit Of Knowledge?

Mankind shares psychological phenomena known as emotion that is a natural state of mind deriving from a person. 1 By means of this special ability, trusting our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge can be questioned, as it is a circumstance that involves only an individual, there might be an increasing chance of being invalid. This generalization can be countered by the fact there can be influences of emotion in pursuing knowledge in many cases such as in two particular Areas of Knowledge: History and Natural Science.As such, the knowledge issues rose: To what extent does emotion hinder our acquisition of knowledge? This question examines what role emotion play in the pursuit of knowledge and whether or not emotion is a source of knowledge or otherwise, an obstacle to knowledge. In history, the sense of trusting emotions in the process of knowledge acquisition in History as a discourse is rarely ideal. The explanation for this is that emotions can wrongly paint our perceptions for pr oofs to prop historical facts and events.When referring to emotions, it is possible to develop a negative attitude from the evidence presented. There can be of a lot of benefits of the study in history discourse. History aids in understanding what is being studied, give insight of who did it and the approximate or the actual period a study or event occurred. Emotions restrain and influence rationality and thereby leading to distorted history and false facts. An example of emotion is probable forces involving the trial David Irving Vs.Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin publishers. David was accused of being a racist and anti-Semitic by claiming that Holocaust never happened. During a trial, he came up with the evidence to prop his claim that Holocaust never happened. In his evidence, he claimed that there was no official plan or policy to put the Jewish race into termination though there was a proof of the Wansee conference where the Nazis met to plan against the Jews.In the trial, the cou rt was also notified that he used to sing a racist song to his daughters2and based on this fact therefore, one can deduct that he had confirmation biasness owing from his emotions (hatred), towards Jewish race. This biasness therefore, masked the facts of the Holocaust causing the defendant to see things from one dimension which impacted on his judgment and reasoning. Irving was even consistence in his bias by claiming that the gas chambers were not met to exterminate humans but was for delousing. This claim was then discredited by doctors and remained as a conflictive issue.From this point therefore, emotions are not trustworthy in the process of acquisition of knowledge in history. Whilst emotions may negatively impact the history leading to distortion, some emotions can have a positive impact on history as a discourse. These emotions of liking and enthusiasm towards an event, thing, place or group may make one develop the sense of searching for more knowledge concerning the subje ct and therefore this leads to one quest for unearthing the deep hidden facts on the subject and hence producing facts require in History.Example here is: it is the deep sense of belonging and deep feeling of enthusiasm that led to the Egyptians Hussein Bassir, Ahmad Faschri, Sami Gabra, Zakaria Goneim, Labib Habachi among others venture into Egyptology (Study of ancient Egypt). 3 That affection gives these individuals challenges for unearthing more artifacts for ancient history that helps articulate the pieces of Ancient Egypt history and hence an example of positive contribution of emotion to history. 4 In natural science, emotions also may impact the acquisition for knowledge to a great extent.In pharmacology for example, a negative attitude of a researcher in determining the medicinal value, toxicity and the dosage of a certain physiologically active compound (P. A. C. ) from a given herbal might lead to biased research. This has the potential to lead to wrong administrations of bioassays and test of the very same dosage that may lead to negative result even if the P. A. C. is present in large quantities, the result are then pre-set to read negative due to the attitude of the researcher that is likely to affect his dexterity, carefulness and also  perception.This finally leads to a wrong conclusion that in the real sense lacks scientific approval or disapproval as the biasness brought about by emotions led to successive blunders in the following of scientific syntaxes and therefore wrong conclusion and results at the long run. A perfect example to this is a certain Biology class in High Ridge High school where, students were asked to observe different cells in blood samples under a light microscope.The students first perceived that one could not visualize blood cells since it was their first time to do so and more so did it against their wish of using the new microscopes as opposed to the old ones they were obliged to use. Due to the inbuilt feeling that the old microscopes were not as efficient as the new ones therefore, the students smeared their specimen on a slide and then mounted it on a microscope without staining the specimen and hence could not visualize blood cells.In their report to the respective tutor, the students wrote that there was absence of blood cells and the test was negative. The truth of the matter was the negative emotion of being denied the chance to use new microscope outflanked the result orientation in the minds of the students to the extent that they forgot the most crucial step that could lead to success of their scientific activity. Emotions, i. e.attitude, love, hatred, happiness, moods, affection and all others are not worth trust in the process of knowledge acquisition be it in History as a field of discourse, philosophy, natural sciences and even language since the perception of emotions occurs in brain and the knowledge acquisition still occurs in brain and therefore, negative conception of a cert ain idea might lead to biasness that might distort the much required fact either in history research or in natural science.Emotions mask one’s rationality to reason as per the expectations and therefore in that sense impair ones judgment. In the two cases that we have examined, Irving failed to acknowledge the eventuality of Genocide in Germany by the Nazi regime and went further to claim that the murderous gas chambers used were for delousing and not killing humans. Secondly, due to the preset emotions of the students, they fail to stain their specimens and this leads them to wrong results and subsequently conclusions owing to their negative attitude towards using old microscopes as opposed to new ones.The error that occurs is not as attribute of the microscopes but students’ ignorance and negative attitude. It is worth a note also that emotions are not always detrimental to acquisition of knowledge but at times beneficial to the process of knowledge acquisition if at all they are positive as per the case of patriotic Egyptians in their career as Egyptologist. Can we trust our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge? Mankind shares psychological phenomena known as emotion that is a natural state of mind deriving from a person. 1 By means of this special ability, trusting our emotions in the pursuit of knowledge can be questioned, as it is a circumstance that involves only an individual, there might be an increasing chance of being invalid. This generalization can be countered by the fact there can be influences of emotion in pursuing knowledge in many cases such as in two particular Areas of Knowledge: History and Natural Science.As such, the knowledge issues rose: To what extent does emotion hinder our acquisition of knowledge? This question examines what role emotion play in the pursuit of knowledge and whether or not emotion is a source of knowledge or otherwise, an obstacle to knowledge. In history, the sense of trusting emotions in the process of knowledge acquisition in History as a discourse is rarely ideal. The explanation for this is that emotions can wrongly paint our perceptions for pr oofs to prop historical facts and events.When referring to emotions, it is possible to develop a negative attitude from the evidence presented. There can be of a lot of benefits of the study in history discourse. History aids in understanding what is being studied, give insight of who did it and the approximate or the actual period a study or event occurred. Emotions restrain and influence rationality and thereby leading to distorted history and false facts. An example of emotion is probable forces involving the trial David Irving Vs.Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin publishers. David was accused of being a racist and anti-Semitic by claiming that Holocaust never happened. During a trial, he came up with the evidence to prop his claim that Holocaust never happened. In his evidence, he claimed that there was no official plan or policy to put the Jewish race into termination though there was a proof of the Wansee conference where the Nazis met to plan against the Jews.In the trial, the cou rt was also notified that he used to sing a racist song to his daughters2and based on this fact therefore, one can deduct that he had confirmation biasness owing from his emotions (hatred), towards Jewish race. This biasness therefore, masked the facts of the Holocaust causing the defendant to see things from one dimension which impacted on his judgment and reasoning. Irving was even consistence in his bias by claiming that the gas chambers were not met to exterminate humans but was for delousing. This claim was then discredited by doctors and remained as a conflictive issue.From this point therefore, emotions are not trustworthy in the process of acquisition of knowledge in history. Whilst emotions may negatively impact the history leading to distortion, some emotions can have a positive impact on history as a discourse. These emotions of liking and enthusiasm towards an event, thing, place or group may make one develop the sense of searching for more knowledge concerning the subje ct and therefore this leads to one quest for unearthing the deep hidden facts on the subject and hence producing facts require in History.Example here is: it is the deep sense of belonging and deep feeling of enthusiasm that led to the Egyptians Hussein Bassir, Ahmad Faschri, Sami Gabra, Zakaria Goneim, Labib Habachi among others venture into Egyptology (Study of ancient Egypt). 3 That affection gives these individuals challenges for unearthing more artifacts for ancient history that helps articulate the pieces of Ancient Egypt history and hence an example of positive contribution of emotion to history. 4 In natural science, emotions also may impact the acquisition for knowledge to a great extent.In pharmacology for example, a negative attitude of a researcher in determining the medicinal value, toxicity and the dosage of a certain physiologically active compound (P. A. C. ) from a given herbal might lead to biased research. This has the potential to lead to wrong administrations of bioassays and test of the very same dosage that may lead to negative result even if the P. A. C. is present in large quantities, the result are then pre-set to read negative due to the attitude of the researcher that is likely to affect his dexterity, carefulness and also  perception.This finally leads to a wrong conclusion that in the real sense lacks scientific approval or disapproval as the biasness brought about by emotions led to successive blunders in the following of scientific syntaxes and therefore wrong conclusion and results at the long run. A perfect example to this is a certain Biology class in High Ridge High school where, students were asked to observe different cells in blood samples under a light microscope.The students first perceived that one could not visualize blood cells since it was their first time to do so and more so did it against their wish of using the new microscopes as opposed to the old ones they were obliged to use. Due to the inbuilt feeling that the old microscopes were not as efficient as the new ones therefore, the students smeared their specimen on a slide and then mounted it on a microscope without staining the specimen and hence could not visualize blood cells.In their report to the respective tutor, the students wrote that there was absence of blood cells and the test was negative. The truth of the matter was the negative emotion of being denied the chance to use new microscope outflanked the result orientation in the minds of the students to the extent that they forgot the most crucial step that could lead to success of their scientific activity.Emotions, i. e.  attitude, love, hatred, happiness, moods, affection and all others are not worth trust in the process of knowledge acquisition be it in History as a field of discourse, philosophy, natural sciences and even language since the perception of emotions occurs in brain and the knowledge acquisition still occurs in brain and therefore, negative conception of a c ertain idea might lead to biasness that might distort the much required fact either in history research or in natural science.Emotions mask one’s rationality to reason as per the expectations and therefore in that sense impair ones judgment. In the two cases that we have examined, Irving failed to acknowledge the eventuality of Genocide in Germany by the Nazi regime and went further to claim that the murderous gas chambers used were for delousing and not killing humans. Secondly, due to the preset emotions of the students, they fail to stain their specimens and this leads them to wrong results and subsequently conclusions owing to their negative attitude towards using old microscopes as opposed to new ones.The error that occurs is not as attribute of the microscopes but students’ ignorance and negative attitude. It is worth a note also that emotions are not always detrimental to acquisition of knowledge but at times beneficial to the process of knowledge acquisition if at all they are positive as per the case of patriotic Egyptians in their career as Egyptologist.

The Twilight Saga 3: Eclipse Chapter 4. NATURE

I WAS HAVING A BAD WEEK. I knew that essentially nothing had changed. Okay, so Victoria had not given up, but had I ever dreamed for one moment that she had? Her reappearance had only confirmed what I'd already known. No reason for fresh panic. In theory. Not panicking was easier said than done. Graduation was only a few weeks away, but I wondered if it wasn't a little foolish to sit around, weak and tasty, waiting for the next disaster. It seemed too dangerous to be human – just begging for trouble. Someone like me shouldn't be human. Someone with my luck ought to be a little less helpless. But no one would listen to me. Carlisle had said, â€Å"There are seven of us, Bella. And with Alice on our side, I don't think Victoria's going to catch us off guard. I think it's important, for Charlie's sake, that we stick with the original plan.† Esme had said, â€Å"We'd never allow anything to happen to you, sweetheart. You know that. Please don't be anxious.† And then she'd kissed my forehead. Emmett had said, â€Å"I'm really glad Edward didn't kill you. Everything's so much more fun with you around.† Rosalie had glared at him. Alice had rolled her eyes and said, â€Å"I'm offended. You're not honestly worried about this, are you?† â€Å"If it's no big deal, then why did Edward drag me to Florida?† I'd demanded. â€Å"Haven't you noticed yet, Bella, that Edward is just the teeniest bit prone to overreaction?† Jasper had silently erased all the panic and tension in my body with his curious talent of controlling emotional atmospheres. I'd felt reassured, and let them talk me out of my desperate pleading. Of course, that calm had worn off as soon as Edward and I had walked out of the room. So the consensus was that I was just supposed to forget that a deranged vampire was stalking me, intent on my death. Go about my business. I did try. And surprisingly, there were other things almost as stressful to dwell on besides my status on the endangered species list. . . . Because Edward's response had been the most frustrating of them all. â€Å"That's between you and Carlisle,† he'd said. â€Å"Of course, you know that I'm willing to make it between you and me at any time that you wish. You know my condition.† And he had smiled angelically. Ugh. I did know his condition. Edward had promised that he would change me himself whenever I wanted . . . just as long as I was married to him first. Sometimes I wondered if he was only pretending that he couldn't read my mind. How else had he struck upon the one condition that I would have trouble accepting? The one condition that would slow me down. All in all, a very bad week. And today was the worst day in it. It was always a bad day when Edward was away. Alice had foreseen nothing out of the ordinary this weekend, and so I'd insisted that he take the opportunity to go hunting with his brothers. I knew how it bored him to hunt the easy, nearby prey. â€Å"Go have fun,† I'd told him. â€Å"Bag a few mountain lions for me.† I would never admit to him how hard it was for me when he was gone – how it brought back the abandonment nightmares. If he knew that, it would make him feel horrible and he would be afraid to ever leave me, even for the most necessary reasons. It had been like that in the beginning, when he'd first returned from Italy. His golden eyes had turned black and he'd suffered from his thirst more than it was already necessary that he suffer. So I put on a brave face and all but kicked him out the door whenever Emmett and Jasper wanted to go. I think he saw through me, though. A little. This morning there had been a note left on my pillow: I'll be back so soon you won't have time to miss me. Look after my heart – I've left it with you. So now I had a big empty Saturday with nothing but my morning shift at Newton's Olympic Outfitters to distract me. And, of course, the oh-so-comforting promise from Alice. â€Å"I'm staying close to home to hunt. I'll only be fifteen minutes away if you need me. I'll keep an eye out for trouble.† Translation: don't try anything funny just because Edward is gone. Alice was certainly just as capable of crippling my truck as Edward was. I tried to look on the bright side. After work, I had plans to help Angela with her announcements, so that would be a distraction. And Charlie was in an excellent mood due to Edward's absence, so I might as well enjoy that while it lasted. Alice would spend the night with me if I was pathetic enough to ask her to. And then tomorrow, Edward would be home. I would survive. Not wanting to be ridiculously early for work, I ate my breakfast slowly, one Cheerio at a time. Then, when I'd washed the dishes, I arranged the magnets on the fridge into a perfect line. Maybe I was developing obsessive-compulsive disorder. The last two magnets – round black utilitarian pieces that were my favorites because they could hold ten sheets of paper to the fridge without breaking a sweat – did not want to cooperate with my fixation. Their polarities were reversed; every time I tried to line the last one up, the other jumped out of place. For some reason – impending mania, perhaps – this really irritated me. Why couldn't they just play nice? Stupid with stubbornness, I kept shoving them together as if I was expecting them to suddenly give up. I could have flipped one over, but that felt like losing. Finally, exasperated at myself more than the magnets, I pulled them from the fridge and held them together with two hands. It took a little effort – they were strong enough to put up a fight – but I forced them to coexist side-by-side. â€Å"See,† I said out loud – talking to inanimate objects, never a good sign – â€Å"That's not so horrible, is it?† I stood there like an idiot for a second, not quite able to admit that I wasn't having any lasting effect against scientific principles. Then, with a sigh, I put the magnets back on the fridge, a foot apart. â€Å"There's no need to be so inflexible,† I muttered. It was still too early, but I decided I'd better get out of the house before the inanimate objects started talking back. When I got to Newton's, Mike was methodically dry mopping the aisles while his mom arranged a new counter display. I caught them in the middle of an argument, unaware that I had arrived. â€Å"But it's the only time that Tyler can go,† Mike complained. â€Å"You said after graduation -â€Å" â€Å"You're just going to have to wait,† Mrs. Newton snapped. â€Å"You and Tyler can think of something else to do. You are not going to Seattle until the police stop whatever it is that is going on there. I know Beth Crowley has told Tyler the same thing, so don't act like I'm the bad guy – oh, good morning, Bella,† she said when she caught sight of me, brightening her tone quickly. â€Å"You're early.† Karen Newton was the last person I'd think to ask for help in an outdoor sports equipment store. Her perfectly highlighted blond hair was always smoothed into an elegant twist on the back of her neck, her fingernails were polished by professionals, as were her toenails – visible through the strappy high heels that didn't resemble anything Newton's offered on the long row of hiking boots. â€Å"Light traffic,† I joked as I grabbed my hideous fluorescent orange vest out from under the counter. I was surprised that Mrs. Newton was as worked up about this Seattle thing as Charlie. I'd thought he was going to extremes. â€Å"Well, er . . .† Mrs. Newton hesitated for a moment, playing uncomfortably with a stack of flyers she was arranging by the register. I stopped with one arm in my vest. I knew that look. When I'd let the Newtons know that I wouldn't be working here this summer – abandoning them in their busiest season, in effect – they'd started training Katie Marshall to take my place. They couldn't really afford both of us on the payroll at the same time, so when it looked like a slow day . . . â€Å"I was going to call,† Mrs. Newton continued. â€Å"I don't think we're expecting a ton of business today. Mike and I can probably handle things. I'm sorry you got up and drove out. . . .† On a normal day, I would be ecstatic with this turn of events. Today . . . not so much. â€Å"Okay,† I sighed. My shoulders slumped. What was I going to do now? â€Å"That's not fair, Mom,† Mike said. â€Å"If Bella wants to work -â€Å" â€Å"No, it's okay, Mrs. Newton. Really, Mike. I've got finals to study for and stuff. . . .† I didn't want to be a source of familial discord when they were already arguing. â€Å"Thanks, Bella. Mike, you missed aisle four. Um, Bella, do you mind throwing these flyers in a Dumpster on the way out? I told the girl who left them here that I'd put them on the counter, but I really don't have the room.† â€Å"Sure, no problem.† I put my vest away, and then tucked the flyers under my arm and headed out into the misty rain. The Dumpster was around the side of Newton's, next to where we employees were supposed to park. I shuffled along, kicking pebbles petulantly on my way. I was about to fling the stack of bright yellow papers into the trash when the heading printed in bold across the top caught my eye. One word in particular seized my attention. I clutched the papers in both hands as I stared at the picture beneath the caption. A lump rose in my throat. SAVE THE OLYMPIC WOLF Under the words, there was a detailed drawing of a wolf in front of a fir tree, its head thrown back in the act of baying at the moon. It was a disconcerting picture; something about the wolf's plaintive posture made him look forlorn. Like he was howling in grief. And then I was running to my truck, the flyers still locked in my grip. Fifteen minutes – that's all I had. But it should be long enough. It was only fifteen minutes to La Push, and surely I would cross the boundary line a few minutes before I hit the town. My truck roared to life without any difficulty. Alice couldn't have seen me doing this, because I hadn't been planning it. A snap decision, that was the key! And as long as I moved fast enough, I should be able to capitalize on it. I'd thrown the damp flyers in my haste and they were scattered in a bright mess across the passenger seat – a hundred bolded captions, a hundred dark howling wolves outlined against the yellow background. I barreled down the wet highway, turning the windshield wipers on high and ignoring the groan of the ancient engine. Fifty-five was the most I could coax out of my truck, and I prayed it would be enough. I had no clue where the boundary line was, but I began to feel safer as I passed the first houses outside La Push. This must be beyond where Alice was allowed to follow. I'd call her when I got to Angela's this afternoon, I reasoned, so that she'd know I was fine. There was no reason for her to get worked up. She didn't need to be mad at me – Edward would be angry enough for two when he got back. My truck was positively wheezing by the time it grated to a stop in front of the familiar faded red house. The lump came back to my throat as I stared at the little place that had once been my refuge. It had been so long since I'd been here. Before I could cut the engine, Jacob was standing in the door, his face blank with shock. In the sudden silence when the truck-roar died, I heard him gasp. â€Å"Bella?† â€Å"Hey, Jake!† â€Å"Bella!† he yelled back, and the smile I'd been waiting for stretched across his face like the sun breaking free of the clouds. His teeth gleamed bright against his russet skin. â€Å"I can't believe it!† He ran to the truck and half-yanked me through the open door, and then we were both jumping up and down like kids. â€Å"How did you get here?† â€Å"I snuck out!† â€Å"Awesome!† â€Å"Hey, Bella!† Billy had rolled himself into the doorway to see what all the commotion was about. â€Å"Hey, Bil -!† Just then my air choked off – Jacob grabbed me up in a bear hug too tight to breathe and swung me around in a circle. â€Å"Wow, it's good to see you here!† â€Å"Can't . . . breathe,† I gasped. He laughed and put me down. â€Å"Welcome back, Bella,† he said, grinning. And the way he said the words made it sound like welcome home. We started walking, too keyed up to sit still in the house. Jacob was practically bouncing as he moved, and I had to remind him a few times that my legs weren't ten feet long. As we walked, I felt myself settling into another version of myself, the self I had been with Jacob. A little younger, a little less responsible. Someone who might, on occasion, do something really stupid for no good reason. Our exuberance lasted through the first few topics of conversation: how we were doing, what we were up to, how long I had, and what had brought me here. When I hesitantly told him about the wolf flyer, his bellowing laugh echoed back from the trees. But then, as we ambled past the back of the store and shoved through the thick scrub that ringed the far edge of First Beach, we got to the hard parts. All too soon we had to talk about the reasons behind our long separation, and I watched as the face of my friend hardened into the bitter mask that was already too familiar. â€Å"So what's the story, anyway?† Jacob asked me, kicking a piece of driftwood out of his way with too much force. It sailed over the sand and then clattered against the rocks. â€Å"I mean, since the last time we . . . well, before, you know . . .† He struggled for the words. He took a deep breath and tried again. â€Å"What I'm asking is . . . everything is just back to the way it was before he left? You forgave him for all of that?† I took a deep breath. â€Å"There was nothing to forgive.† I wanted to skip past this part, the betrayals, the accusations, but I knew that we had to talk it through before we'd be able to move on to anything else. Jacob's face puckered up like he'd just licked a lemon. â€Å"I wish Sam had taken a picture when he found you that night last September. It would be exhibit A.† â€Å"Nobody's on trial.† â€Å"Maybe somebody should be.† â€Å"Not even you would blame him for leaving, if you knew the reason why.† He glared at me for a few seconds. â€Å"Okay,† he challenged acidly. â€Å"Amaze me.† His hostility was wearing on me – chafing against the raw; it hurt to have him angry with me. It reminded me of the bleak afternoon, long ago, when – under orders from Sam – he'd told me we couldn't be friends. I took a second to compose myself. â€Å"Edward left me last fall because he didn't think I should be hanging out with vampires. He thought it would be healthier for me if he left.† Jacob did a double take. He had to scramble for a minute. Whatever he'd been planning to say, it clearly no longer applied. I was glad he didn't know the catalyst behind Edward's decision. I could only imagine what he'd think if he knew Jasper had tried to kill me. â€Å"He came back, though, didn't he?† Jacob muttered. â€Å"Too bad he can't stick to a decision.† â€Å"If you remember, I went and got him.† Jacob stared at me for a moment, and then he backed off. His face relaxed, and his voice was calmer when he spoke. â€Å"That's true. So I never did get the story. What happened?† I hesitated, biting my lip. â€Å"Is it a secret?† His voice took on a taunting edge. â€Å"Are you not allowed to tell me?† â€Å"No,† I snapped. â€Å"It's just a really long story.† Jacob smiled, arrogant, and turned to walk up the beach, expecting me to follow. It was no fun being with Jacob if he was going to act like this. I trailed behind him automatically, not sure if I shouldn't turn around and leave. I was going to have to face Alice, though, when I got home. . . . I supposed I wasn't in any rush. Jacob walked to a huge, familiar piece of driftwood – an entire tree, roots and all, bleached white and beached deep in the sand; it was our tree, in a way. Jacob sat down on the natural bench, and patted the space next to him. â€Å"I don't mind long stories. Is there any action?† I rolled my eyes as I sat next to him. â€Å"There's some action,† I allowed. â€Å"It wouldn't be real horror without action.† â€Å"Horror!† I scoffed. â€Å"Can you listen, or will you be interrupting me with rude comments about my friends? â€Å" He pretended to lock his lips and then threw the invisible key over his shoulder. I tried not to smile, and failed. â€Å"I'll have to start with the stuff you were already there for,† I decided, working to organize the stories in my head before I began. Jacob raised his hand. â€Å"Go ahead.† â€Å"That's good,† he said. â€Å"I didn't understand much that was going on at the time.† â€Å"Yeah, well, it gets complicated, so pay attention. You know how Alice sees things?† I took his scowl – the wolves weren't thrilled that the legends of vampires possessing supernatural gifts were true – for a yes, and proceeded with the account of my race through Italy to rescue Edward. I kept it as succinct as possible – leaving out anything that wasn't essential. I tried to read Jacob's reactions, but his face was enigmatic as I explained how Alice had seen Edward plan to kill himself when he'd heard that I was dead. Sometimes Jacob seemed so deep in thought, I wasn't sure if he was listening. He only interrupted one time. â€Å"The fortune-telling bloodsucker can't see us?† he echoed, his face both fierce and gleeful. â€Å"Seriously? That's excellent!† I clenched my teeth together, and we sat in silence, his face expectant as he waited for me to continue. I glared at him until he realized his mistake. â€Å"Oops!† he said. â€Å"Sorry.† He locked his lips again. His response was easier to read when I got to the part about the Volturi. His teeth clenched together, goose bumps rose on his arms, and his nostrils flared. I didn't go into specifics, I just told him that Edward had talked us out of trouble, without revealing the promise we'd had to make, or the visit we were anticipating. Jacob didn't need to have my nightmares. â€Å"Now you know the whole story,† I concluded. â€Å"So it's your turn to talk. What happened while I was with my mom this weekend?† I knew Jacob would give me more details than Edward had. He wasn't afraid of scaring me. Jacob leaned forward, instantly animated. â€Å"So Embry and Quil and I were running patrol on Saturday night, just routine stuff, when out of nowhere – bam!† He threw his arms out, impersonating an explosion. â€Å"There it is – a fresh trail, not fifteen minutes old. Sam wanted us to wait for him, but I didn't know you were gone, and I didn't know if your bloodsuckers were keeping an eye on you or not. So we took off after her at full speed, but she'd crossed the treaty line before we caught up. We spread out along the line, hoping she'd cross back over. It was frustrating, let me tell you.† He wagged his head and his hair – growing out from the short crop he'd adopted when he'd joined the pack – flopped into his eyes. â€Å"We ended up too far south. The Cullens chased her back to our side just a few miles north of us. Would have been the perfect ambush if we'd known where to wait.† He shook his head, grimacing now. â€Å"That's when it got dicey. Sam and the others caught up to her before we did, but she was dancing right along the line, and the whole coven was right there on the other side. The big one, what's-his-name -â€Å" â€Å"Emmett.† â€Å"Yeah, him. He made a lunge for her, but that redhead is fast! He flew right behind her and almost rammed into Paul. So, Paul . . . well, you know Paul.† â€Å"Yeah.† â€Å"Lost his focus. Can't say that I blame him – the big bloodsucker was right on top of him. He sprang – hey, don't give me that look. The vampire was on our land.† I tried to compose my face so that he would go on. My nails were digging into my palms with the stress of the story, even though I knew it had turned out fine. â€Å"Anyway, Paul missed, and the big one got back on his side. But by then the, er, well the, uh, blonde . . .† Jacob's expression was a comical mix of disgust and unwilling admiration as he tried to come up with a word to describe Edward's sister. â€Å"Rosalie.† â€Å"Whatever. She got real territorial, so Sam and I fell back to get Paul's flanks. Then their leader and the other blond male -â€Å" â€Å"Carlisle and Jasper.† He gave me an exasperated look. â€Å"You know I don't really care. Anyway, so Carlisle spoke to Sam, trying to calm things down. Then it was weird, because everyone got really calm really fast. It was that other one you told me about, messing with our heads. But even though we knew what he was doing, we couldn't not be calm.† â€Å"Yeah, I know how it feels.† â€Å"Really annoying, that's how it feels. Only you can't be annoyed until afterwards.† He shook his head angrily. â€Å"So Sam and the head vamp agreed that Victoria was the priority, and we started after her again. Carlisle gave us the line, so that we could follow the scent properly, but then she hit the cliffs just north of Makah country, right where the line hugs the coast for a few miles. She took off into the water again. The big one and the calm one wanted permission to cross the line to go after her, but of course we said no.† â€Å"Good. I mean, you were being stupid, but I'm glad. Emmett's never cautious enough. He could have gotten hurt.† Jacob snorted. â€Å"So did your vampire tell you we attacked for no reason and his totally innocent coven -â€Å" â€Å"No,† I interrupted. â€Å"Edward told me the same story, just without quite as many details.† â€Å"Huh,† Jacob said under his breath, and he bent over to pick up a rock from among the millions of pebbles at our feet. With a casual flick, he sent it flying a good hundred meters out into the bay. â€Å"Well, she'll be back, I guess. We'll get another shot at her.† I shuddered; of course she would be back. Would Edward really tell me next time? I wasn't sure. I'd have to keep an eye on Alice, to look for the signs that the pattern was about to repeat. . . . Jacob didn't seem to notice my reaction. He was staring across the waves with a thoughtful expression on his face, his broad lips pursed. â€Å"What are you thinking about?† I asked after a long, quiet time. â€Å"I'm thinking about what you told me. About when the fortune-teller saw you cliff jumping and thought you'd committed suicide, and how it all got out of control. . . . Do you realize that if you had just waited for me like you were supposed to, then the bl – Alice wouldn't have been able to see you jump? Nothing would have changed. We'd probably be in my garage right now, like any other Saturday. There wouldn't be any vampires in Forks, and you and me . . .† He trailed off, deep in thought. It was disconcerting the way he said this, like it would be a good thing to have no vampires in Forks. My heart thumped unevenly at the emptiness of the picture he painted. â€Å"Edward would have come back anyway.† â€Å"Are you sure about that?† he asked, belligerent again as soon as I spoke Edward's name. â€Å"Being apart . . . It didn't work out so well for either of us.† He started to say something, something angry from his expression, but he stopped himself, took a breath, and began again. â€Å"Did you know Sam is mad at you?† â€Å"Me?† It took me a second. â€Å"Oh. I see. He thinks they would have stayed away if I wasn't here.† â€Å"No. That's not it.† â€Å"What's his problem then?† Jacob leaned down to scoop up another rock. He turned it over and over in his fingers; his eyes were riveted on the black stone while he spoke in a low voice. â€Å"When Sam saw . . . how you were in the beginning, when Billy told them how Charlie worried when you didn't get better, and then when you started jumping off cliffs . . .† I made a face. No one was ever going to let me forget that. Jacob's eyes flashed up to mine. â€Å"He thought you were the one person in the world with as much reason to hate the Cullens as he does. Sam feels sort of . . . betrayed that you would just let them back into your life like they never hurt you.† I didn't believe for a second that Sam was the only one who felt that way. And the acid in my voice now was for both of them. â€Å"You can tell Sam to go right to -â€Å" â€Å"Look at that,† Jacob interrupted me, pointing to an eagle in the act of plummeting down toward the ocean from an incredible height. It checked itself at the last minute, only its talons breaking the surface of the waves, just for an instant. Then it flapped away, its wings straining against the load of the huge fish it had snagged. â€Å"You see it everywhere,† Jacob said, his voice suddenly distant. â€Å"Nature taking its course – hunter and prey, the endless cycle of life and death.† I didn't understand the point of the nature lecture; I guessed that he was just trying to change the subject. But then he looked down at me with dark humor in his eyes. â€Å"And yet, you don't see the fish trying to plant a kiss on the eagle. You never see that.† He grinned a mocking grin. I grinned back tightly, though the acid taste was still in my mouth. â€Å"Maybe the fish was trying,† I suggested. â€Å"It's hard to tell what a fish is thinking. Eagles are good-looking birds, you know.† â€Å"Is that what it comes down to?† His voice was abruptly sharper. â€Å"Good looks?† â€Å"Don't be stupid, Jacob.† â€Å"Is it the money, then?† he persisted. â€Å"That's nice,† I muttered, getting up from the tree. â€Å"I'm flattered that you think so much of me.† I turned my back on him and paced away. â€Å"Aw, don't get mad.† He was right behind me; he caught my wrist and spun me around. â€Å"I'm serious! I'm trying to understand here, and I'm coming up blank.† His eyebrows pushed together angrily, and his eyes were black in their deep shadow. â€Å"I love him. Not because he's beautiful or because he's rich!† I spat the word at Jacob. â€Å"I'd much rather he weren't either one. It would even out the gap between us just a little bit – because he'd still be the most loving and unselfish and brilliant and decent person I've ever met. Of course I love him. How hard is that to understand?† â€Å"It's impossible to understand.† â€Å"Please enlighten me, then, Jacob.† I let the sarcasm flow thick. â€Å"What is a valid reason for someone to love someone else? Since apparently I'm doing it wrong.† â€Å"I think the best place to start would be to look within your own species. That usually works.† â€Å"Well, that just sucks!† I snapped. â€Å"I guess I'm stuck with Mike Newton after all.† Jacob flinched back and bit his lip. I could see that my words had hurt him, but I was too mad to feel bad about that yet. He dropped my wrist and folded his arms across his chest, turning from me to glare toward the ocean. â€Å"I'm human,† he muttered, his voice almost inaudible. â€Å"You're not as human as Mike,† I continued ruthlessly. â€Å"Do you still think that's the most important consideration?† â€Å"It's not the same thing.† Jacob didn't look away from the gray waves. â€Å"I didn't choose this.† I laughed once in disbelief. â€Å"Do you think Edward did? He didn't know what was happening to him any more than you did. He didn't exactly sign up for this.† Jacob was shaking his head back and forth with a small, quick movement. â€Å"You know, Jacob, you're awfully self-righteous – considering that you're a werewolf and all.† â€Å"It's not the same,† Jacob repeated, glowering at me. â€Å"I don't see why not. You could be a bit more understanding about the Cullens. You have no idea how truly good they are – to the core, Jacob.† He frowned more deeply. â€Å"They shouldn't exist. Their existence goes against nature.† I stared at him for a long moment with one eyebrow raised incredulously. It was a while before he noticed. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Speaking of unnatural . . . ,† I hinted. â€Å"Bella,† he said, his voice slow and different. Aged. I realized that he sounded suddenly older than me – like a parent or a teacher. â€Å"What I am was born in me. It's a part of who I am, who my family is, who we all are as a tribe – it's the reason why we're still here. â€Å"Besides that† – he looked down at me, his black eyes unreadable – â€Å"I am stillhuman.† He picked up my hand and pressed it to his fever-warm chest. Through his t-shirt, I could feel the steady beating of his heart under my palm. â€Å"Normal humans can't throw motorcycles around the way you can.† He smiled a faint, half-smile. â€Å"Normal humans run away from monsters, Bella. And I never claimed to be normal. Just human.† Staying angry with Jacob was too much work. I started to smile as I pulled my hand away from his chest. â€Å"You look plenty human to me,† I allowed. â€Å"At the moment.† â€Å"I feel human.† He stared past me, his face far away. His lower lip trembled, and he bit down on it hard. â€Å"Oh, Jake,† I whispered, reaching for his hand. This was why I was here. This was why I would take whatever reception waited for me when I got back. Because, underneath all the anger and the sarcasm, Jacob was in pain. Right now, it was very clear in his eyes. I didn't know how to help him, but I knew I had to try. It was more than that I owed him. It was because his pain hurt me, too. Jacob had become a part of me, and there was no changing that now.

Home Theater Systems

The development of in-home theater surround sound speakers has evolved drastically in the past decade, turning people's generic living areas into replicas of movie theaters. Home theater systems were initially four-channel audio systems created originally by Dolby Digital Surround systems.With the increase in technological advancements throughout the past decade, Dolby Digital has released ts highest speaker system of seven-channels. At first, during the early 50's and 60's the movie industry found that the more channels of sound that was added, the higher enjoyment and response was given back by the audience. Therefore, as a result speakers were added behind the audience for the surrounding sounds and the left and right speakers were then used for the music. The invention of the home theater system generally relates to the reproduction of stereophonic sound.More particularly to the reproduction of the stereophonic sound associated with a video image of some sort. Images and sounds a re reproduced so hat dialog is localized to the video image and ambience or surrounding sound effects are reproduced in a manner that immerses the listener or consumer in realistic or three-dimensional sound field. In previous attempts to reproduce these sounds, numerous monophonic and stereophonic sound systems have been developed in an attempt to achieve reliable sound reproduction. 1] Monophonic audio refers to the reproduction of sound through only one channel. When using monophonic audio you cannot tell which direction the sound was produced.

Offshore structures Essay

A well structure situated at the sea, some distance from the shore is known as an offshore well. This well is normally drilled at the seabed using specially designed drilling equipments and different drilling techniques are used. What are deviated wells, doglegs? A deviated well is a horizontal well drilled at an angle usually greater than 80 degrees to the vertical. It involves drilling horizontal and slant-hole wells which enhance better intersection of vertical structures in tight formations. Deviated well is essential since it prevents the fracture of vertical lines, which enhance the permeability of natural gas much higher than the unfractured rock. They increase production rate and minimize cost of ecological damage. Deviated wells can be grouped as unintentionally deviated and intentionally deviated. Unintentionally deviated implies that the well lies on a vertical or near a vertical plane. A dogleg is a sharp deviation or bend in a well’s direction or inclination. They are characterized by being abrupt, decreasing or increasing, excessive long and permissible. It can also referred to as an elbow . . Include a section on offshore well structure /design explaining how it is designed Offshore well structures are designed to bear up all foreseeable conditions which may be weather related as well as environmental loading factors such as earthquake induced loads. Accidental loads such as collisions, fires and explosions are also considered when designing a well structure . In designing this, a floating offshore structure which is polygon shaped and used for drilling or production purpose is used. It contains apertures on its sides meant for reducing the movement of the structure as a result of undersea currents. The structure further consists of a production platform extending above the water surface, and a series of buoyancy tanks which provide the structure with the ability to float. Apertures, surrounded by coamings, is located on each side of the structure to allow ocean currents to flow laterally through the center of the structure. It also makes it possible and easy for oil and gas can dissipate from the center of the structure if a rupture occurs. A fluid retention tank and ballast in the structure lowers the center of gravity of the structure and make it more stable, and a centerwell running through the longitudinal center of the structure allows one or more risers to run from the ocean floor to the operating platform. The structure can then be moored to the sea floor through the use of a catenary mooring system. . Bibliography Chow F I (Houston, TX), Freedman G W (Kingwood, TX), Kemper J H (The Woodlands, TX), Devlin P V (Pearland, TX), Polygon floating offshore structure, 1999, retrieved 23 August 2008, Graff W, J, Introduction to offshore structures: Design, Fabrication, Installation. Gulf publication company, 1981, ISBN 0872016943 Lyons W,C , Standard Handbook on Petroleum Gas Engineering. Gulf Professional publishing, 2005, ISBN 0750677856 Wilson H,W, Applied Science and Technology Index. H. W Wilson Co. publishers, 2006