Innovation and Regulation of Information and Communication Coursework

Innovation and Regulation of Information and Communication Technologies - Coursework Example However, the existing participants into the marketplace who are planning to offer a telephony or telephony supported VoIP product have confirmed that the present regulatory arrangements could not be convinced under the provisioning measures they have been capable to put into practice (Australian Communications Authority, 2004). In addition, the Voice over Internet Protocol services was also largely reached in approximately 57 nations, even the nations where there was no clear regulatory structure or licensing procedures for VoIP. Additionally, till mid-2009, the number of nations where Voice over Internet Protocol services were accepted had increased to two-thirds, with 92 nations allowed VoIP and more than 39 nations standing it. In the meantime, the number of nations where VoIP was not allowed or banned minimized from 80 in year 2004 to 49 in year 2009, or in relation to a quarter of the entire nations for which data exist. From this discussion it is clear that the greatest regulat ory challenge is to encourage the expansion of a marketplace for less costly VoIP services, as compared to the immediately leaving VoIP to build up of its own accord. Moreover, in several nations like Australia, the size of the Voice over Internet Protocol services marketplace is a main fear for the regulators that regularly monitors as well as publish marketplace data estimates (Biggs, 2011). This paper discusses various regulatory problems that are raised due to the growth of Voice over Internet Protocol services. In this research I will outline some of the major areas to make regulatory decisions that can affect the economic prospects of different kinds of service provider in the communications area. This paper will also present a discussion of the regulatory aims and strategies that could form the basis of possible decisions in this area. Regulatory framework This section presents the basic analysis of the regulatory framework for the Voice over Internet Protocol services. The r egulation of carriage services holds a broad variety of services as well as an STS is an explicit kind of carriage service. In this scenario, the Telecommunications Act 1997 offers a detailed description of the carriage service according to which it is a type of services for carrying out communication services using unguided or/and guided electromagnetic energy. Additionally, if the communication carriage services are provided in Australia then these services will be covered by this Act. According to which an individual or a firm offering a carriage service to somebody ‘beyond the instant circle’ of the supplier is acknowledged as a carriage service source. In addition, there exist a vast variety of laws and regulations which apply on different classifications of services such as carriage services and their suppliers as carriage service providers. However, there are some regulations which are applied to all the types of carriage services, comprising VoIP services, inclu de: (Australian Communications Authority, 2004) Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997 must be followed Offer number associated information to the IPND (Integrated Public Number database) manager intended for directory use as well as to forward calls to the emergency operator Safety of the privacy of communications Offer an interception potential as well as an interception facility plan to the related agencies. Moreover, the commitment of carriage servic

Gentrification Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gentrification - Essay Example What is Gentrification? Through researching this phenomenon, one discovers that there is no finite definition of the term. The term was coined in 1964 by sociologist Ruth Glass when she used examples of London Districts as illustrations to define what the term meant: One by one, many of the working quarters of London have been invaded by the middle-class upper and lower. Shabby modest mews and cottages-two rooms up an two rooms down-have taken over, when their leases have expired, and become elegant, expensive residences [†¦] once this process of gentrification starts in a district it goes on rapidly until all or most of the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character is changed. In the Encyclopedia of Housing it is defined as â€Å"the process by which central urban neighborhoods that have undergone disinvestments and economic decline experience a reversal, reinvestments, and the in-migration of relatively well off, middle and upper middle class popula tion† (Smith) Then Hammel and Wyly difine gentrification as â€Å"the replacement of low-income, inner-city working class residents by middle-or upper –class households, either through the market for existing housing or demolition to make way for new up-scale housing construction: (Hammel) And the United States Department of Housing and Urban development defines gentrification as â€Å"the process by which a neighborhood occupied by low-income households undergo revitalization or reinvestment through the arrival of upper-income households†.... predominant common thread and motivation point to, (3) influx or the relatively affluent or gentry and (4) an increase in investment. Friedmann who lays down a hypothetical framework on which to build a study of global cities, used one of his components to his seven part theory the emergence of a bifurcated (to divide into two branches) service industry in major cities, which is composed of on the one hand, a high percentage of professionals specialized in control functions and, on the other, a vast army of low-skilled workers engaged inpersonal services[that] cater to the privileged classes for those whose sake the city primarily exists. (Friedmann) In Amsterdam social cleansing seems to be the appropriate name for deliberate policies aimed at removing a section of the population-a criminal underclass, or those with low-incomes. It is often inspired by a belief that a city (and its administration) has failed, if such people live there. The emergence of active policies to change the population mix in an entire city is related to the neoliberal idea that cities are a sort of business, competing in a global market of cities, and that successful cities have successful inhabitants. Unlike gentrification, Social cleansing is always government initiated. However, in Amsterdam, it is difficult to discern the difference between the two in either stated purpose or actual implementation. Low income bans in Amsterdam is a legal instrument. The first phase of gentrification in Amsterdam is where art and culture areprominent-the first art gallery in a working class neighborhood is a classic sign of

MEL and Analogues: Structures and Properties

MEL and Analogues: Structures and Properties CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Melamine MEL is an organic compound which had been closely associated with milk adulterant scandal between the year 2007 and 2008. Having a chemical formula of C3H6N6, makes it a nitrogen rich compound, thus giving the false impression of real protein content (Y.-N. Wu, Zhao, Li, 2009). Manufacturing companies who bought raw milk for further production usually carry out protein tests by monitoring the nitrogen levels. MEL can be hydrolysed to ammelide, ammeline and CYA, the derivatives are many produce for the synthesis of formaldehyde resin in the manufacturing of plastics, kitchenware or laminates (Y. Wu Zhang, 2013). CYA commonly used as a bleaching component in swimming pools. MEL and CYA are soluble in water, however when the two combined they will form a MEL and CYA complex which is an insoluble crystal through cross linking hydrogen bonding network (Mukherjee Ren, 2010). 2.1.1 Structures and properties of MEL and analogues The triazine derivative, MEL has three reactive amine groups (-NH2) and one aromatic s-triazine ring or 1,3,5-triazine ring. Replacing the amine groups (-NH2) with hydroxyl group (-OH) through hydrolysis or metabolism by microorganism will form analogues as ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009). Figure 2.1 Structure of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009) Physical properties of MEL and its analogues are shown in Table 2.1. MEL has an appearance in form of white powder with a melting point of 354oC. This shows that MEL is thermally stable and explains that it is often used as fire retardant. Furthermore, MEL is sparingly soluble in either acidic pH or polar organic solvent such as acetone or ethanol, due to like-dissolve-like interaction of polar compound MEL. On the contrary, MEL would be insoluble in non-polar solvents such as benzene or hexane (EFSA, 2010). Ammeline on the other hand is a white powder that decomposes prior to melting. It possesses weak acidic properties and is soluble in both mineral acid and alkaline solutions. Ammelide is also a form of white powder that is almost insoluble in water. It decomposes at temperatures range of 170oC to form carbon dioxide and ammonia. The crystal complex of MEL and CYA is very stable at only hydrolyses at either very low or high pH. Basically the complex crystal compound are insoluble at pH below 5.0, which is mostly occurred in the urinary tract (Tolleson, Diachenko, Heller, 2008). Table 2.1 Physical properties of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA (Kim, 2009) 2.2 MEL and analogues toxicity The toxic effects of MEL ingestion are closely linked with high dosage and low dosage of MEL would not be as toxic that will cause any adverse effect to human health. However, having said that, non toxic does not necessarily mean that it is safe for consumption. On December 2008, the US FDA recommends a TDI for MEL was 0.63 mg kg-1 body weight per day for food and other food ingredients excluding infant milk formula (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). This meant 100 kg person can be subjected to a tolerable amount of 60 mg MEL. Infant formula are given a closer monitoring because it is a primary source of nutrient and calorie for infants, plus kidney functions in infant are still premature. Therefore the FDA has set a limit of 1  µg mL-1 for MEL in infant formula (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). Different countries apply different limit of the TDI, for instance EFSA recommended a TDI of 0.5 mg kg-1 of body weight per day. Whereas Health Canada revealed the risk assessment of MEL-contaminated milk and milk based product to be 0.35 mg kg-1 body weight per day (WHO, 2008). Over Southeast Asia, the Malaysian Ministry of Health has set the maximum levels of MEL in baby and adult food product to be 1.0 mg kg-1, 2.5 mg kg-1 respectively (Y. Wu Zhang, 2013). This incident cause the FDA, European community and other countries to introduce a standard limit for MEL in infant formula and in other milk products to be at 1 ppm and 2.5 ppm, respectively. WHO established the TDI for MEL at 0.2 mg kg-1 (Sun et al., 2010). 2.2.1 Toxicity in animals and humans The data available on the dangers and chronic human exposure to MEL are limited, therefore the information on MEL toxin are extrapolated from animal data. MEL and CYA are considered as low toxin due to their large median LD50. For MEL in rats, the LD50 ranges from 3.1 g kg ­-1 to 6.4 g kg-1 and from 3.2 g kg-1 up to 7.0 g kg-1 in mice. Whilst for CYA, the estimated LD50 are 7.7 g kg-1 in rats and 3.4 g kg-1 in mice (Skinner et al., 2010). The study on the toxicity of MEL and CYA focuses on the urinary system for both humans and animals. The experimental studies on the effects of MEL on kidney in humans are unavailable. Nonetheless, consistent observation was made during the experiment with animals on the effects of MEL is bladder stones. The same result was reported with a following exposure to CYA, and that is formation of some bladder stones. Inflammatory reaction was observed in the rats and mice urinary bladder after dietary exposure to MEL. This indicates as one of the main effects of the toxic of MEL (Bingham et al., 2001). In general death cause by MEL are relatively low in human but there is a high rate of stones formation. In the height of the MEL food scandal, there are many deaths of pets animals in USA, Canada and South Africa due to kidney failure. Later the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) found that the number of deaths due to MEL and CYA contaminated pet feed was in the range of 2000 to 7000 (Puschner and Reimschuessel, 2011). In 2008 there were high detection of MEL in infant formula and other milk product and surely enough this resulted in severe health effects amongst infant and young children. As much as 294,000 were diagnosed with urinary tract stones and at least 50,000 were hospitalised. Six children were confirmed dead cause of kidney failures (Dorne et al., 2013). After this incident strict rules and regulation was implemented, and lots of method was developed in order to get a rapid and sensitive detection of MEL. 2.3 Analysis of MEL It is important to have rapid, widely available, cost effective methods for detecting MEL in various samples. Few of the advance analytical methods for detection of MEL are High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Liquid Chromatography with Mass spectroscopy (LC-MS), LC with tandem (LC-MS2) and Gas Chromatography with MS (GC-MS). Sample preparation required prior to instrumental analysis, this is because the sample in question are high in protein and carbohydrates content which would hinder MEL detection. Therefore effective extraction methods is necessary, by removing other constituents in the matrix would mean lower limit of detection (LODs) can be achieved. Due to the polarity MEL compound it is best to extract it using SPE with a polar cartridge. The most common SPE tubes used for the separation of MEL is Supelco Discovery DSC-SCX 500 mg/6 ml (Sigma-Aldrich, n.d.). Before the SPE methods are applied it is best to precipitate out the protein by adding acetonitrile which acts as a protein precipitant and then centrifuge (Mosch, Kiranoglu, Fromme, Và ¶lkel, 2010). 2.3.1 Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) GC-MS is often used to detect MEL and its analogs for quantification and confirmation. It was reported that it is a sensitive, reliable instrumental analytical method for the simultaneous detection and quantification of MEL in animal feed. However, it requires a tedious sample preparation which renders the methodology impractical for analysing large samples (Venkatasami Sowa, 2010). 2.3.2 High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) HPLC is known as common method for quantitative determination of MEL. It can carry out simultaneous detection of MEL, ammeline, ammelide and CYA with LOD of 5 ppm. By current standards, this method of analysis does not show great sensitivity in detection of MEL. This is because UV of MEL exhibits absorption bands below 250 nm which meant that HPLC method will not be able to confirm the target analyte (Sun et al., 2010). Quantification error can occur if insufficient attention is given to chromatographic conditions or if sample preparation is not optimised. To increase sensitivity investigators used DAD system of detection, this gives improvement in term of better LOD of 0.1 ppm using HPLC-DAD (Sun et al., 2010). It is difficult to retain MEL on a reverse phase column due to it high polarity, so to compensate for this problem hydrophilic interaction chromatography technique is used (Han et al., 2011). Figure 2.3.2 Retention time of melamine standards using HILIC-UV (Zheng, Yu, Li, Dai, 2012) 2.3.3 Liquid Chromatography with Mass Spectroscopy (LC-MS) and tandem Mass spectroscopy (LC-MS2) MS techniques are widely used for the determination of contaminants of MEL, because it shows molecular specificity and high sensitivity of detection. This means a MEL AND CYA having fairly low LOD 30 ppb and LOQ 40 ppb in serum sample. Mostly the method based on LC-MS2 with HILIC and ESI is positive ion mode. Positive ion mode is chosen because of the presence of nitrogen in the compound. The past researcher used two selected reaction monitoring (SRM) transitions of m/z 127 till 85 and 127 till 68 were monitored, figure 2.3.3. By applying these ion transitions for SRM allows quantitative and qualitative analysis of MEL residues at an LOD of 3.2 ppb (Sun et al., 2010). Figure 2.3.3 The positive ion electrospray full scan mass spectrum (bottom) and product ion spectra (top) of melamine, acquired by infusion of 0.5 g mL -1 standard solution (Sancho, Ibà ¡Ãƒ ±ez, Grimalt, Pozo, Hernà ¡ndez, 2005). 2.4 Optimization of buffer pH MEL is a weak alkaline compound that can hydrolyze in strong acid or alkali solutions. MEL extraction can be carried out in neutral, acidic and alkali conditions, but acidic pH lower than 3 and neutral extraction conditions are most common for food. Neutral extraction can be carried out using acetonitrile-water or methanol-water. Factors of affecting retention of melamine were explored, including buffer concentration, pH, and percentage of organic solvent in the mobile phase. The optimal UV detection wavelength was selected. Satisfactory retention of melamine, good peak shape, and high sensitivity were obtained under the chosen conditions. Tables 2.4 Effects of pH on melamine retention time

William Butler Yeats :: Biography

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 13, 1865. He was the eldest son of a painter. In 1867 his family moved to London, but he frequently visited his grandparents in Northern Ireland. There he was greatly influenced by the folklore of the region. In 1881 his family returned to Dublin. Their Yeats studied at the Metropolitan School of Art. During school he became more focused on literature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yeats made his debut in 1885, with the publication of his first poems in The Dublin University Review. In 1887, his family returned to Bedford Park in London, and Yeats devoted himself to writing. In 1889 he met Maud Gonne, an actress and Irish revolutionary. He soon fell in love with her and she became a major landmark in his writing. She later married Major John MacBride and inspired Yeats's poem 'No Second Troy'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Yeats's early work did not reflect his Irish heritage but soon he turned towards his Irish culture for inspiration. Yeats studied many Irish folktales and in 1888 published a book of tales titled Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry. He also published a less detailed version for children titled Irish Fairy Tales in 1892.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1897, Yeats's met Lady Gregory, an aristocrat and playwright, who shared the same interest in Ireland's past. In 1899 they formed the Irish Literary Theater. Yeats worked as a director and writer for the theater. Some of his most famous dramas were CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN and THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yeats later proposed to Lady Gregory, but she refused his offer. Again in the same year he proposed to her daughter but she also declined. Lady Gregory's passion for a free Ireland kindled Yeats's interest in the political struggles of Ireland.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1917, Yeats bought an old stone tower near Coole Park. After he restored the tower it became his summer home and a symbol in his writing. Also in 1917,Yeats married Georgie Hyde-Lee. Later they had a son and a daughter together, Anne and Michael. During their honeymoon they compiled their notebooks and formed the basis of A VISION.

A Dirty Job Chapter 18

18 YO MOMMA SO DEAD THAT†¦ On her last day, Lois Asher rallied. After not having even been able to get up to go to the breakfast table, or into the living room to sit and watch TV for three weeks, got up and danced with Buddy to an old Ink Spots song. She was playful and full of laughter, she teased her children and hugged them, she ate a chocolate-marshmallow sundae, and she brushed and flossed afterward. She put on her favorite silver jewelry and wore it to the dinner table, and when she couldn't find her squash-blossom necklace she shrugged it off like it was a minor thing – she must have misplaced it. Oh, well. Charlie knew what was happening because he had seen it before, and Buddy and Jane knew because Grace, the hospice nurse, explained it to them. â€Å"It happens again and again. I've seen people come out of a coma and sing their favorite songs, and all I can tell you is to enjoy it. People see the light come back into eyes that have been dull for months, and they start to place hope on it. It's not a sign of getting well, it's an opportunity to say good-bye. It's a gift.† Charlie had also learned by observing that it really helped everyone to let go if they were at least mildly medicated, so he and Jane took some antianxiety pills that Jane's therapist had prescribed and Buddy washed down a time-released morphine pill with some scotch. Medication and forgiveness can make for joyous moments with the dying – it's like they get to return to childhood – and because nothing in the future matters, because you don't have to train them for life, teach lessons, forge applicable and practical memories, all the joy can be wicked from those last moments and stored in the heart. It was the best and closest time Charlie had ever had with his mother and his sister, and Buddy, in the sharing, became family as well. Lois Asher went to bed at nine and died at midnight. I can't stay for the funeral,† Charlie said to his sister the next morning. â€Å"What do you mean you can't stay for the funeral?† Charlie looked out the window at the giant ice pick of a shadow that had made its way down the mountain toward his mother's house. Charlie could see it churning at the edges, like flocks of birds or swarming insects. The point was less than a half mile away. â€Å"I have something I have to do at home, Jane. I mean, I forgot to do it and I really, really can't stay.† â€Å"Don't be mysterious. What the hell do you need to do that you can't attend your own mother's funeral?† Charlie was pressing his Beta Male imagination to the breaking point to come up with something credible on the spot. Then a light went on. â€Å"The other night, when you sent me out to get laid?† â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Well, it was an adventure, to be sure, but when I went to get my scalp sewed up, I also had a test. I talked to the doctor today, and I have to go get treatment. Right now.† â€Å"You moron, I didn't send you out to have unsafe sex. What were you thinking?† â€Å"It was safe sex.† Right, sure, he thought, he almost scoffed at himself. â€Å"It's the wounds they're worried about. But if I get on these drugs right away, there's a good chance that I'll be okay.† â€Å"They're putting you on the cocktail? As a preventative?† Sure, that's it, the cocktail! Charlie thought. He nodded gravely. â€Å"Okay, then, go.† Jane turned and hid her face. â€Å"Maybe I can get back in time for the funeral,† Charlie said. Could he? He had to retrieve two overdue soul vessels in less than a week, and hope that no new names had appeared in his date book. â€Å"We'll do it a week from today,† Jane said, turning back around, tears blinked away. â€Å"You go home, get treated, come back. Buddy and I will handle the arrangements.† â€Å"I'm sorry,† Charlie said. He put his arms around his sister. â€Å"Don't you die on me, too, you fucker,† Jane said. â€Å"I'll be fine. I'll be back as soon as I can.† â€Å"Bring back that charcoal Armani of yours for me to wear to the funeral, and Cassie's strappy black pumps, okay?† â€Å"You? In strappy black pumps?† â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted,† Jane said. When Charlie landed in San Francisco there were four frantic messages on his cell phone from Cassandra. She had always seemed so calm, composed – a stable counterpoint to his sister's flights of fancy. She sounded a wreck on the phone. â€Å"Charlie, she's got him trapped and they're going to eat him and I don't know what to do. I don't want to call the cops. Call me when you land.† Charlie did call, all the way into the city in the shuttle van he called, but kept getting transferred to voice messaging. When he got out of the van in front of his store he heard a hiss coming out of the storm drain at the corner. â€Å"I missed finishing with you, lover,† came the voice. â€Å"No time,† Charlie said, hopping over the curb and running into the store. â€Å"You never called,† purred the Morrigan. Ray was behind the counter mousing through Asian cuties when Charlie came storming through. â€Å"You'd better get upstairs,† Ray said. â€Å"They're freaking out up there.† â€Å"No kidding,† Charlie said as he passed. He took the stairs two at a time. He was fumbling his key into the lock when Cassandra threw the door open and pulled him into his apartment. â€Å"She won't let him go. I'm afraid they're going to eat him.† â€Å"Who, what? That's what you said on my voice mail. Where is Sophie?† Cassandra dragged him to Sophie's room, where he was met in the doorway by a growling Mohammed. â€Å"Daddy!† Sophie shrieked. She ran across the room and leapt into his arms. She gave him a big hug and a sloppy kiss that left a chocolate Sophie-print on his cheek. â€Å"Down,† she said. â€Å"Down, down.† Charlie put her down and she ran back into her room, but Mohammed prevented Charlie from entering, pushed his nose into Charlie's shirt, leaving a giant dog-nose print in chocolate. Evidently there had been a chocolate orgy going on in his absence. â€Å"His mother is supposed to pick him up at one,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I don't know what to do.† Charlie strained to see around the hellhound and saw Sophie standing with her hand on Alvin's collar while he menaced a little boy who was crouched in the corner. The little boy was a little wide-eyed, but otherwise unhurt, and he didn't seem that frightened. In fact, he was hugging a box of Crunchy Cheese Newts, and was eating one, then feeding the next one to Alvin, who was dripping hellish dog drool onto the kid's shoes in anticipation of the next newt. â€Å"I love him,† Sophie said. She went to the little boy and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a chocolate smear. Not the first. It appeared that this little guy had been suffering Sophie's affections for quite some time, for he was covered with chocolaty goodness and orange Cheese-Newt dust. â€Å"I want to keep him.† The little boy grinned. â€Å"He came over for a playdate. I guess you scheduled it before you left,† Cassandra said. â€Å"I thought it would be okay. I tried to get him out of there, but the dogs won't let me by. What are we going to tell his mother?† â€Å"I want to keep him,† Sophie said. Big kiss. â€Å"His name is Matthew,† Cassie said. â€Å"I know his name. He goes to Sophie's school.† Charlie started into the room. Mohammed blocked the doorway. â€Å"Matty, are you all right?† Charlie said. â€Å"Uh-huh,† said the chocolate-, cheese-, and dog-drool-sodden kid. â€Å"I want him to stay, Dad,† Sophie said. â€Å"Alvin and Mohammed want him to stay, too.† Charlie thought that perhaps he had not been strict enough in setting limits for his daughter. Maybe after losing her mother, he just hadn't had the heart to say no to her, and now she was taking hostages. â€Å"Honey, Matty has to get cleaned up. His mommy is coming to get him so he can go be traumatized in his own house.† â€Å"No! He's mine.† â€Å"Honey, tell Mohammed to let me in. If we don't get Matty cleaned up, he won't be able to come back.† â€Å"He can sleep in your room,† Sophie said. â€Å"I'll take care of him.† â€Å"No, young lady, you tell Mohammed to get – â€Å" â€Å"I have to pee,† Matthew said. He climbed to his feet and skipped by Alvin, who followed him, then under Mohammed and past Charlie and Cassandra to the bathroom. â€Å"Hi,† he said as he went by. He closed the door and they could hear the sound of tinkle. Alvin and Mohammed bullied their way through the doorway and waited outside the bathroom. Sophie sat down hard, her feet splayed out, her lower lip pushed out like the cowcatcher on a steam engine. Her shoulders started heaving before he could hear the sob – like she was saving up breath – then the wailing and the tears. Charlie went to her and picked her up. â€Å"I?CI – I?CI, he – he – he – he – â€Å" â€Å"It's okay, honey. It's okay.† â€Å"But I love him.† â€Å"I know you do, honey. It'll be okay. He'll go to his house and you can still love him.† â€Å"Noooooooooooooooooooooo – â€Å" She buried her face in his jacket, and as much as his heart was breaking for his daughter, he was also thinking about how much Three Fingered Wu was going to ding him for getting the chocolate stain out of his jacket. â€Å"They just let him go pee,† Cassandra said, staring at the hellhounds. â€Å"Just like that. I thought they were going to eat him. They wouldn't let me near him.† â€Å"It's okay,† Charlie said. â€Å"You didn't know.† â€Å"Know what?† â€Å"They love the Crunchy Cheese Newts.† â€Å"You're kidding?† â€Å"Sorry. Look, Cassie, can you clean up Sophie and Matty and take care of this? I have some stuff in my date book I have to take care of right away.† â€Å"Sure, but – â€Å" â€Å"Sophie will be fine. Won't you, honey?† Sophie nodded sadly and wiped her eyes on his coat. â€Å"I missed you, Daddy.† â€Å"I missed you, too, sweetie. I'll be home tonight.† He kissed her, got his date book from the bedroom, and ran around the apartment collecting his keys, cane, hat, and man purse. â€Å"Thanks, Cassie. You have no idea how grateful I am.† â€Å"Sorry about your mother, Charlie,† Cassandra said as he passed. â€Å"Yeah, thanks,† Charlie said, quickly checking the edge of the sword in his cane as he went by. â€Å"Charlie, your life is out of control,† Cassandra said, now slipping back into the unflappable persona that they were all used to. â€Å"Okay, I'll need to borrow your strappy black pumps, too,† Charlie said as he headed out the door. â€Å"I think I've made my point,† Cassie called after him. Ray stopped Charlie at the bottom of the stairs. â€Å"You got a minute, boss?† â€Å"Not really, Ray. I'm in a hurry.† â€Å"Well, I just wanted to apologize.† â€Å"For what?† â€Å"Well, it seems silly now, but I kind of suspected you of being a serial killer.† Charlie nodded as if he were considering the grave consequences of Ray's confession, when, in fact, he was trying to remember if there was any gas in the van. â€Å"Well, Ray, I accept your apology, and I'm sorry I ever gave you that impression.† â€Å"I think all those years on the force made me suspicious, but Inspector Rivera stopped by and set me straight.† â€Å"He did, did he? What exactly did he say?† â€Å"He said that you had been checking some stuff out for him, getting into places he couldn't get without a warrant and so forth, stuff that you'd both get in a lot of trouble for if anyone found out, but was helping to put the bad guys away. He said that's why you're so secretive.† â€Å"Yes,† Charlie said solemnly, â€Å"I have been fighting crime in my spare time, Ray. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you.† â€Å"I understand,† Ray said, backing away from the stairway. â€Å"Again, I'm sorry. I feel like a traitor.† â€Å"It's okay, Ray. But I really have to go. You know, fighting the Forces of Darkness and all.† Charlie held his cane out as if it were a sword and he was charging into action, which, bizarrely, it was and he was. Charlie had six days to retrieve three soul vessels if he was going to get caught up before he returned to Arizona for his mother's funeral. Two, the names that had appeared in his date book the same day as Madison McKerny were seriously overdue. The last had appeared in the book only a couple of days ago, when he was in Arizona – yet it was in his own handwriting. He'd always thought that he had been doing some kind of sleep writing, but now, this was a whole new twist. He promised himself he would freak out about it as soon as he had some time. Meanwhile, with the near-death hand job and the dead-mom thing, he hadn't even done the preliminary research on the first of the two, Esther Johnson and Irena Posokovanovich, and both were now past their pickup date – one by three days. What if the sewer harpies had already gotten there? As strong as they'd become already, he didn't even want to think about what they could do if they got hold of another soul. He considered calling Rivera to watch his back when he went to the house, but what would he say he was doing? The sharp-faced cop knew there was something supernatural going on, and he'd taken Charlie's word that he was one of the good guys (not a hard sell when he'd seen the sewer harpy driving a three-inch claw up his nostril only to survive nine rounds of 9 mm in the torso and still fly away). Charlie was driving with no destination, heading into Pacific Heights just because the traffic was lighter in that direction. He pulled over to the curb and called information. â€Å"I need a number and address for an Esther Johnson.† â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson, sir, but I have three E. Johnsons.† â€Å"Can you give me the addresses?† She gave him the two who had addresses. A recording offered to dial the number for him for an additional charge of fifty cents. â€Å"Yeah, how much to drive me there?† Charlie asked the computer voice. Then he hung up and dialed the E. Johnson with no address. â€Å"Hi, could I speak with Esther Johnson,† Charlie said cheerfully. â€Å"There's no Esther Johnson here,† said a man's voice. â€Å"I'm afraid you have the wrong number.† â€Å"Wait. Was there an Esther Johnson there, until maybe three days ago?† Charlie asked. â€Å"I saw the E. Johnson in the phone book.† â€Å"That's me,† said the man, â€Å"I'm Ed Johnson.† â€Å"Sorry to bother you, Mr. Johnson.† Charlie disconnected and dialed the next E. Johnson. â€Å"Hello,† a woman's voice. â€Å"Hi, could I speak to Esther Johnson, please?† A deep breath. â€Å"Who is calling?† Charlie used a ruse that had worked a dozen times before. â€Å"This is Charlie Asher, of Asher's Secondhand. We've taken in some merchandise that has Esther Johnson's name on it and we wanted to make sure it's not stolen.† â€Å"Well, Mr. Asher, I'm sorry to tell you that my aunt passed away three days ago.† â€Å"Bingo!† Charlie said. â€Å"Pardon?† â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"My associate is playing a scratch-off lotto ticket here in the shop, and he's just won ten thousand dollars.† â€Å"Mr. Asher, this isn't really a good time. Is this merchandise you have valuable?† â€Å"No, just some old clothes.† â€Å"Another time, then?† The woman sounded not so much bereaved as harried. â€Å"If you don't mind.† â€Å"No, I'm sorry for your loss,† Charlie said. He disconnected, checked the address, and headed up toward Golden Gate Park and the Haight. The Haight: mecca for the Free Love movement of the sixties, where the Beat Generation begat the Flower Children, where kids from all over the country had come to tune in, turn on, and drop out – and had kept coming, even as the neighborhood went through alternating waves of renewal and decline. Now, as Charlie drove down Haight Street, amid the head shops, vegetarian restaurants, hippie boutiques, music stores, and coffeehouses, he saw hippies that ranged in age from fifteen to seventy. Grizzled oldsters panhandling or passing out pamphlets, and young, white-Rastafarian dreadlocked teenagers in flowing skirts or hemp drawstring trousers, with shining piercings and vacant pot-blissed stares. He passed brown-toothed crackheads barking at cars as they passed, a spiky holdover here and there from the punk movement, old guys in berets and wayfarers who might have stepped out of a jazz club in 1953. It wasn't so much like the hands of time had stood still here, more like they'd bee n thrown in the air in exasperation, the clock declaring, â€Å"Whatever! I'm outta here.† Esther Johnson's house was just a couple of blocks off Haight, and Charlie was lucky enough to find parking in a twenty-minute green zone nearby. (If the time came that he ever got to talk to someone in charge, he was going to make a case for special parking privileges for Death Merchants, for while it was nice that no one could see him when he was retrieving a soul vessel, some cool Death plates or â€Å"black† parking zones would be even better.) The house was a small bungalow, unusual for this neighborhood, where most everything was three stories tall and painted in whatever color would contrast most with the house next to it. Charlie had taught Sophie her colors here, using grand Victorians as color swatches. â€Å"Orange, Daddy. Orange.† â€Å"Yes, honey, the man barfed up orange. Look at that house, Sophie, it's purple.† The block did have its share of transients, so he knew the doors of the Johnson house would be locked. Ring the bell and try to sneak through, or wait? He really couldn't afford to wait – the sewer harpies had hissed at him from a grate as he approached the house. He rang the bell, then quickstepped to the side. A pretty, dark-haired woman of about thirty, wearing jeans and a peasant blouse, opened the door, looked around, and said, â€Å"Hello, can I help you?† Charlie nearly fell through a window. He looked behind his back, then back at the woman. No, she was looking right at him. â€Å"Yes, you rang the bell?† â€Å"Oh, me? Yes,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm, uh – you meant me, right?† The woman stepped back into the house. â€Å"What can I do for you?† she said, a bit stern now. â€Å"Oh, sorry – Charlie Asher – I own a secondhand store over in North Beach, I just talked to you on the phone, I think.† â€Å"Yes. But I told you that it wasn't important.† â€Å"Right, right, right. You did, but I was in the neighborhood, and I thought, well, I'd just drop by.† â€Å"I got the impression you were calling from your shop. You got all the way across town in five minutes?† â€Å"Oh, right, well, the van is like a mobile shop to me.† â€Å"So the person who won the lotto is with you?† â€Å"Right, no, he quit. I had to kick him out of the van. New money, you know? All full of himself. Will probably buy a big rock of cocaine and a half-dozen hookers and he'll be broke by the weekend. Good riddance, I say.† The woman backed another step into the house and pulled the door partway shut. â€Å"Well, if you have the clothes with you, I suppose I can take a look at them.† â€Å"Clothes?† Charlie couldn't believe she could see him. He was completely screwed now. He'd never get the soul vessel and then – well, he didn't want to think of what would happen then. â€Å"The clothes you said you thought might belong to my aunt. I could look at them.† â€Å"Oh, I don't have those with me.† Now she had the door closed to the point where he could see just one blue eye, the embroidery around the neckline of her blouse, the button on her jeans, and two toes. (She was barefoot.) â€Å"Maybe you'd better check another time. I'm trying to get my aunt's things together, and I'm doing it all by myself, so it's a little hectic. She was in this house for forty-two years. I'm overwhelmed.† â€Å"That's why I'm here,† Charlie said, thinking, What the hell am I talking about? â€Å"I do this all the time, uh, Ms. – â€Å" â€Å"Mrs., actually. Mrs. Elizabeth Sarkoff.† â€Å"Well, Mrs. Sarkoff, I do this sort of thing a lot, and sometimes it can get overwhelming going through the possessions of a loved one, especially if they've been in one place for a long time like your aunt. It helps to have someone who doesn't have an emotional attachment to help sort things out. Plus, I have a pretty good eye for what's valuable and what's not.† Charlie wanted to give himself a high five for coming up with that on the spur of the moment. â€Å"And do you charge for this service?† â€Å"No, no, no, but I may make an offer to buy items you'd like to get rid of, or you can place them in my shop on consignment if you'd prefer.† Elizabeth Sarkoff sighed heavily and hung her head. â€Å"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to take advantage.† â€Å"It would be my pleasure,† he said. Mrs. Sarkoff swung the door wide. â€Å"Thank God you showed up, Mr. Asher. I just spent an hour trying to figure out which set of elephant salt-and-pepper shakers to keep and which to throw away. She has ten pairs! Ten! Please come in.† Charlie sauntered through the door feeling very proud of himself. Six hours later, when he was waist deep in porcelain-cow figurines, and he still hadn't located the soul vessel, he lost all sense of accomplishment. â€Å"So she had a special connection to Holsteins?† Charlie called to Mrs. Sarkoff, who was in the next room, inside a walk-in closet, sorting through yet another huge pile of collectible crap. â€Å"No, I don't think so. Lived her whole life here in the City. I'm not sure if she ever saw a cow outside of those talking ones that sell cheese on TV.† â€Å"Swell,† Charlie said. He'd been through every inch of the house except the closet where Elizabeth Sarkoff was working and he hadn't found the soul vessel. He'd peeked into the closet a couple of times, taking a fast inventory of the contents, and didn't see anything glowing red. He was starting to suspect that either he was too late, and the Underworlders had gotten the soul vessel, or it had been buried with Esther Johnson. He was heading down toward the basement again when his cell phone rang. â€Å"Charlie Asher's phone,† Charlie said. â€Å"Charlie, it's Cassie. Sophie wants to know if you're going to come home in time to tell her a story and tuck her in. I gave her dinner and her bath.† Charlie ran up the stairs and looked out the front windows. It had gotten dark and he hadn't even noticed. â€Å"Crap, Cassie, I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so late. I'm with an estate client. Tell her I'll be home to tuck her in.† â€Å"Okay, I will,† Cassandra said, sounding exhausted. â€Å"And, Charlie, you can clean up the bathroom floor. You've got to do something about those dogs getting in the tub with her. There are drifts of Mr. Bubble suds all over your apartment.† â€Å"They do enjoy their bath.† â€Å"That's cute, Charlie. If I didn't love your sister I'd hire someone to break your legs.† â€Å"My mom just died, Cassie.† â€Å"You're playing the dead-mom card? Now? Charlie Asher, you – â€Å" â€Å"Gotta go,† Charlie said. â€Å"Be home soon.† Charlie pushed the disconnect button four times, then one more time, just to be sure. Cassandra had been such a sweet woman, only days ago. What happened to people? Charlie bounded into the bedroom. â€Å"Mrs. Sarkoff?† â€Å"Yes, still in here,† came a voice from the closet. â€Å"I'm going to have to be going. My daughter needs me.† â€Å"I hope everything is all right.† â€Å"Yes, not an emergency, I've just been gone for a couple of days. Look, if you need any more help – â€Å" â€Å"No, I wouldn't think of it. Why don't you give me a few days to sort things out and I'll bring some items by your shop.† â€Å"I don't mind, really.† Charlie felt silly yelling to someone who was in a closet. â€Å"No, I'll be in touch, I promise.† Charlie couldn't think of any way of pressing the situation right now, and he needed to get home. â€Å"Okay, then. I'll be going.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Asher. You've been a lifesaver.† â€Å"You're welcome. Bye.† Charlie let himself out and the front door locked behind him with a click. He could hear stirring below the street – the rustling of feathers, the distant calls of ravens – as he made his way back to where he had parked his van. And when he got there, of course, it had been towed. When she heard the front door lock, Audrey went to the back of the closet and moved the big cardboard wardrobe box aside to reveal an elderly woman who was sitting calmly in a folding lawn chair, knitting. â€Å"He's gone, Esther. You can come out now.† â€Å"Well, help me up, dear, I think I'm stuck like this,† Esther said. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Audrey said. â€Å"I had no idea he'd stay that long.† â€Å"I don't understand why you let him in in the first place,† Esther said, creaky but on her feet now. â€Å"So he could satisfy his curiosity. See for himself.† â€Å"And where did you get that Elizabeth Sarkoff name?† â€Å"My second-grade teacher. It was the first thing I could think of.† â€Å"Well, I guess you fooled him. I don't know how to thank you.† â€Å"He'll be back. You know that, right?† Audrey said. â€Å"I hope not too soon,† Esther said. â€Å"I really need to visit the powder room.† Where is it, lover?† hissed the Morrigan from the grate on Haight Street, near where Charlie was trying to flag down a cab. â€Å"You're slipping, Meat,† said the hellish chorus. Charlie looked around to see if anyone else had heard, but passersby seemed very intent on their own conversations, or if alone, were staring intently at a point only twelve feet in front of them on the sidewalk, both strategies to avoid eye contact with the panhandlers and crazy people who lined the sidewalk. Not even the crazy people seemed to notice. â€Å"Fuck off,† Charlie said, in a furious whisper at the curb. â€Å"Fucking harpies.† â€Å"Oh, lover, this teasing is so delicious. The little one's blood will be so delicious!† The young homeless guy sitting just down the curb looked up at Charlie. â€Å"Dude, get the clinic to up your lithium and they'll go away. It worked for me.† Charlie nodded and gave the guy a dollar. â€Å"Thanks, I'll look into that.† He'd have to call Jane in Arizona in the morning and find out how far the shadow had moved down the mesa, if it had moved. Why would what he did or didn't do in San Francisco affect what was happening in Sedona? All this time he'd been trying to convince himself that it wasn't about him, and now it appeared that it very much was about him. The Luminatus will rise in the City of Two Bridges, Vern had said. What kind of dependable prophecy can you get from a guy named Vern, anyway? (Come on down to Vern's Discount Prophecy – The Nostradamus with the Low-Price Promise.) It was absurd. He had to keep going forward, doing his part, and doing his best to collect the soul vessels that came to him. And if he didn't, well, the Forces of Darkness would rise and rule over the world. So what. Bring it on, sewer hoes! Big deal. But his inner Beta Male, the gene that had kept his kind alive for three million years, spoke up: Forces of Darkness ruling the world? Okay, that would be bad, it said. She so loved the smell of Pine-Sol,† said the third woman that day to claim to have been Charlie's mother's best friend. The funeral hadn't been so bad, but now there was a potluck in the clubhouse of a nearby gated senior community where Buddy had lived before he moved in with Charlie's mom. The couple had returned there often to play cards and socialize with Buddy's old crew. â€Å"Did you get some sloppy joe?† asked best friend number three. Despite the hundred-degree heat, she wore a pink sweatsuit emblazoned with rhinestone poodles and carried a nervous little black poodle under her arm everywhere she went. The dog licked her potato salad while she was distracted by talking to Charlie. â€Å"I don't know if your mother ever ate sloppy joe. Only thing I ever saw her take in was an old-fashioned. She did enjoy her cocktails.† â€Å"Yes, she did,† Charlie said. â€Å"And I think I'm going to go enjoy one myself, right now.† Charlie had flown into Sedona that morning after spending the night in San Francisco trying to find the two overdue soul vessels. Although he couldn't find a burial notice for Esther Johnson, the pretty brunette woman at her house had told him that she had been interred the day after he'd first gone to the house in the Haight, and he assumed that the soul vessel had been, once again, buried with her. (Was the brunette's name Elizabeth? Of course it was Elizabeth, he was fooling himself to even pretend to forget. Beta Males do not forget the names of pretty women. Charlie could remember the name of the centerfold of the first Playboy he'd ever swiped from the shelves in his dad's shop. He even remembered that her turnoffs were bad breath, mean people, and genocide, and resolved that he would never have, be, or commit any of those things, just in case he ran into her sometime when she was casually sunning her breasts on the hood of a car.) There was no trace of the other woman, Irena P osokovanovich, who was supposed to have died days ago. No notice, no records at hospitals, no one living in her house. It was as if she'd evaporated, and taken her soul vessel with her. He had a couple more weeks to get to the third name in his date book, but he wasn't sure what he was going to have to deal with to get to it. Darkness was rising. Someone beside him said, â€Å"Small talk doesn't really get any smaller than when you've lost a loved one, huh?† Charlie turned toward the voice, surprised to see Vern Glover, diminutive Death Merchant, munching some coleslaw and ranch beans. â€Å"Thanks for coming,† Charlie said automatically. Vern waved off the thanks with his plastic fork. â€Å"You saw the shadow?† Charlie nodded. When he'd gotten to his mother's house this morning, the shadow of the mesa had reached his mother's front yard, and the calls of the carrion birds that churned in its edges were deafening. â€Å"You didn't tell me that no one else could see it. I called my sister from San Francisco to check the progress, but she didn't see anything.† â€Å"Sorry, they can't see it – at least as far as I've ever been able to tell they can't. It was gone for five days. It came back this morning.† â€Å"When I came back?† â€Å"I guess. Did we cause this? Doughnuts and coffee and it's the end of the world?† â€Å"I missed two souls back home,† Charlie said, smiling at a gentleman in burgundy golf wear who held his hand to his heart in sympathy as he passed them. â€Å"Missed? Did the – what did you call them – the sewer harpies get them?† â€Å"Could be,† Charlie said. â€Å"But whatever is happening, it seems to be following me.† â€Å"Sorry,† Vern said. â€Å"I'm glad we talked, though. I don't feel so alone.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"And sorry about your mother,† Vern added quickly. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Hasn't even hit me yet,† Charlie said. â€Å"I guess I'm an orphan.† â€Å"I'll make sure and check out whoever gets her necklace,† Vern said. â€Å"I'll be careful with it.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"You think we have any control over who gets the soul next? I mean really. The Great Big Book says it will move on as it should.† â€Å"I guess,† Vern said. â€Å"Every time I've sold one the glow has gone out right away. If it wasn't the right person, that wouldn't happen, right?† â€Å"Yeah, I guess so,† Charlie said. â€Å"So there is some order to this.† â€Å"You're the expert,† Vern said – then he dropped his fork. â€Å"Who is that? She's so hot.† â€Å"That's my sister,† Charlie said. Jane was coming across the room toward them. She was wearing Charlie's charcoal double-breasted Armani and the strappy black pumps; her platinum hair was lacquered into thirties finger waves, which flowed out from under a small black hat with a veil that covered her face down to her lips, which shone like red Ferraris. To Charlie, she looked, as usual, like the cross between a robot assassin and a Dr. Seuss character, but if he tried to squint past the fact that she was his sister, and a lesbian, and his sister, then he could possibly see how the hair, lips, and sheer linear altitude of her might strike someone as hot. Especially someone like Vern, who would require climbing equipment and oxygen to scale a woman Jane's height. â€Å"Vern, I'd like you to meet my incredibly hot sister, Jane. Jane, this is Vern.† â€Å"Hi, Vern.† Jane took Vern's hand and the Death Merchant winced at her grip. â€Å"Sorry for your loss,† Vern said. â€Å"Thanks,† Jane said. â€Å"Did you know our mother?† â€Å"Vern knew her very well,† Charlie said. â€Å"In fact, it was one of Mom's dying wishes that you let Vern buy you a doughnut. Wasn't it, Vern?† Vern nodded so hard that Charlie thought he could hear vertebrae cracking. â€Å"Her dying wish,† Vern said. Jane didn't move, or say anything. Because her eyes were covered, Charlie couldn't see her expression, but he guessed that she might be trying to burn holes in his aorta with her laser-beam vision. â€Å"You know, Vern, that would be lovely, but could I take a rain check? We just buried my mother and I have some things to go over with my brother.† â€Å"That's fine,† Vern said. â€Å"And it doesn't have to be a doughnut, if you're watching your figure. You know, a salad, coffee, anything.† â€Å"Sure,† Jane said. â€Å"Since it's what Mom wanted. I'll give you a call. Charlie told you I'm a lesbian, though, right?† â€Å"Oh my God,† Vern said. He almost doubled over with excitement before he remembered that he was at a postfuneral potluck and he was openly imagining a mnage trois with the deceased's daughter. â€Å"Sorry,† he squealed. â€Å"See you, Vern,† Charlie said as his sister hustled him toward the kitchen cubicle of the clubhouse. â€Å"I'll e-mail you about that other thing.† As soon as they rounded the corner into the kitchen Jane punched Charlie in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. â€Å"What were you thinking?† Jane hissed. She flipped back her veil so he could see just how pissed off she was, just in case the punch in the breadbasket hadn't conveyed the message. Charlie was gasping and laughing at the same time. â€Å"It's what Mom would have wanted.† â€Å"My mom just died, Charlie.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"But you have no idea what you've just done for that guy in there.† â€Å"Really?† Jane raised an eyebrow. â€Å"He will remember this day always,† Charlie said. â€Å"That guy will never again have a sexual fantasy in which you do not walk through, probably wearing borrowed shoes.† â€Å"And you don't find that creepy?† â€Å"Well, yes, you're my sister, but it's a seminal moment for Vern.† Jane nodded. â€Å"You're a pretty good guy, Charlie, looking out for a tiny stranger like that.† â€Å"Yeah, well, you know – â€Å" â€Å"For an ass bag!† Jane said as she sank a fist into Charlie's solar plexus. Strangely, as he gasped for breath, Charlie felt that wherever his mother was right now, she was pleased with him. Bye, Mom, he thought. PART THREE BATTLEGROUND Tomorrow we shall meet, Death and I – And he shall thrust his sword Into one who is wide awake. – Dag Hammarskj;ld

A Tragic Hero in Aristotle Definition Essay

The word tragedy is when an event ends in misfortune. However, when the word tragedy is put in context within a play or a story it is a story circling around a protagonist who is of high power and stature. A tragedy is usually the development of a protagonist whose in conflict with a more superior force; the superior forces that the protagonist could be faced with is his destiny, free will and the Gods that rule over them. The end of a tragedy is usually the protagonist whose in a state of deterioration in which he loses everything. A tragic hero is meant to define his fate by himself, usually by actions that he inflicts on himself which then lead him to wreck his own life. Aristotle is considered as one of the many ancient influential philosophers there is and therefore his view of Oedipus being an ideal tragic hero is considered as highly powerful in the world of literature. Aristotle defines tragedy as the conflict between humans being good yet being defeated by reality as their actions done with good intentions can actually bring back outcomes that were not initially wanted. In the play Oedipus by Sophocles, Oedipus is classed as a classic tragic hero by Aristotle for many of the characteristics he possesses. According to Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero; the tragic hero has to be realistic, true to life, consistent and true to themselves, consistent within the context of the narrative and has to make errors of judgement throughout the play but the results of what has been done should be the opposite of what was initially intended. A tragic hero should be able to arouse feelings of pity and fear; this is because, the feeling of pity is aroused by our deep sympathy for someone whose life is falling out of place whereas that person is neither too good nor too evil to have deserved such a misfortune, and the feeling of fear is aroused by the sheer horror that such a tragedy can fall upon anyone regardless of their stature. According to Aristotle’s definition Oedipus is a tragic hero because he is a man of great power and influence over the city he rules and his life begins to deteriorate in front of everyone’s eyes as he goes on a quest to find out who he is. Aristotle says that a tragic hero must be the one to cause their own downfall in which Oedipus persistently decides to carry on asking questions about his origins. Also, the tragic hero’s fate is not deserved and his punishment exceeds his wrongdoings and  that a tragic hero must be someone important and influential and he must be someo ne who makes an error of judgement. This error of judgement is seen when Oedipus forces Tiresias in anger to answer his questions of who his parents are, â€Å"Who? Wait; who are my parents?†, it is Oedipus’s own mistake in forcing answers in which he does not wish to hear or know.

Amusing Our Selves to Death essays

Amusing Our Selves to Death essays I have just read Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman states that the age of typography has been replaced by the age of television. This has changed the way we look at the world and the way we think, which in turn has almost made us less intelligent. Postman speaks his opinions freely, and really gives the reader a new perspective on media, and the effect it has on society. To often we think nothing of what we see and read in the media, but after reading this book you see things a lot differently. Postman believes that the culture is shaped by how its media is conducted. In the age of typography, for example, politicians spoke of how people wrote. In todays society the news is broadcasted in bits and pieces, and the unrelated topics are all thrown up and tied together with the phrase Now and This. Our culture, he states, now functions best when focused on tiny bits of unrelated material. We believe that things should come in unrelated bits, continuously, and with lots of flash. To us it doesnt seem weird that commercials interrupt our programs every few minutes, though to someone who has never seen television, it would seem very odd indeed. Postman says that televisions have changed everything in our culture; politics and teaching. Politics have conformed to the ways of television. An example is how debates are conducted in modern politics. Before debates lasted many hours and contained many long thought out responses and counter-arguments. Todays debates last an hour and a half at most. They each have about 2 minutes to speak. Teaching is also different. Children now think that we should learn by watching television. Postman believes that the only way to really learn is through the traditional methods. Shows such as Sesame Street cause more harm than good. They make the classroom seem even less exciting. I agree with his point on debates and that they could stand t o be lengthened so we coul...

Global and Domestic Marketing

Global and Domestic Marketing Effective marketing makes certain that a company's products are in line with what the consumers' needs within a ever changing environment. It is very important to observe these changes regularly and undertake programs of activity geared to adapting the company's response to them (www.it-analysis.com).A company operates within a larger framework of the external environment that shapes the opportunities and threat to an organization. The external environment for global and domestic marketing decisions is comprised of forces that are apart of a company's marketing process but is external to the organization. Those forces include the organization's market, its producer's suppliers and intermediaries (www.ollie.dcccd.edu). It would be necessary for companies to understand that the environmental conditions because the conditions interact with marketing strategy decisions. The external environmental has a huge impact on the determination of marketing decisions. Any successful company will s can the external environment that affects them so they would be able to respond profitably to the unmet needs and trends in targeted markets (www.ollie.dcccd.edu).Market Square, EnniscorthyThere are countless variables that function within a company that can have direct or indirect influence on their strategy. A successful company is one that understands and will anticipate and take advantage of the changes with the organization's environment. According to the website, Learn Marketing.net, an organization's operating environment can be analyzed by looking at:˜External forces. Those factors that an organization has no control over.˜Internal forces. Those factors that an organization has direct control over.In this paper, I will discuss technological, political and social external environmental factors and how they effect global and domestic marketing decisions.The technological environment refers to any new technologies that creates new products and market opportunities. Those developments are the most manageable uncontrollable force that is faced by marketers (www.ollie.dcccd.edu). Technology has an incredible effect on life...

A Debate On Male And Female Gamers Media Essay

A Debate On Male And Female Gamers Media Essay The purpose of this report is to highlight the biasness which has become popular in the designation of most of games that are of much interest to almost everyone in the world. This report will encompass the game makers and who play games and how this is increasing attention in the current world. The report will address games that have been observed to present biasness between men and women in the world. Since there exist several sources of games, this report will have an over view of some sources that are popular and famous in the modern world. How the biased is present or perceived will be an area of interest in this report. The question â€Å"is game design gender biased?† will enable the report to succinctly explain the steps that should be taken in order to fight gender biasness in designing of today’s games. Effect produced by this kind of biasness in game field will be also an area of concern in this report. In order for this report to highlight the gender bias f ound in the designation of today’s games, it would be of much important to understand what gender bias is. Discussion Gender bias refers to a situation whereby one sex is favored over the other. For instance you might find that men are given more priority than women in certain activities. During 1970s, men were highly favored than women in most of career fields. For example only men were allowed to take part in economic activities while women were branded as housewives. This is to mean that the act of considering one sex over the other is what counts for gender bias. From different researches that have been conducted it is shown that game design is gender biased. Game industry has been faced by several questions based on girls and women in gaming. Questions such as why girls and women have been neglected by the game industry has captured the attention of many people in the world more so the game developers individuals. The emergence of pink games movement took its roots in la te 1990s whose emphasis was based on designing games around gender specification (Tavani 2010) The intention of this movement was to provide females; girls and women with what they desired. This was a way of encouraging girls and women to develop positive attitude toward games. The most popular games are computer games whose directory of playing is based on commands or set of instructions. The pink games movement had intent of motivating females to embrace the ever changing technology in the world. If girls and women are allowed to participate or play computer games, they would become active players of such games and also got involved in the advanced technology and also what today is known as computer science. Through games, girls would solve problems associated with disenfranchisement. This has enabled many games developers to understand the importance of equity or fair treatment when it comes to the issue of designing games. As per concern to this report, it is therefore crucial f or games developers to embark on or consider fairly homogenous and stereotypical ideas of gender. Games designing biasness have made games industry to experience a long period of recess. This has resulted from the fact that many of the titles of popular games have less taste to women. Only men are favored although they have been said to spend little time in playing such games. Games design is the only known product for the games industry and therefore in order to capture a diverse market for its product, it should therefore take into consideration various issues based on game designing. For instance it should ensure that the titles for the games are free from gender bias. These titles should also have same levels of taste to all sex this is to mean that they should be universal to all. The game developers need to focus on titles that are in a capacity to cater for a variety of tastes of people without catching a certain part of population and ignoring the other (Garner, 2004).

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION - Research Paper Example In terms of religious beliefs, the Yankees and Maine Acadians are mostly distinct. Third, family life involves several aspects of human development and belonging and living in a family. Both the Yankees and Maine Acadians highly value the family. This essay will also examine the similarities and differences between the two subcultures in terms of the three aforesaid cultural concepts. A significant selection of literature on the three cultural concepts is available hence they are selected. E. Results Section This section provides a general overview of the Yankees’ and Acadians’ arts and entertainment, religious beliefs, and family life. Yankees The Yankee musicians justify their musical interest on account of redemptive culture: the belief that the culture of music could revive the American soul (Moore, 1985). Yankees viewed themselves leaders of a revolutionary campaign distinctly American and, hence, collective. By openly experiencing the harmonious values of redempti ve culture, people could make sense of the meaning of Yankees’ uniqueness as Americans (Moore, 1985). The Yankee musician, similar to romantics, perceived themselves to be ‘unacknowledged legislators’ (Fox, 1940, 57). ... The Yankee him/herself normally explains the visionary future, tradition, and music, in relation to each other. In terms of religious beliefs, Yankees in Maine are Puritans, among other things. They believed in deliverance or redemption, that the destiny of human souls was predestined by God (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). This means that God had preprogrammed as to the people who would be saved and who would not from the very beginning. Salvation was a private issue between the Saints and God. Saints were the saved (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). Yankees have faith in God and value the reading of the Bible because they believe that the task is the way to God. To become a Saint and be saved they perform a Covenant of Grace, a bond that pleads for salvation and forgiveness of sins (Library of Congress, n.d.). They believe that they have to follow by the example of God and virtually dedicate their live to Him. Religious beliefs of the Yankees are full of ironies. They oppose each other in order to form Utop ia or an ideal World, a world that did not permit mutiny (Fox, 1940). The beliefs and purposes of Yankees generated an anxiety full of ironical issue. Humans should not commit sins, but they would sin nevertheless. Humans are obliged to forgive, but wickedness and temptations was omnipresent. Humans are pursuers of salvation, but are defenseless against vice (Wyatt-Brown, 1990). In relation to their religious beliefs, the Yankees believe that the family is very valuable. The Scriptures strongly claim that sex and marriage are gifts given by God (Moore, 1985). The Yankees believe that sex and marriage are co-existent for pleasure and reproduction. The Yankees also undervalue celibacy, view married sex as pure and important, value family life, support the

Managing Conflict in the Workplace Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Managing Conflict in the Workplace - Term Paper Example This paper offers a brief overview of a conflict I have observed in my workplace and how it impacted the work environment. A script on how to give feedback to employees when conflicts arise is also outlined in this paper, as well as ways I would enlist HRs help in managing this situation. Two of the nurse in my workplace were once involved in a conflict. It happened that one of the nurses had forwarded an email consisting of pornographic material and the recipient of the email found it inappropriate. The recipient of the email responded through confronting the sender and this turned into a heated argument. The recipient felt embarrassed and felt insulted. What followed is the two nurses could not even engage in a decent conversation as a result of the argument. Teamwork is highly valued in my workplace and hence the two nurses at one point had to work together. Their engagement was low as communication was limited between them solely as a result of the argument they had. As a nurse manager, it was my obligation to give feedback to the sender of the email in regard to the unacceptable behavior in the workplace. The steps involved in giving feedback as outlined by Manion (2011) include "Stating your positive intention, sharing your observation, including impact of an action, asking the intent, adding empathy, and indicating what needs to change" (p. 340) respectively .A script of the conversation I would have with the sender of the email would be as follows: Positive intention: You are one of the top performers in this department and your contribution is highly valued. This department highly relies on you to be a role model for our newly employed nurses. My observation: Yesterday you sent a pornographic email to your colleague and she felt embarrassing hence she confronted you for an explanation. I am sure you two are finding it difficult to engage in your activities as a team. Needed change:

Client Evaluation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Client Evaluation - Assignment Example In this Client Evaluation, the company that has been considered is Saria. It is a company who provides all kinds of repair and installations related to the cable plants. It is a very reputable company. The main aim of the company is to gain the reputation as the industries best. The industry to which the company belongs is the fiber optics industry. The company was established in the mid 2000’s and since then it has been moving forward with all the positive zeal. The services that they are providing are all relevant to the field of fiber optics. Their main idea is that they need to continue to perform according to the expectations of their clients, critics and as well as their own aims and goals. They are known to be able to solve the most serious of problems related to the interconnection and automation problems. The offer range of facilities related to the fiber optics and automation, they provide the fiber optics and automation services for aircrafts, ships, network setups at the factories and the companies and as well as the military bases. Their providence of services at the military bases proves that they have the sleekest and advanced form of the automation and the engineering related to the fiber optics technology available to the general world. This proves the fact that they are the best of the best in the industry that is why they are being hired or employed by the airbases and various military bases to provide them with the communications and interconnectivity infrastructures. Copper is a very expensive metal, but it has been considered as the best for of conductor that could ever be used for the purpose of the communications. Saria has acquired the technology and the people actually required to have the implementation of copper-infused technology in the communications infrastructure.  

Why is College So Expensive Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Why is College So Expensive - Research Paper Example Tuition, books and housing are enormously expensive and take the biggest bite out of the higher education budget but it doesn’t end there. It never ends. There are lab fees, dorm needs including computer, clothes and stereo, commuting costs, parking fees, tutoring and food. Forget entertainment expenses, no money left for that. College is expensive, very much so but just how expensive and why? According to experts, the cost to attend a four-year public university is about $16,000. That includes tuition, housing and general fees but not books. A private university is more than double that amount. Add to that other expenses such as dorm room accessories, electronics and clothing. Then there’s commuting which includes gas, maintenance and parking fess which can total up to $500 per semester. Tickets for outdated stickers handed out by the campus police push the cost higher. Getting a little tutoring help for that physics test will run about $30 per hour. The â€Å"luxuryà ¢â‚¬  of living on campus costs more than anyone can possibly anticipate. â€Å"The main reason why people who go to public universities end up in debt, is not the tuition, but the living away from home expenses, which at a public university, are three or four times more than tuition.† (Hacker, 2010) The price of books is another expense that is always higher than anticipated, shockingly so. The cost of books sometimes determines a student’s major. The difference in price of books can total $1200 depending on the field of study. (Beeman, 2011). There is a legitimate justification for why college textbooks cost more than paperbacks at discount book stores. Producing a new textbook is often very expensive. The market for these books is limited and has become increasingly so. In days past there were more buyers for new textbooks. Publishers could, therefore, distribute production expenses over a larger number of buyers. The relatively recent expansion of the rental and u sed textbook market has diminished the number of new books sold which has kept the price of new editions inflated. Publishers now generate updated editions. In this way they sell more books which acts to spread the production costs over more buyers. The total cost of college textbooks has actually fallen recently even as the price for new books has risen. (Weston, 2011). â€Å"Student spending on textbooks has been decreasing since 2006 because of the rise of electronic books, rentals and the used book market† (â€Å"Why,† 2011). During the 2010-11 scholastic year the average amount spent on books at a four-year college was $534. During the 2005-06 year that amount was $644. Students spend more on gasoline and going to the movies during the academic year and twice the amount on cell-phone use as they do on book expenditures. (Weston, 2011). Tuition costs are high for many reasons. Colleges have expenses which may or may not be obvious to the casual observer. The high-e nd salaries paid to employees have risen. The expense of employing well educated people began to increase substantially about 30 years ago for every industry. Colleges are an industry that cannot readily cut back on labor and much of its work force is well educated by necessity. (Goldstein, 2010). Salaries of faculty and supportive staff account for the largest piece of the college expense pie. The second highest expense can be classified as building maintenance which includes paying the electric bill, ongoing construction, cleaning and furnishing classrooms, libraries, gyms, labs, dorms, student centers and supplying computers, software, IT needs and books. (Trachtenberg, 2011) Colleges have been allocating more for support

Effective Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Effective Learning - Essay Example Students’ frustrations can be attributed to their lack of knowledge regarding the scope, limitations, and challenges of online learning along with the drawbacks of the learning program and curriculum.   Frustrations and Needs of Online Learners The number of online learning programs has dramatically increased over the last two decades. Subsequently, the cases of students’ frustrations also have increased to a great extent in a way that hinders their educational opportunities. As Hara and Kling (1999) point out, the paucity of prompt feedback is one of the potential causes of student frustration in web-based learning. Learners’ autonomy in this regard often turns to be an impediment to their own active interaction with the tutor when there is no specific login time for learning activities. Frustration is the outcome when there are no clearly stated instructions and guidelines. In that context, a fresh student, normally who is not a computer savvy gets disappoint ed of the unfamiliar learning system. Lack of technical expertise along with the complexity of the learning interface can intensify the frustration and stress. Strategies for Effective Online Learning First of all, as a learner you must understand that online classes, no matter whether synchronous or asynchronous, differ a lot from traditional classrooms and learning methods. Online learning normally is not bound to stipulations, and hence this in turn increases learners’ responsibility in meeting their own needs. As noted in the Illinois Online Network database (2010), the major problems with online learning usually fall into several categories including but not limited to technology, the facilitator, the online environment, the students, the administration and faculty, the curriculum etc. In order to get rid of the current stress, you must identify in which of the above areas your learning problem persists. If you find that lack of technical skill has limited your learning potential, it is advisable to get assistance from a third party. This can be a friend or a relative who would teach you the essential things in no time. As Brosche (2010, p. 70) reminds, if you find that the instructions are ambiguous, do not hesitate to request clarifications from the facilitators before you start doing things, because â€Å"well begun is half done†. Another thing you ought to do is to identify what type of a learner you are. People, based on their learning habits can be categorized into ‘dependent learners, independent learners, competitive learners, collaborative learners, participative learners, avoidant learners’ etc (Stavredes, 2011, p. 18). For instance, as Stavredes (2011) points out, if you are a competitive learner, you will be interested in attending tests and getting grades. In contrast, if you are a collaborative learner, you will like group works, interactions, and discussions. Participative learners are usually interested in class discussions and hence concerned about learning environment whereas avoidant learners are normally driven by strict deadlines and punishments for not meeting them (pp. 18-19). Obviously, you belong to one of these groups, and identifying your position would help you overcome the current frustration. To illustrate, if you believe that you are a competitive learner having great zeal in tests and results, other activities like collaborative programs may annoy you, for the outcome of your effort would be a bit disappointing one. However,

Client Evaluation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Client Evaluation - Assignment Example In this Client Evaluation, the company that has been considered is Saria. It is a company who provides all kinds of repair and installations related to the cable plants. It is a very reputable company. The main aim of the company is to gain the reputation as the industries best. The industry to which the company belongs is the fiber optics industry. The company was established in the mid 2000’s and since then it has been moving forward with all the positive zeal. The services that they are providing are all relevant to the field of fiber optics. Their main idea is that they need to continue to perform according to the expectations of their clients, critics and as well as their own aims and goals. They are known to be able to solve the most serious of problems related to the interconnection and automation problems. The offer range of facilities related to the fiber optics and automation, they provide the fiber optics and automation services for aircrafts, ships, network setups at the factories and the companies and as well as the military bases. Their providence of services at the military bases proves that they have the sleekest and advanced form of the automation and the engineering related to the fiber optics technology available to the general world. This proves the fact that they are the best of the best in the industry that is why they are being hired or employed by the airbases and various military bases to provide them with the communications and interconnectivity infrastructures. Copper is a very expensive metal, but it has been considered as the best for of conductor that could ever be used for the purpose of the communications. Saria has acquired the technology and the people actually required to have the implementation of copper-infused technology in the communications infrastructure.  

Effective Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Effective Learning - Essay Example Students’ frustrations can be attributed to their lack of knowledge regarding the scope, limitations, and challenges of online learning along with the drawbacks of the learning program and curriculum.   Frustrations and Needs of Online Learners The number of online learning programs has dramatically increased over the last two decades. Subsequently, the cases of students’ frustrations also have increased to a great extent in a way that hinders their educational opportunities. As Hara and Kling (1999) point out, the paucity of prompt feedback is one of the potential causes of student frustration in web-based learning. Learners’ autonomy in this regard often turns to be an impediment to their own active interaction with the tutor when there is no specific login time for learning activities. Frustration is the outcome when there are no clearly stated instructions and guidelines. In that context, a fresh student, normally who is not a computer savvy gets disappoint ed of the unfamiliar learning system. Lack of technical expertise along with the complexity of the learning interface can intensify the frustration and stress. Strategies for Effective Online Learning First of all, as a learner you must understand that online classes, no matter whether synchronous or asynchronous, differ a lot from traditional classrooms and learning methods. Online learning normally is not bound to stipulations, and hence this in turn increases learners’ responsibility in meeting their own needs. As noted in the Illinois Online Network database (2010), the major problems with online learning usually fall into several categories including but not limited to technology, the facilitator, the online environment, the students, the administration and faculty, the curriculum etc. In order to get rid of the current stress, you must identify in which of the above areas your learning problem persists. If you find that lack of technical skill has limited your learning potential, it is advisable to get assistance from a third party. This can be a friend or a relative who would teach you the essential things in no time. As Brosche (2010, p. 70) reminds, if you find that the instructions are ambiguous, do not hesitate to request clarifications from the facilitators before you start doing things, because â€Å"well begun is half done†. Another thing you ought to do is to identify what type of a learner you are. People, based on their learning habits can be categorized into ‘dependent learners, independent learners, competitive learners, collaborative learners, participative learners, avoidant learners’ etc (Stavredes, 2011, p. 18). For instance, as Stavredes (2011) points out, if you are a competitive learner, you will be interested in attending tests and getting grades. In contrast, if you are a collaborative learner, you will like group works, interactions, and discussions. Participative learners are usually interested in class discussions and hence concerned about learning environment whereas avoidant learners are normally driven by strict deadlines and punishments for not meeting them (pp. 18-19). Obviously, you belong to one of these groups, and identifying your position would help you overcome the current frustration. To illustrate, if you believe that you are a competitive learner having great zeal in tests and results, other activities like collaborative programs may annoy you, for the outcome of your effort would be a bit disappointing one. However,

Bob Crachit Essay Example for Free

Bob Crachit Essay How does Dickens use imagery and language to present the character of Ebenezer Scrooge in Stave one of A Christmas Carol? Charles Dickens started writing A Christmas Carol in the 18th Century. Whilst writing the novel he was experiencing a world that had totally forgotten about Christmas and had no time for it. It was the industrial revolution, things were changing and with it the people were. They did not have time to enjoy Christmas they were more bothered about earning money. This is the kind of character Scrooge is which I will explain later on. Being in this kind of world affected Dickens novel; but it also influenced him to create a character called Scrooge. Who wouldnt care about Christmas; and only caring for business and money. Dickens knew that if he could get people into the Christmas spirit by attracting their attention to his novel. But little did he know he was about to re-inject the Christmas spirit into Britain. Dickens kicks off his extravagant novel by introducing a dead character with the name of Marley who he chose to create as a Ghost. By starting off his novel like this Dickens is directly addressing the reader by using the word You: You will therefore permit me to repeat emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. By addressing the reader like this it automatically draws the reader into the story as though they are experiencing what Dickens is trying to make them experience by making them apart of the story by being addressed directly. It also makes the reader want to know more for example they might want to know why Marley is dead and therefore this makes them read on. The main character of the novel is named Scrooge. He is present by dickens as a: Squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! By doing this it makes the reader think that Scrooge is an old, mean, miserable man. Of which has no friends in existence excluding his past. Dickens mentions that Scrooge is: Squeezing Meaning that he would Squeeze every last drop out of anything he could, not only money but make people work over their limit. For example Bob Cratchit, his apprentice would work as hard as he could each day, and make Scrooge feel that Bob hasnt got away with easy money. Scrooge is described by Dickens in many different ways; for example Dickens compares him with other things:External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, nor wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he. In this small paragraph dickens has used a good use of imagery weather imagery. He compares Scrooge with the weather and shows that he a cold person who could never be warm hearted. Dickens shows that Scrooge has no feeling, nothing can chill him, and nothing can warm him. Scrooge is immensely described as worse than the weather: No wind that blew was bitter than he This meaning nothing could be worse than Scrooge; Dickens insults his own character with no grief. Nothing could be worse than having Scrooge on your case he is bitterer than the wind. Dickens goes on to downgrade Scrooge to nothing by saying rain, show, hail and sleet could: Boast an advantage over him, they often came down handsomely and Scrooge never did. This meaning that the weather could come down gently and calmly but Scrooge is an old man who is not gentle or calm instead fierce and very uptight. Myself as a reader I would feel that Scrooge is an old hag who is most likely very lonely and despises everyone but himself; and that he is very selfish and would never spare a penny to anyone but himself. I would also feel that Dickens is trying to get across a strong description of Scrooge. When Dickens was describing Scrooge a key line is: The cold within him froze his old features. The line above has no meaning, for example it adds to his description and as a reader it could feel as though the cold within him has frozen his good side like an ice age. It exists inside him but he cant release it. Another example is: Hard and sharp as a flint This is a simile; it shows two sides of Scrooge. Flint is a rock; which was used by humans in the Stone Age. It was used for two things, which shows two sides of Scrooge. They used it for warmth which shows that Scrooge could have a good side in him, and they also used it for weapons, to harm things i. e. a tool could cut you. This shows the bad side of Scrooge he is two faced. Once the reader hears about Scrooges appearance, we think as if Scrooge was a ghost, or he was dead with his corpse still existing. Dickens uses adjectives like: Blue lips Red eyes These lines make us think as if Scrooge was dead because he has frozen lips and bloodshot eyes as if he doesnt sleep. It makes the reader feel aware of how dangerously scary Scrooge looks to go with his attitude and lifestyle. The place in which Scrooges house is situated also shows his personality. His house is away from other houses and is in the middle of a business district. Also, inside his house it is dark and gloomy he double locks the doors as if to lock himself away form the world. His house sets the scene for later in the novel. His house reminds the reader of a haunted house; linking Scrooge with his description of being like a ghost. Scrooge doesnt like Christmas. The word which he uses to sum up Christmas is: Humbug Meaning nonsense. Scrooge makes a speech about Christmas to his nephew, part of it is: Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! Whats Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer This sums up what he feels about Christmas. He doesnt see the fun side of it, or the religious side of celebrating a special time in the Christian faith. He just looks at the gloomy side, and thinks it is a waste of time. Also Scrooge talks bout money, saying you find yourself a year older, and not an hour richer, and also saying it is just a time where you have to pay the bills showing again he is thinking bout his money and nothing else. Scrooge also says that the poor dont have a right to be happy: What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? Youre poor enough. Hes saying that the poor should be unhappy, that they are not rich enough to be happy, and that they should be gloomy and sad and not have the right to have a good time. This shocks the reader. Before, the reader just feels that Scrooge is gloomy and lonely, but now they feel as though Scrooge is a cold-hearted, nasty, mean old man who doesnt care about anybody but himself. Later in the novel we find out more about why Scrooge may be like this. I think Scrooge thinks this way about Christmas because of how he was treated by his father when he was a child. His father used to leave him alone and not take him home from boarding school but leave him there in a dull little room reading books. Scrooge once fell in love with a woman called Bell. This brought the Christmas spirit into him but then they broke up and that made Scrooge go back to hating Christmas. When people saw Scrooge in the street nobody would stop him to talk, everyone would leave him alone and not dare speak to him. Even the blind mens dogs appeared to know him; and they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would their tails as thought they said, no eye at all is better than an evil eye This sentence shows what everyone thought of Scrooge.

Developing Reading Habits in Students

Developing Reading Habits in Students Nowadays, most students are less keen on developing their reading habits. Still, to be able to stand on the same ground as other leading countries, this habit should be instilled on the students. Many parties especially the government and teachers are concerned with the students declining reading habits. However, parents are unaware of this problem or choose to turn a blind eye towards it. Parents choose to leave this problem for teachers to handle. The government, teachers, parents and students have their own views on this matter and in this essay I will state and discuss their views so that I can decide for myself who is responsible on how Malaysia could enrich students reading habit. After approximately 11 years in formal education, majority of Malaysian students are able to read efficiently after finishing their secondary education. However, even equipped with literacy skills particularly reading skills, the reading habits of students are still at an unsatisfactory level. The Sunday Star newspaper (8th August, 1999:p2) reports that the poor reading habits among Malaysians was common knowledge but, in true Malaysian fashion, it took an official survey to jolt the education sector that something had to be done fast. There has been a debate on who is responsible for these students who are lacking in reading. Many parties are blaming parents on this matter as they lack the time to teach their children the basics of reading. They are prioritizing more on their career and making money rather than their childrens education. The government is very much concern on this matter. Based on the statistics issued by the National Statistics Department during the year 2002, Malaysian students only read two books a year. Studies in the past have shown that the exam-oriented educational system in Malaysia promotes routine learning and that there needs to be a standard shift in how we view education and about the way we teach (Chitravellu, 1997). The Education Minster, Datuk Najib Tun Razak, has frequently commented in the local media that most students read only to pass exams and do not read for pleasure. He has been instrumental in implementing many projects aimed at improving students reading ability in the country. Reading skills are important throughout our lifespan, particularly as we respond to new demands and changes in jobs and reading for pleasure or recreational has been found to improve reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling and grammatical development (Krashen, 1993). The positive an d rewarding effects of recreational reading have been demonstrated in numerous studies (Burgess, 1994; Krashen, 1984, 1993). In other words, it is important that Malaysia must aim to re-evaluate the present education system, not to reverse it or simply oscillate forward and backward within the same unchanging parameters, without ever conducting a critical evaluation of where, how, and why things went wrong. The government must therefore set up an educational re-evaluation or reform program or a national enquiry committee to look seriously into the Malaysian education and develop a set of realistic, practical, and forward-looking ideas for improving the national education system in accordance with the requirements and ideals of Vision 2020. However, the more immediate task is to prepare the future human resource of the nation with the ability and intellectual skills to adapt to the expansion of the Malaysian economy and its globalization. Parents are the most influential people in the life of a child; students normally model the behaviours and attitudes of their parents after constantly observing them since they were in diapers. Logically, if the parents have positive attitudes the child will mimic and model after them. It goes the same if the parents have negative attitudes and behaviours. If the parents themselves do not make reading as a daily activity, they should not expect their child to cultivate reading as a daily activity. In this context, parents should be good role models to the students by including reading as one of their daily activities (Clark, 2007). Other than that, parents should allocate a small percentage of their monthly earnings to purchase books and suitable reading materials for their children. They should also designate a small section in the house specifically for reading. This allows their children to always have a place to read. If the child is still an infant or a toddler, allocate some pe rsonal time with and read a story book together. By the time child is starting his or her formal education, he or she will associate reading with not only for exams but also for pleasure. Parents also can bring their child to the local library and allow them to read books which discuss the topics of their interest. If the child is fond of cars then allow him to read a book regarding the anatomy of a car. By doing so, the child is reading for pleasure and personal interest. This can translate into good academic performance and personal development in the future. Other than parents, the school which is the primary educational institution of the society also has a crucial role to play in improving students reading habits. The school library is one of the usual facilities found in a public school. However, it is not fully utilised by the students. Students will seldom go and read at the school library unless it is for some special reading programme which is conducted once or twice a week by the school. This may be due to the schools library lacking certain attractive factors. The school should allocate some money to ameliorate the facilities of the schools library. Computers should be provided to enable the students to utilise the internet for research and also to locate online reading materials. Air-conditioners should be installed and quality chairs as well as tables should be provided in order to create a conducive reading ambience. The books available should be of variety of genre and topics to capture the many interests of the students. Th e school engender book publishing companies such as McGraw-Hill and Dawama in order to purchase suitable reading materials for the library. The elected student librarians and the teacher-in-charge should make an effort to promote the books available in the library to the student body. Most of the time students have no interest to go to the school library due to the absence of awareness regarding the books available there which may attract their interest (Clark, 2010). Lastly, the only people that can improve the students reading habit are the students themselves. It is futile to assist the students in improving their reading habits if they themselves have no intention of doing so. The student should be aware that reading is one of the primary key to success in the modern world. In our information-saturated globe, knowledge is constantly being updated and upgraded wherein previous information would deem obsolete or impractical. Moreover, with the advent and evolution of the internet, information can be transmitted throughout the whole world in the blink of an eye. Therefore, it is imperative for students to make reading as a pleasurable and continuing habit if he or she wants to stay abreast with the world and have the competitive edge. Students should realise that they will have to read continuously even after finishing their formal education. The knowledge that the students studied when they were sitting for their exams may have undergone signifi cant changes in the next five or ten years. In order to keep abreast with current development, students must read relevant publications. If the students do not hone this habit, they will not have the initiative to constantly read not only to improve their career standing but also for personal development in order to become a better and useful citizen. There are many reasons for the deplorable reading habits of Malaysian students either due to parental, school-related or personal habits. Even so, they are innumerable numbers of ways to improve the current reading habits of students. This requires the amalgamation of the efforts of many authoritative bodies such as the school and the government. Readings is one of the most essential language abilities. I am not implying that the other language skills are of lower standard but much of the knowledge within the society is disseminated through writing. For me, personally, even after just finishing school I still allocate some time to read books concerning my area of interest such as linguistics and novels. I read such books not for passing an exam later on but for reading itself. In conclusion, even though students are still passing exams, their reading habit is not continuous. Reading for pleasure is a far cry for Malaysian students as they are more exams oriented. Both the government and teachers have valid arguments to argue. Parents are the first teachers to children. However, parents fail to nurture their children in this habit while they are young. Thus, resulting in the situation we are nowadays. In my opinion, based on the current reading habit of the Malaysian students, Malaysia has a long way to go before it can compete with a reading and successful society such as Japan.