Article Review Down Syndrome From A Parent s...

For this essay I have chosen two media articles that discuss Down Syndrome from a parent s perspective and from the perspective of an adult with Down Syndrome. I chose the articles as the subject matter is the same as they discuss day to day life, however the discourse and models present within the articles are diametrically opposed. I will examine the discourse and models present within each article with reference to the units I have studied so far. The first article I will be discussing is an article from The Daily Telegraph titled including children with Down s syndrome in mainstream schools benefits everyone and is written by Katherine Horrocks. This article gives a parent s view of parenting a boy called Alexander with Down syndrome and her advocacy of inclusion. The discourse present within in the article that describes Alexander is present within the tragedy/charity model, highlighting the difference in power between groups of people (p52) The focus throughout the article is up on Alexanders condition, how he needs almost constant supervision leaving Mum in need of respite and Mum s fears of what Alexander has done at school. Mum expresses how supportive school are and that a range of dedicated professionals are present to support Alexander throughout the day, ensuring he is safe, Mum also states how involved she is as a parent in the setting of targets for Alexander, yet Alexander is not part of the target setting for h is IEP, he merely agrees to what isShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Autism Throughout Early Childhood, Education, And Later Life1328 Words   |  6 PagesThe Effects of Autism throughout Early Childhood, Education, Relationships, and Later Life There are many disorders that affect how the brain works. 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When People Talk About The Word “Fashion,” It Automobility

When people talk about the word â€Å"fashion,† it automobility provides a sense of popular styles of clothing, accessories, and makeup. Fashion influences not only on people’s behaviors, but also influences the society as a whole, such as socially and economically. In Adorned in Dreams, the author Elizabeth Wilson, introduces that fashion is a form of art, and people can use fashion to express their ideas, beliefs, and desires. Wilson also introduces the history of fashions in order to prove that people can use fashion to express different belief systems, social values, and public desires during each time period. In Subculture The Meaning of Style, Dick Hebdige believes people can use fashion as a tool to express their beliefs. In this case,†¦show more content†¦In nowadays, buying luxury brands is not only showing a sign of wealth, but also a kind of rewards for people’s hard working. Luxury products sell high market prices because of their designs, br and names, and the qualities. People want to buy luxury products because their quality is better than target brands. For example, the brand like Bottega Veneta is known for its traditional design of leather goods; their handbags are handmade in Italy. Comparing to Bottega Veneta to target brands, Bottega Veneta’s design will not easily out of style, but target brands will easily out of styles because their designs are relatively ordinary. However, in the recent year, some luxury brands’ reputation has gone done because those brands were shifting their factories to other countries and then shipping back to Italy just for the label. Technically, the phrase â€Å"Made in Italy† is not really manufacture in Italy anymore, sometimes this product s qualities are not as good as before. There is a rising concern of whether these luxury goods really match with the expensive price tags. In Adorned in Dreams, Wilson introduces that people express their ideas, beliefs, and desires through fashion. It does not matter that people from which social classes, people would express different belief systems, social values, and public desires through Fashion. â€Å"Fashion, in a sense is change, and in modern western societies no clothes are

Business Model and Concepts-Free-Samples -Myassignmenthelp.com

Questions: 1.Define the concept of a Business Model. 2.Explain what is involved when referring to the notion of an E-Business archetype 3.Explain what is meant by the term Business context and the notion that change in Business is inevitable. 4.Discuss about the Rise of Big Data. 5.Explain how the Organisation's Business Model has been impacted by change and what this means for managers when making decisions about the Organisation's Business Model. Answers: Introduction This is report, which depicts the importance of business model and how it can be used in the different aspects of the organization. The market trends and technology is changing at a n rapid and the organization will have to keep using innovation so that they can maintain their sustainability and competitive advantage. The use of innovation in the business model has been adopted by most of the major multinational companies all over the world so that they cope up with the changes in the business environment. The use of big data is one of the major changes that have been accommodated by the companies. 1.Business model and concepts The business model can be defined as the clear and summarized way of portraying the operations of a business. The business model should be as such that it could be described in limited number of words. The objective of all the companies is to provide value to their customers and the strength of the value proposition will determine the market acquisition of the organization. Business model consist of the various methods, which will be used for the generation of revenue in the organization (Schwarz, Terrenghi Legner, 2017). The model will highlight the revenue generation opportunities and the various methods that have to be applied in order to meet the desired target. The key factors of the various operational processes will be included in the business model. The business model is one of the most important factors for a start up company as it helps to maintain the sustainability. The company with good innovative business model will be able to increase the life expectancy. The business model will determine the feasibility of the business and help in identifying the contingencies in the business (Zott Amit, 2013). The business model of an organization will have to be evolved on a continuous basis as it helps in the creation of new sources of generation of revenue. 2.E-business archetypes Archetype can be defined as the fundamental personalities and roles that are derived to create unique personalities. The archetypes can be divided into primary archetype and secondary archetype where product archetype, service archetype and trade archetype are included in the primary archetype (Bocken et al., 2014). The secondary archetype consists of brokerage archetype, marketplace archetype, subscription archetype and ecosystem archetype (Carayannis, Sindakis Walter, 2015). The Trade archetypes consist of the Ecommerce business where the model connects the potential buyers with the various products they are searching. This means they act as a mediator between the buyers and the sellers and derive the profit from the arbitrage. These archetypes make profit from the spread between the cost of acquisition and the selling price. The main key to this business is sourcing and capital requirement for organizations following this business model will be moderate. Business model as an activity system Figure 1 (Source: Barquet et al., 2013) The main objective of a business model is to take advantage of the business opportunity by adding value to the product they are selling. This is the value proposition for a company who is trying to fulfil the needs of the consumers in the market. The engagement of the physical, human and the capital resources so that the organization can accomplish a specific purpose can be defined as activity (Bocken et al., 2014). These chains of specific objectives will help an organization to reach towards all the goals and objectives of an organization. The business model consists of all the key activities in an organization and they are all interlinked. The various activities within an organization are designed in such a way that one activity is dependent on the other activities. There are lot of activities, which are performed at an internal level, and there are few activities that are performed by the external parties. The activities of the various processes are linked and all the organizatio nal goals and objectives can be achieved by performing all the activities to a specified output. The business model for each industry will be different and there has to be uniqueness among the business models in various organizations (Barquet et al., 2013). The business model will have to be developed according the needs and the activities of the organization. Business model as cost revenue structure Figure 2 (Source: Hashem et al., 2015) The final aspect of a business model is the analysis of the cost structure and the revenue streams of the organization. Cost structure includes the important costs that are associated with the product and the service. Revenue streams will identify the sources of revenue generation for the company and the suitable methods that can be used. It will also determine the value the consumers are willing to pay for the product (Hashem et al., 2015). There are two important factors associated with it one is the cost acquisition and the other the lifetime value of the consumers. When the cost of acquisition is more than the lifetime value of the consumers, then the project and the product are not feasible and consumer market is not ready for the product. The two costs that are associated within an organization are the fixed and the variable cost. The fixed cost remains the same whereas the variable cost of an organization will decrease with the passage of time. The companies that are able to m aintain their sustainability in the market will be able to maintain a balance with their cost and revenue generation (Joyce Paquin, 2016). 3.Business context and change Business context is the special terms that are used in the industry, which can be identified and understood by everyone in the market. Globalization has made rapid changes in the execution of the businesses in all over the world. The use of technology and innovation has become a necessity where all the companies will have to make use of innovative ideas to constantly evolve and change the business model (Kastalli Van Looy, 2013). The use of innovation in the business model is the only thing that will provide the organization with competitive advantage in the market. The companies are using continuous integration, which helps them to keep improving their business model so that they can increase their competitive advantage in the market. 4.Rise of big data Big data has gained its popularity in the last where a lot of major companies used to analyze the needs of the consumers and the recent market trends. The use of information to understand and identify the market trends has revolutionaries the market. The use of big data is not limited to one and has been widely used in all the aspects of the organization (Cukier Mayer-Schoenberger, 2013). There is large amount of data that is available in the market and the companies are using it to interpret a lot of factors. The use of big data has become one of the integral parts of the organization all over the world. Woolworths is an example of companies who are one of the first to use big data to identify the popular products among the consumers. This has helped them to retain a majority of their consumers by providing them with offers in these popular products available in the market. 5.Impact of change on organizational business model The market has been changing at a rapid rate and it has affected the business model as the companies are trying to incorporate those changes. The companies are trying to make improvements in the business model so that they gain competitive advantage in the market. The technology is advancing and the inventions of new technologies are making the old technologies redundant (Casadesus?Masanell Zhu, 2013). Thus, the companies have to be up to date if they want to hold on their competitive advantage and this is the very reason that the competition in the market has become more intense than before. Technology has changed the market needs of the consumers and it keeps on changing in a brisk way so the companies constantly monitor their business model so that they can incorporate those changes to make improvements in their business models (Harmon, 2014). Conclusion Thus, the conclusions that can be drawn from the above report that business model is the integral part of an organization. The development of a good business model will ensure sustainability of an organization and that is why the companies are continuously integrating the processes so that they can make improvements in the business model. The market trends and the technology are changing very frequently and it has a huge impact on the business model of the companies. The companies are trying to use big data and apply it to all aspects of organization to make sure that they can accommodate the changes. Reference Barquet, A. P. B., de Oliveira, M. G., Amigo, C. R., Cunha, V. P., Rozenfeld, H. (2013). Employing the business model concept to support the adoption of productservice systems (PSS).Industrial Marketing Management,42(5), 693-704. Bocken, N. M. P., Short, S. W., Rana, P., Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes.Journal of cleaner production,65, 42-56. Bocken, N. M. P., Short, S. W., Rana, P., Evans, S. (2014). A literature and practice review to develop sustainable business model archetypes.Journal of cleaner production,65, 42-56. Carayannis, E. G., Sindakis, S., Walter, C. (2015). Business model innovation as lever of organizational sustainability.The Journal of Technology Transfer,40(1), 85-104. Casadesus?Masanell, R., Zhu, F. (2013). Business model innovation and competitive imitation: The case of sponsor?based business models.Strategic management journal,34(4), 464-482. Cukier, K., Mayer-Schoenberger, V. (2013). The rise of big data: How it's changing the way we think about the world.Foreign Aff.,92, 28. Harmon, P. (2014).Business process change. Morgan Kaufmann. Hashem, I. A. T., Yaqoob, I., Anuar, N. B., Mokhtar, S., Gani, A., Khan, S. U. (2015). The rise of big data on cloud computing: Review and open research issues.Information Systems,47, 98-115. Joyce, A., Paquin, R. L. (2016). The triple layered business model canvas: A tool to design more sustainable business models.Journal of Cleaner Production,135, 1474-1486. Kastalli, I. V., Van Looy, B. (2013). Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance.Journal of Operations Management,31(4), 169-180. Schwarz, J., Terrenghi, N., Legner, C. (2017). Towards comparable business model concepts: resource description framework (RDF) schemas for semantic business model representations. InDesigning the Digital Transformation: DESRIST 2017 Research in Progress Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology. Karlsruhe, Germany. 30 May-1 Jun.. Karlsruher Institut fr Technologie (KIT). Zott, C., Amit, R. (2013). The business model: A theoretically anchored robust construct for strategic analysis.Strategic Organization,11(4), 403-411.

Enterprise Systems Practice United Parcel Servicesâ€Free Samples

Question: Describe about the Enterprise Systems in Practice for United Parcel Services. Answer: Introduction The report depicts the importance of development of ERP solution or integrated system to improve a business organization. This particular report discusses the adaptation of ERP in united Parcel services (UPS). When an organization become larger and complex structure based that time, functional silos are evolved to resolve the issues. Companies should serve separate or distributive duties to deliver perfect activities in perfect locations. The strategic management system, human resource management, finance and marketing systems are also developed due to the implementation of this appropriate integrated system. The report also depicts the users experiences along with the benefits and challenges faced by UPS. Section 1: System Integration Overview System integration is referred to a cohesive process that is created by collecting different components. This report depicts the system integration in terms related to the ERP management and most of the components are equally applicable in different IT industries (U Mass Emigh 2006). The key steps required to implement an Integrated System Strategic planning for commercial benefit Review of the process Software capabilities Manual process identification Operating process development Requirement gathering Training and testing phase Execution in real life practices Figure1: Key steps for implementing an Integrated System (Source: Pollock Hyysalo 2014, pp-480) Role plays by ERP System and Senior Management of an organization In order to mitigate the organizational challenges, the senior management always took the initiatives and these problems can be resolved by implementing ERP solution. Due to usage of these technological advances shipping oriented business strategies can be developed by an organization. The roles are as follows: It helps to eliminate the repetitive processes and also reduces the manual information entry processes (Pollock Hyysalo 2014). It increases the efficiency of the entire system and proper management of distributive data. The customized solution serves faster and reliable consumer services in terms of data accuracy and data security. The entire system can be controlled and monitored by the senior management team. Section 2: System Integration Challenges Through the case study analysis, it is to be noted that United Parcel service (UPS) has faced several challenges during the integration of ERP system within their operational processes such as data management, security, flexible consumer services etc. Explanation of typical challenges of System Integration Due to lack of usage of technical advances and data management business organizations faces major challenge. Incorrect entry of data in the database system and data redundancy or data duplicity in the traditional storage reduces the memory or the storage of the system. In order to make a fully functional ERP system, is takes around 1-3 years. Along with the business process, very small customization might not integrate the entire system. The typical challenges of System Integration faced by the UPS If the services served to wrong addresses, wrong parcel might be delivered to the consumers, loading of the parcel boxes in incorrect trucks are the major challenges that enhance the cost and hampers the entire time management system also (Bernroider 2013). In most of the cases the shipping products are found to be very similar therefore, picking of wrong product was another challenge to UPS (U Mass Emigh 2006). Lack of action planning and due to lack of experienced experts, during implementation of the integrated system improper usages of the technologies in appropriate place are taking place, which was referred to as major commercial pitfall. The traditional system was time and cost consuming. The technical culture of UPS was embarrassing from the business perspectives (Melville Whisnant 2012). They were challenged by the demands that the consumers used to make in terms of buying, selling ad research on commercial benefits. Missing of a bridge to establish a connection between the products and the service to retrieve the data stored in the data storage. Section 3: System Integration Benefits at UPS UPS achieved different beneficial context while framing a correct integrated system. On the other hand, after implementing the integrated system the consumers of UPS were also benefited for the services. Typical benefits of System Integration The integrated system provides internet based integrated technology to drive global success in future (Choi, Chow Liu 2013). It gave excellent IT infrastructure and expertise transportation system (Melville Whisnant 2012). The provided real time connectivity and integrated information on a single platform. Best practices for Systems Integration that drive success story UPS One or two large data centers are created in terms of centralized data management system. The ERP solution increases the HR functionalities and financial management. The logistic network management system gave well defined technological standard (U Mass Emigh 2006). Gave cultural and open communication advances (Ahmad Cuenca 2013). Analysis of Consumer Benefits from The Integrated System at UPS The consumers can frequently keep in touch to the service providers. The products and services become affordable and reduced the processing time as well. Consumers were able to track the online process. Consumes will be able to contact frequently along with the service providers. According to the changing demands, the users can request for their desired products whenever needed (Melville Whisnant 2012). For web, based applications all the users can also share their experiences with each other on the comment section or feedback section. Based on the comments rather users experiences, others can make their requests. The entire process will be monitored well by the managerial department of the company (Pollock Hyysalo 2014). If the system needs to get more developed then other technology based advances can also be added to the existing system in terms of business strategic management and proper decision making approaches. Conclusion Form the overall discussion it can be concluded that, in order to mitigate the challenges faced by UPS, they introduced a system integration in terms of ERP solution, that provided real time communication bridge between the service provider and the consumers. The new technologies of UPS IT infrastructure offer new software as package flow 12 loaded on the delivery truck and also contributed different technical ideas to the consumers also. Finally, it can be stated that the report has illustrated that UPS is a successful integrated model for different industries. IT infrastructure and expert team is hired for shipping rather overall transportation system in United Parcel services. References Ahmad, M.M Cuenca, R.P 2013. Critical success factors for ERP implementation in SMEs.Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing,29(3), pp.104-111. Bernroider, E.W 2013. Effective ERP adoption processes: the role of project activators and resource investments.European Journal of Information Systems,22(2), pp.235-250. Choi, T.M Chow, P.S Liu, S.C 2013. Implementation of fashion ERP systems in China: Case study of a fashion brand, review and future challenges.International Journal of Production Economics,146(1), pp.70-81. Melville, N Whisnant, R 2012. Environmental sustainability 2.0: empirical analysis of environmental ERP implementation.Available at SSRN. Nwankpa, J Roumani, Y 2014. Understanding the link between organizational learning capability and ERP system usage: An empirical examination.Computers in Human Behavior,33, pp.224-234. Pollock, N Hyysalo, S 2014. The Business of Being a User: The Role of the Reference Actor in Shaping Packaged Enterprise System Acquisition and Development.Mis Quarterly,38(2), pp.473-496. Ram, J, Wu, M.L Tagg, R 2014. Competitive advantage from ERP projects: Examining the role of key implementation drivers.International Journal of Project Management,32(4), pp.663-675. U Mass, L Emigh, J 2006. Real Word Case, System Integration at UPS crop.Adapted from Aimee Desrosiers, Case study Report, UPS Bolsters Online Shipment Tracking, Ziff Davis Internt and UPS Sutliff: Communication key to alignment, CIO insight

Collaboration, Cooperation, and Coordination

Juno and The Paycock Essay Essays

Juno and The Paycock Essay Essays Juno and The Paycock Essay Essay Juno and The Paycock Essay Essay Essay Topic: Literature The extract is in Act 1, relatively near the start of the book. In the previous few pages Mary and Juno are talking about the deaths of soldiers which makes Johnny very unsettled and anxious, this is because he gave information to the authorities that lead to the death of a young soldier, but this is not revealed in the play until later on. In the extract it is the first time we meet The Captain and Joxer, when Juno hears them coming she hides herself out of site. The Captain and Joxer then come in and talk about Juno behind her back, it is very funny when Juno reveals herself and suddenly Joxer is in a desperate hurry and The Captain is now really keen to find himself a job. The extract ends with Juno giving off to Boyle about not getting a job and hoe he has an easy life. I am going to look closer at the extract and the rest of the play see whether or not I think O`Casey presents life in Dublin to be full of negativity and corruption. The extract starts with Juno telling Jerry where Boyle is, she says he will be in Ryans or Foleys which are two pubs. She is very cynical of Boyle, always expecting the worst from him, and she is even worse to Joxer. I think that she blames Joxer for the fact that Boyle waste a lot of the familys money on drink and that he doesnt have a job, she says therell never be any good got out o him as long as he goes with that shouldher-shruggin Joxer and this suggests that she thinks that Boyle would be a better man, who would achieve a lot more if he didnt associate himself with Joxer. OCasey is making us feel sorry for Juno already and although this is funny onstage, it is ultimately sad that a husband and father is wasting his life away drinking at the pub. I think this shows us corruption and negativity from Junos eyes but from the eyes of The Captain it is perfectly normal and he doesnt see whats so bad about it. As the extract goes on Juno hides from view and lets Boyle and Joxer come on in so she can secretly listen to their conversation, she sits down on the bed, hidden from the view of those walking in. He talks about her in a negative way, complaining about her constant grousin' and saying how he only gets comfort when shes away. Again OCasey is showing us that life is full of negativity from Junos eyes but not from The Captains eyes, her husband is sick of her and obviously doesnt like spending time with her, this would be sad and again we feel sorry that Juno has to put up with him. As soon as Juno reveals herself it is very funny when Joxer is in a desparate hurry, his childish fear of Juno is very comical. Joxer and Boyle then make up a lie about them getting jobs, how they are going to stop drinking and start working instead, but Juno sees right through it if you think youre able to come it over me with them fairy tales, youre in the wrong shop! OCasey shows us even more negativity in the extract when Juno says to Boyle, eat your breakfast t may be the last youll get for I dont know where the next one is goin to come from. It shows us the true state of poverty and it reflects to seem a very negative place to live in. I think OCasey portrays life in Dublin to have a lot of negativity for Juno. OCasey clearly shows that Juno certainly has her work cut out for her, as she is the one person in the family who has a job and she is also the one who does all the cooking, buys the food and does nearly all of the work herself. She says I killin meself workin this shows just how hard Juno works to keep her family happy. This is not made any easier when Boyle spends a lot of the families money on alcohol in the pub. This means Juno and the rest of the family cannot afford any type of luxuries due to The Captains selfishness. The life for Juno is not pleasant, she has two children and a husband and they all need constant attention from her, she does so much for the family and they keep wanting more and more. I think OCasey presents Junos life in Dublin as full of negativity and corruption but the life for Boyle is easy, he does no work and just spends his days doing whatever he wants, and making Junos life a lot more difficult. I do agree that he presents life in Dublin as negative, but only for Juno, she works all day and looks after the family the rest of the time, she has no time to do what she wants whereas the captain does whatever he wants. I feel sorry for Juno, she deserves a lot more than what she gets.

Antigone Written Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Antigone Written Response - Essay Example A tragic figure is someone who indeed has pride but is compelled to have an open mind when it comes to matters that involve others. And being the kind, it was a premier characteristic for a tragic hero to understand the repercussions of his actions before he set forth in giving exacting decisions. The fact that being rejected made Creon decide the fate of a person based from personal grudges is simply not heroic. Although he does not qualify in the definition of a tragic figure, he still possesses some characteristics that can be treated with nobility. He came from a good lineage, albeit the fact that he inherited the crown with twisted means, and he has what it takes to take over an entire kingdom. His pride and composition makes for a talented king, one which will be able to defend his constituents when the need arises. However, his actions as a king must be measured. This he had proven as his weakness, for in the end he has led to the tragic affairs that would forever taint his rule. Compared with Antigone, Creon is the weaker character. Antigone is a good example of a tragic figure, one which clings to her ideals if she knows they are right and would demand to be heard before she made her own means. Her actions towards the burial of an important person prove how fearless she is. And when it comes to dying, she chose to die with honor. Creon, in contrary, lack the courage it took Antigone to take her own life. That and that alone, is enough proof that Creon is nothing like Antigone. He is nothing like the sort of man a woman could trust decisions in. He failed to discuss his options and saw the fruit of indecision leading to untoward events. As king, it was his obligation to care for his minions, which he never fulfilled with satisfaction. In argument, sympathy can be felt for him at the end of the play when the actions he had started led to a vile event that he had not seen coming. Indeed, no one would have

Growth and world's cities Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Growth and world's cities - Assignment Example The city was founded in 1565 after the French flee the region. Currently, the city rests over a flat yet narrow plain situated between the foothills which lay between the Atlantic Ocean and the Highlands of Brazil, right over the shore residing on the Guanabara Bay. Though the public policy regarding urban planning in Brazil isn`t quite impressive, yet the city reflects considerable urban development which makes it one of the most anticipated tourist resorts. A few communities in Rio exhibit remarkable projects undertaken by private investors like their own waste collection and sewerage systems, gay care centers, considerably higher literacy rate, support centers for the elders, nutrition, recreational and sports centers, metropolitan hotels and other similar urban hubs. Yet, a few other areas seem to be lagging behind in terms of urban development. Rio de Janeiro grew over time to become what it is now. In the first few decades of the 20th century, Rio saw a drastic increase in its population to around 2 million. In 1927, when Antionio Prado was heading the state, the Agache Plan was incorporated into public policy regarding urban development which boosted the growth of the city in the context (Vojnovik 2013) . Thus, during the late 1920`s, th e city saw its golden age which continued till the 1950`s where high profile hotels like Copacabana Palace and the Hotel Gloria were built. Also, the city was turned into a destination for hollywood celebrities and other high profile people from all around the world. Thus, private investment flew in and urban resorts like the Copabana beach and the Santos Dumont airport was inaugurated, further giving the urban touch to the city. After the 1950`s, transportation infrastructure was the focus of the government along with industrial development, which further paved way for the development of advanced housing communities for the blue

Sustainable development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sustainable development - Essay Example he concept of sustainable development is created to represent the goal of making sure that future generations will have an intact environment that will ensure their subsistence. However, even though the real meaning of the concept of sustainable development is unambiguous and certain, the literal definition and explanation of sustainable development have roused intense debates. Problems associated with the definition of sustainable development reveal that the concept is complicated, which merges intergenerational justice, equality, and efficiency derived from environmental, social, and economic factors. This essay presents a critical evaluation of the concept of sustainable development. It is worth mentioning that various disciplines have different definitions of sustainable development. Ecologists define the concept as a process that protects biodiversity; sociologists view it as a process that strengthens and sustains communities; and economists define it as a process that ensures that the quality of subsistence of future generations is better than or the same as that of the current generation (Ciegis, Ramanauskiene, & Martinkus, 2009). The concept of sustainability was introduced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 1980. Several years later, the Brundtland Report released its official definition of sustainable development: â€Å"development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs† (Lee, McNeill, & Holland, 2000, p. 42). In exploring the most serious environmental issues today and the ideal solutions to these problems, the Brundtland Report created the foundation within which the clashing principles of economic development and environmental protection could be reconciled. Much of the global community, by the end of 1992, had espoused the UNFCCC to â€Å"stabiliz[e]†¦ greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would

Efficient Ways To Promote Business

Efficient Ways To Promote Business The main purpose to own a marketing plan to promote the business which includes its strategy, its direction, its services and lastly to determine the profit base of a business. With the current I.T Technologies, one of the most efficient ways to promote business is using e-commerce. With these I.T methods, online business can easily spread over the nation and all around the world especially using Social Networking Application Tools for example, Facebook and Twitters to introduce the website URL and allows the reader to become fan and gained benefit for it such as first 100 registered fans earn free10 online bonus points for online transaction. Another online method is using online media advertisement through Youtube an online shared short movie site where we can easily advertisement through short clip movie. Other from online advertisement, we can put the advertisement in different presentation media such as through newspaper, television, road-side billboard advertisement board, leaflet, small sized sport shoe with our website URL printed and much more advertisement media. In order to make attraction to existing and new potential customer either online or offline method, we can able to arrange some promotion activities and events to promote our newly established e-commerce services by online banner advertisement through local famous blogger online website with permission, publishing through local newspaper using unique upside down advertisement format. In additional, the website should be keep updated from time to time for latest shoe fashion, designed and always shown the famous artist or actor picture where he or she appointed as their brand shoe authorized ambassador where it will be another way to attract youngster customer where the shoe authorized ambassador is their fan idol or which famous sport team sponsor brands such as Adidas or Nike which was all available shoe brand at your store. By participating using the online social networks, we can do promote new services through e-commerce. People can just simply click LIKE button and share information such as store promotion throughout the added friends list and other ways is using search engine optimization is to attract subscribers to your website from other search engines where it is an idea for launching new website purpose. Other than that, we can organize some gathering events especially with local famous bloggers where their blog site having high user accessing at all times one of the best idea to promote online business. Also create some merchandise with your website address printed as one of the publicity promotion. One of effectiveness ways is try to get your store as a authorized dealer for the famous shoe brand in the country or region where your store website will be listed in their website where it accessing by worldwide where mostly consumer will first get surfing through their favorite brand website and search for their local authorized dealer. Once your store appointed as a authorized dealer, try to print the brand name at your business card where it is also one of the ways to promote your store status which will reflected to your store reputation. I would like to suggest making an internet kiosk at the store so that walk in customer will able to aware on the store website and allows customer to apply membership through the website and it is also another way to present the shoes which available at the store rather than walking around the shop which the customer will feel more convenient and accessible for themselves. As for no less effectiveness, do promote through yellow pages directory and show your company details in brief such as Website URL, store address and contact number or even a small map to locate the store or try to make advertisement on the famous sport magazine and newsletter. On the website, allows subscriber to gain more information of the special shoes such as the shoe material, what type of sport is the ideal for the shoes, the shoes is used by any famous person especially by athletes for example NBA star. If possible, make some notification of the website if there is some promotion ongoing. Provide foot care services or health information which is considered as useful information or awareness to the subscriber. Allow the subscriber to make comments on the website such as inquiry or FAQ column. It will be wise if able to provide size graph or chart and even different region (US or UK) foot size for the foot measurement purpose. We should implement some customer services which would make the subscriber feel more convenient while they purchase shoe through online. The customer services can able to make online payment methods such as Mastercard, Visa or Paypal or even provide them free shipping during launching new website promotion or charge subscriber another 5% for the shipping free and it would be great to implement Tracking system so that once transaction is successful, buyer will be able to track their purchase item easily until it is delivery to the buyer side and let buyer to put some comment or message on our services so that we will be aware should there need any improvement and it able to bring our online business to another next level. Another measurement should be available at the website such as accessing website metering. From there, we can able to analysis and comparing with the store amount of walk in customer in weekly or monthly basis. One of promote for newly launched website is using Online chiropody services. This service can able to assist subscriber to aware especially when during the shoe advertisement through any promotional activities where subscriber interested the way of advertising and allow subscriber understand what type of shoe suitable for their purpose. With this kind of services, it may attract new potential subscriber and consider an idea to promote online business. Conclusion: According on an ideally and strategic marketing plan, promote online business or e-commerce is very easy and useful. But of course, we should do consideration in other business factors such as its consequences, allocated budgeting and the most important is to gather sufficient information as much as possible so that it is possible to make look more interesting to the subscriber at all times. Although there are variety ways of advertisement and with limited allocated budgeting, it would be make difficulties as it is the main key point for the overall idea. With e-commerce, limited budgeting will be put aside, as internet basically is free for everyone and easily to make online advertisement such as online classification web site one of the best resources to promote online business. With good planned marketing plan and if possible with some financial strength, I believe this online advertisement will get a start point and success as nowadays people preferred to purchase through online as in a way of convenient and accessible at anywhere or any places as long as availability of internet access. Listen Read phonetically

Mongols and Europe :: essays research papers

Change Over Time Essay: Mongols and Europe Over the years there have been many great nomadic groups, such as the Vikings and the Kievan, but no nomadic group has been more successful than the Mongols. The Mongols have had many lasting influences on Russia, China, and even Europe. The Mongols have left a mark on the European trading systems in technologies as well as in their trading systems trade routes. One thing that stayed the same throughout Europe was their many religion. Although the Mongols set their primary trading system along the Silk Road, the Mongols also set out trade in Europe. The Mongols had a passport like system used mainly in China, because of the long distant trade through regions many languages were encountered, thus the paisa or passport comes in play. The paisa is said to have an inscription which is said to be the permission from the ruler to travel through the region. The paisa or passport was brought by the Mongols to Europe, and then adopted by the European. Many nomadic tribes were uneducated and illiterate, much like the Mongols, because the Mongols were so uneducated this made it harder for them to navigate along the oversea trade routes of Europe. The Mongols were a nomadic group known for their skills of horse riding and their ability and skill to shoot a crossbow over amazing distances. Since the Mongols were so great by horse back, the trade in Europe went from to the majority of people trading by land. But because of the none stop traveling of nomadic groups, this lead to no set or given religion for the Mongols, this helped the different religions of Europe stay constant.

The artisans’ works include making clay-pots Essay

From the very beginning of our Banglee culture, pottery has represented our identity and lifestyle. The artisans’ works include making clay-pots, earthen ware, toys of clay and different idols of gods and goddesses have been the tradition of our culture. But it is now regrettable that in recent times, especially in the last decade potters have been in distress. Because of these unavoidable factors like clay, lack of capital, unsatisfactory selling of clay pots, lack of fuel wood for burning raw pots, their plight is in peril. Earthenware and fashionable things of clay are being rapidly supplanted by aluminum, plastic, steel and other alternative materials. Even toys for children are being made with wood and cloth. Besides, so cold prestigious people never tend to buy earthenware thinking their image and status. But it is admitted everywhere that cooking pot of clay is more conducive to health than pot of silver or other materials. Cooking rice of clay-pots help to cure gastric problem. And pitchers keep water cool in hot days. Another cause for not selling clayware is its brittleness. Inspite of being more cheaper than other aluminum or plastic made pots, clay-pots are not being sold available. Thus potters have to survive with a negligible earning. 3. Pat and Patua important audio-visual mediums in educating the masses since immortal. There is a very deep cultural link the Indo-Gangetic civilisation, such as that of terra-cotta, cloth and natural fibre like jute, â€Å"shola† and beetle nut bark fibre, which are on the verge of extinction. These items go back to as much as 12 centuries. The Moenjodaro link which is visible in our terracotta dolls and toys go back to 3,000 years. Not only has that history been forgotten but the realisation that they are diminishing is that within two decades they’ll be there no more. â€Å"One craft in particular which has suffered as recently as in 15 years is the type of painted scroll called ‘Ghazir pott’. Ghazi is a ‘pir’ recognised both by the Hindus and Muslims, by the woodcutters, honey gatherers, fishermen and boatmen in the Sundarbans. They invoke the Ghazi pir, the tiger personality who protects the people who enter the jungle.† The ‘Ghazir pott’ is a series of folk stories told by the village men of the bravery of this man who protected them from tigers. Ghazi, she said, is sacred to the Hindus too as they have a similar personality whom they called ‘Shatta pir’ but he rides a leopard while Ghazi rides a tiger and both carry symbols in their hands.† One important reason for the diminishing of crafts is that the metropolis dwellers are not paying according to the demand of the producers. When the villagers are putting the products into the market the price is cut to half and bargaining goes on. The elite are least bothered while the middle class like the items and wish to use them at home but unless one is a connoisseur of art the people of the upper echelons of society have forgotten village crafts altogether â€Å"People are ready to pay a high price for painting but they are not ready to pay for a craft that has taken six months whereas the painting may have been done in three days. When a woman has worked on her handicraft on an authentic design for half a year she has the right to ask for more†. â€Å"Karika† products are art crafts and not just handicrafts, she stressed. For this reason the theme of the exhibit had been â€Å"Know Bengali cultural roots.† Kumar or potter family are found all over Bangladesh. The elaborate terra cotta tile works display enormous sweep and dedicated Kumars. In some communities of kumars make clay pots, vessel for cooking, storing water etc. Other sub-castes fashion figures in the shape of animals, birds, humans and children toys. The â€Å"Sakher Hari†, an earthen pot, painted with images of fish, combs, birds and floral creepers to denote fertility is used to carry sweets for a marriage ceremony. 10.The Lost Art of Metal Casting The lost-wax technique is an ancient art that dates back over 2,000 years or older in India, China, and Egypt. In the 15th century it was used by the likes of Donatello for the making large-scale bronze nudes. Bowls and plates made with intricate etchings are made using other methods. Material Most of the figures are made from bronze (a copper and tin alloy) or brass (a copper and zinc alloy). Hindu figures are made out of eight metals believed to have an auspicious connection to the planets. The eight metals are: copper, zinc, tin, iron, lead, mercury, gold and silver. Once a dying art, metal-casting is being revived by Sukanta Banik, whose business in Dhamrai has been in the family for five generations. Until recently, Banik’s forefathers had been making household items with brass and bronze — kasha and pittal. But in 1971, Sukanta’s uncle Shakhi Gopal Banik and his partner, Mosharraf Hossein, changed direction and started producing works of art: figures from Hindu mythology and folk art as well as Buddhist and Jain sculptures. Designs of the gods and goddesses Designs of the gods and goddesses are based on the art of the Pala dynasty. They tend to be very intricate, and stand distinguished from statues made elsewhere, The lost-wax technique allows helps Banik’s artisans create more pronounced detailing. In contrast to most Indian statues, whose details are etched onto the solid metal form, the details of one of Banik’s statues are made on the soft wax at the initial stages of the sculpting, using soft wax thread, which is then carved into with a bamboo stick. Thus, the embellishments take on a three-dimensional quality. Murtis from India also differ in that they are usually made from a Master mold. We must attempt to preserve this age-old tradition, not just in Dhamrai, but in other centers like Jamalpur, Islampur, Tangail, Kushtia, and Dhaka.† In the words of friend and supporter, Matt Friedman, â€Å"If [the metal casting] trade is someday lost, an important part of Bangladesh’s artistic tradition will vanish forever.† Hats off to Mr. Banik for bringing this decidedly Bangalee tradition back to life (Manisha Gangopadhyay, November 8, 2004). 11. Satranji : Weaving for a cause -Rugs steeped in history Even if it’s not Aladdin’s magic carpet, the lure of the 1,000 year old traditional jute rug –Satranji continues to have buyers in its thrall. The elegance and splendour of the rug is believed to have captivated even the great Mughal Emperor Akbar. The charm of Satranji was evident both in palaces and huts. Recently, the lyrical beauty of the Satranji was on display at the lounge of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel. Hanging on walls, placed on a traditional Palanko( the highly decorative antique bed of kings, nawabs and zamindars), the soft lighting created a dreamy atmosphere with splashes of bright colours at the exhibition premises. With the title ‘Colour Your Home with Village Art’, a three-day exhibition started on October 3, 2004. The organiser was famous designer Bibi Russell in collaboration with Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel. The exhibition is a fund raiser.’ Twenty percent of the proceeds will be donated to Lifebuoy Friendship Hospital. The rest of the funds will go to the North Bengal weaver community who made these magnificent rugs,’ said Bibi. ‘We are focusing on the women weavers of Rangpur. They have suffered a series of natural adversities- the harmful flood, devastating rains and drought. Consequently, these people are uncertain about how to celebrate Eid. In the exhibition, around 80 Satranjis made of 100 percent jute, are on display with various colours and designs in folk tradition. From Pilpa, which was known as Hatipaya to Jafri, Itkhati, Latai the traditional mingled with modern designs depicting the motifs of elephant footprints, motifs from Jamdani and the intrinsic geometrical patterns. About the designs Bibi says, ‘ The traditional motifs are absolutely superb (Afsar Ahmed, Daily Star, November 5, 2004). 12.Bamboo-based cottage industry faces extinction Bamboo-based cottage industry in Shariatpur, Madaripur, Gopalganj, Rajbari and Faridpur is on the verge of extinction due to lack of raw materials and shrinking of market for the products. Market sources said the short fall in raw materials is triggered by indiscriminate extraction of bamboo trees for building houses and various goods, uprooting the bamboo for setting up settlements and lack of any initiatives to preserve or grow bamboo clusters. Besides, the local markets are being flooded with metal or plastic goods leaving no rooms for the bamboo made ones. Consumers are increasingly buying metal or plastic goods instead of bamboo-made products because of their cost effectiveness and durability. As a result, thousands of bamboo craftsmen have already left their inherited profession in search of alternative jobs. A large number of them have become jobless finding no other alternatives, the sources said. The Dying Art Of Clinical Medicine Allopathic Medicine is an art and science. It is unique isn’t it? How it is an art? Because when a patient and doctor interact there is a (Hi) story of the patient’s symptoms, feelings. A patient hearing on the part of the doctor. By the history (Symptoms) the doctor assumes or infers the possibilities of the diagnosis. Then he examines the patient which include pulse and Blood pressure recording, Heart and lung check with his stethoscope and then the physical examination of the patient. Then he comes to a possible diagnosis eg: A simple cold, a bacterial infection, An appendicitis, meningitis, diarrhea etc, etc. This is called clinical diagnosis. This above part is the art of medicine. The scientific part is †¦ordering some tests like blood tests, X-ray, (ultra sonogram, MRI in modern times)etc to confirm the clinical diagnosis. This type of Clinical (Art) & scientific diagnosis was prevalent about 25-30 years before. Now a days it has become 1.(Doctor’s) protective medicine because for any untoward reaction like allergy to a drug or a coincidental occurrence like say â€Å"the patient is already dying and the doctor is forced to save him by hook or crook by the relatives,( specially in Tamilnadu people think a good practice is giving..1.an injection, 2. Few costly tablets and a 3.syrup called as tonic.. Even a cough syrup is considered a tonic etc and now a days a drip is a must.Such doctors(quacks) mint money due to the gullibility of the public.But the genuine and sincere doctor doctor is vulnerable (if any untoward like a natural death happens) to mob attack and abuse, law suits and brandishing as bad doctor. So present day medical practice is protective. Thus the art of medicine is dying and the clinicians are becoming stooges of lab tests, Scans, pharmaceuticals and Insurance /business motivators and last but not the least. .the patients and their relatives.

Uses for Bleach and Vinegar

Uses for Bleach and Vinegar Mixing vinegar and bleach strengthens the cleaning and disinfecting properties of the chemicals, yet it also produces toxic vapors. Do you mix vinegar and bleach for specific purposes? If so, what is your use of the mixture? These are answers and experiences submitted by readers. NEVER AGAIN !!!! I was dumping out dirty water from the mop bucket into my shower drain didnt think anything of it . I was quick to pour water and bleach in the bucket and completely forgot vinegar was leftover and voila, a coughing fit burning eyes. Mind you I live in an old house, so there isnt much ventilation but I have all the doors and windows open to no avail. Its effects are horrible   cant get the smell out of my nose and the light headedness. - annon The devil is in the dilution At alkaline pH values of about 8.5 or higher, more than 90% of the bleach is in the form of the chlorite ion (OCl-), which is relatively ineffective antimicrobially. At acidic pH values of about 6.8 or lower, more than 80% of the bleach is in the form of hypochlorite (HOCl). HOCl is about 80 to 200 times more antimicrobial than OCl-. - googleit Vinegar Bleach Cleaner Mix one-gallon water with 2 oz. bleach and 2 oz. vinegar in a spray bottle; the most effective disinfectant cleaner for counters, floors, sinks, etc. and helps prevent fruit flies. - Keyna Welenc Bleach IS an acid! DANGER! Chlorine bleach contains sodium hypochlorite or NaOCl. Because bleach is Sodium hypochlorite in water, the sodium hypochlorite in bleach actually exists as hypochlorous acid: I worked calibrating chlorine detectors. And if you mix Bleach with vinegar it produces chlorine gas! It is deadly and should NOT be done under any circumstance! A danger to life article here cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/intridl4.html also see: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/832336-overview - DayoIII Bleach is not an acid. Bleach is not an acid, it is a strong base. adding vinegar WILL lower the pH, but since bleach has a HIGH pH, adding vinegar will only neutralize it. Another use for mixing vinegar with bleach is to create a strong oxidizing chemical, used to turn (for example) steel wool into iron oxide (Fe2O3), used for color pigments, or chemistry experiments. - Professor good to know! these are good things to know! especially being someone who is just starting to live on my own and not living in the nicest places that are available. Getting rid of the mold and smells are important, but not that important. My go-to chemical is straight up comet bleach. It worked for my grandmother and my mother and it works for me! Less risk of dangerous fumes than mixing or the liquid since it is powder form. - CHEM II Student Good God! - It Wasnt a Miracle Cleaner I believe the miracle is that I am still alive and breathing! because about 4 hours ago I mixed up a large amount 1/1 mix of bleach /vinegar the only time in my life desperately seeking an inexpensive solution to molds/parasites in a large outdoor aviary/cage which also houses a small shop that I spend a great deal of time with my cat in. He just came in from the area the l was sizzling. Will he be OK? I did it to protect him from potentially harmful spores/ect.. but what have I done! Im so worried about him the tiny little fellow! and what happens when it rains tonight does it start reacting again. Or should I rinse well w/garden hose or should I avoid re-wetting it, I even bent down closer to the ground watching it react ! and observed for at least 1/2 hr? yeeeeeps! stupid girl!. I cant tell if my throat /chest hurts or not I think maybe yes or my worried imagination? - Judy still suffering I was cleaning a rather old shower, still had the stainless steel base. I spray sellys 3 min mold cleaner on the shower walls and polaris stainless steel cleaner on the base. I left it to work for 3 mins then went in and scrubbed the base, as i did this my eyes started burning and coughing.I didnt know that the two cleaners where reacting, just thinking the bleach was rather strong. it wasnt until i got home 3 - 4 hrs later my husband said Id inhaled chloric gases given off from the two products. I rang the poison center and was told to flush the eyes for 15 mins and go to the local hospital. I flushed my eyes but didnt go to the hospital. 2 weeks later Im still suffering from acute sinus and headaches. Do not underestimate the dangers of bleach. - Kiwi I almost died Today I was cleaning my kitchen floor with vinegar and liquid dishwashing detergent. I scrubbed the floor and still could not get all the stains out. Thought Id use a little bit of bleach. Boy! It was like the vinegar potentiated the odor of the bleach (now I know the chlorine gas was released). I was coughing, entire airway irritated. Felt close to losing consciousness and struggled to get kitchen windows open. I did, but I was just to overcome. Left the kitchen and went upstairs. Opened up 3 more windows and just could not get myself straight. Its been about 4 hours since the incident. My airway is still irritated and Wheezing is audible, and I consider myself stupid but alive. I have always respected bleach but just didnt appreciate that household vinegar could react with it with such dire consequences. - Brenda Outdoor Nastiness I use it to clear up mold and mildew on the patio. The fumes arent a problem outside and it does a number on discolored yuckiness outdoors. - CleanGirl

Unexpected Journeys essays

Unexpected Journeys essays Unexpected Journeys: Women Surrealistic Artists March is National Womens History Month and the Women Center at Kutztown University organized various events on campus to support the idea that Women can inspire Hope and Possibilities. One of these events was the presentation - Unexpected Journey by Janet Kaplan. The speech has the purpose of presenting the womens involvement into the Surrealistic art. As person, who doesnt have an art education, it was extremely interesting and informative to learn about Surrealism. The first thing that I did before starting to analyze the Kaplans speech was to look at the dictionary and to see how it defines the word- surrealism- A 20th-century literary and artistic movement that attempts to express the workings of the subconscious and is characterized by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition of subject matter. Fact is that very few is known about the womens involvement in the Surrealism and furthermore if you ask an art education major students to name some of the 20th century women artist they will barely tell one or two names. At the beginning, women were important to the Surrealists not as artists but as muses and lovers. As sexual creatures that inspired creativity they were loved; as real women and mothers who would squelch men's freedom they were feared. Though Surrealists paint from the subjective source of thirr own dreams and unconscious psyches, they aim for an objective content in the works of art by revealing natural archetypes hidden behind the bourgeois emphasis on rational subjectivity. They try to give the impression of an absence of both civilized humanity and a progressively mechanized world. Common objects with than connection to humanity are combined and altered in such a way that they take on an unreal and inhuman quality, only to ...

Financial Intermediaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Intermediaries - Essay Example An understanding of Financial Institution A financial intermediary can be defined as an institution that acts as the middleman between investors and firms raising funds. (Investopedia, 2012) Several types of financial intermediaries such as Banks, Insurance companies, building societies, pension funds, credit unions etc functions in an economy. The function of a financial intermediary is of prime importance in economic growth as it brings in contact two parties i.e. one having a surplus of funds who is looking for a venture to invest in so to earn a return on the money, and the second type which is looking to borrow funds. Since in the real world, it is rare that the demand of lender and borrower reconcile and thus a financial intermediary comes into play. A financial intermediary, such as banks, acquires funds from the lenders and subsequently lends them to the borrowers according to their desire rates. In this particular exercise the financial intermediary takes into consideration various needs of the lender and borrower such as maturity (which means the duration or term for which the lender wants to lend and the borrower wants to acquire) and rate of return/cost of debt (the lender wants to maximize the return, whereas the borrower wants to minimize the cost). ... In addition, the financial intermediary also offers risk aversion which assists the parties involved in spreading out and reducing the risk. Common Functions of Financial Institutions There are three main ways in which capital is transferred between savers and the one who needs it. In the first procedure, the saver directly receives stocks or bonds which a business sells. This transaction is done in the absence of any financial institution. The business in order to get the money it needs, provide savers with its securities. The second way is indirect way, which includes an investment banking house such as Merill Lynch, which underwrites the issue. Underwriter here plays the role of a middleman and guarantees the issuance of securities. The stocks or bonds of the company are sold to the investment bank, which in turn sells these same securities to the savers. In such transaction, the business’s securities and the savers money is only passing through the investment banking house . It should be noted that in this particular transaction that the investment bank buys the securities and held them for a particular period of time. By doing so the investment bank is taking a risk that it may not be able to resale these securities in the future for as much amount as it paid. This transaction is termed as a primary market transaction. The third way is an indirect way in which transfer is made through a financial intermediary such as bank or mutual fund. In this case, by exchanging its own security, the intermediary obtains funds from the saver. After acquiring the funds, the intermediary purchases businesses’ security with the money it obtained from the saver. For example, a bank

Any topic (writer's choice) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 269

Any topic (writer's choice) - Essay Example According to the essay the industry George’s company is operating in deals with goods with a short lifecycle, after which they lose their value. The shirts are only valuable for each event they are made for, after which their value falls and they can only be sold at a fraction of the price. Another product that can be considered similar is daily newspapers, which cannot be sold at the same price a day after. The company's sales cannot be determined with certainty, and probabilities are used to estimate expected sales. Probabilities are used to predict the number of attendees to the events and the number of attendees likely to buy the shirts as well. Demand side probabilities are afterward used to estimate the volumes of the supply side to order.From this paper it is clear that  decision alternatives George has to make are between orders of 5000, 7500 and 10000 shirts. A larger order has a volume discount. He also has to decide on the percentage of people attending the concer t interested in buying the shirts being 5%, 10% or 15% of the total attendance. Given his expectation of a medium attendance of 50000 grandstand seats and the guaranteed 20000 for the standing area, 10% of the total of 70000 gives a minimum of 7000 shirts. An order of 7500 shirts will cost $25250.  Compare this to his preferred order of 5000 shirts. They will cost $17750. Selling them to agents at $100 a dozen he will make $41600 from 416 dozens.8 surplus shirts sold at $1.50 each will generate $12.

Trend Paper- Current Trend in America to End Capitol Punishment Essay

Trend Paper- Current Trend in America to End Capitol Punishment - Essay Example Since then more than 15,000 American citizens have been executed under the death penalty inscribed in its laws and practices, with the first half of the twentieth century marking the period of time in its history, when there was the most prolific use capital punishment (Dieter, 1). The new Millennium has been marked by a rising trend against the use of capital punishment in the laws and practices of America. Drop in execution rates, unwillingness of some states to use capital punishment, and rising exonerations are clear indications of the growing trend in America against capital punishment. A recent Gallup poll confirms the trend against capital punishment, with support for capital punishment reducing among the general American population to the lowest level in the last thirty years (Sarat & Martschukat, 2). There is a clear rising trend against capital punishment in America. ... nt in the American judicial system, it is necessary to evaluate the trend in the attitude of the States and communities that make up the American nation. New Jersey stands out as being the first jurisdiction to remove capital punishment from its judicial system by means of legislative action, in 2006. A commission was appointed by New Jersey for evaluating its capital punishment system, and the commission by a vast majority recommended the removal of the capital punishment system. In Illinois, in 2000, consequent to a near miscarriage of justice, the Governor banned capital punishment, which still remains in place. Attempts to reinstate death penalty that was overturned in 2004 have been strongly resisted by the New York legislature (Dieter, 3). The scenario across America is almost the same, reflecting a clear indication that the death penalty is no longer popularly acceptable across the country. In twelve states death penalty finds no place in their statutes. Among the other 38 sta tes the application of death penalty is less than more, with probably the State of Texas remaining the sole staunch supporter of the continued use of capital punishment. With such clear evidence of mounting resistance to capital punishment across America, there can be no argument against the rising trend against the use of capital punishment in America (Revenge begins to seem less sweet). Arguments for the Removal of Capital Punishment The lethal injection used for capital punishment may be a benign manner of bringing an end to the life of an individual through the judicial process. Yet, many a botched execution, resulting from its use by unqualified personnel or poor management has roused the empathy of the public to the manner in which a condemned man is put to death (Sarat & Martschukat,

Argumentative Essay Essay Example for Free

Argumentative Essay Essay Governments should be more involved in citizens diets Modern age supermarkets selling off the shelve foods are normal nowadays. Unfortunately the knowledge of what is healthy and what is not had been effected by this. People should be better educated on what is healthy and what is not. Healthier diets make healthier citizens and healthier citizens will save a lot of money in health care, bad diets do cause expensive health problems. Although it is general knowledge that unhealthy products are cheaper than healthy products, it is not general knowledge that products claiming to be healthy are usually full of harmful and unhealthy ingredients. It is time the government steps in to protect the population. Firstly, health problems caused by bad, unhealthy diets weigh heavily on health care expenses. Several population-based prevention policies can be expected to generate substantial health gains while entirely or largely paying for themselves through future reductions of health-care expenditures according to The Lancet (Cecchini et al., 2010). Just by eating healthier a reduction will be made possible, this alone should be reason enough for a government to get more involved Secondly, people will be stimulated to choose healthier products when prices for unhealthy products will be raised. The current situation is just the other way around. The healthier choice is more expensive. â€Å"With proper nutrition and regular exercise, you can reduce the costs of health insurance premiums, the amount you spend on medicines and the number of co-pays for doctor visits† according to Livestrong (Ellyn 2011). However true this may be, as long as healthier products cost more instead of less people will be inclined to buy more unhealthy products. Thirdly, in order to make the healthier decision, information about unhealthy ingredients should be clearer and more visible. Reading food labels is strangely enough rather difficult, excellent vision and extensive knowledge on what the ingredients mean are necessary to understand the labels. â€Å"It makes it easier to compare similar foods to see which is a healthier choice† according to the Mayo Clinic (2012), however easier to understand labelling, easier to read labelling will enable more people to making that choice. In conclusion, if governments decide to invest in educating the population it will enable and stimulate citizens to make healthier choices. In order to reach this goal the government should demand clearer and more visible information on products concerning the ingredients put a fairer price on healthier products.

We Must Protect Animals from Needless Experiments Essay -- Argumentati

We Must Protect Animals from Needless Experiments Picture this: Researchers place a dog in a device called a â€Å"shuttlebox† which consists of a box divided into two compartments separated by a barrier. Hundreds of intense electric shocks are delivered to the dog’s feet through a grid floor. At first the dog is able to escape the shock by jumping across the barrier, but then the barrier is replaced by a piece of plate glass. The dog is tested again and, as expected, tries to jump over the barrier, but instead he smashes his head into the glass. The researchers observe that the dog’s reaction to his situation includes such symptoms as â€Å"defecation, urination, yelping and shrieking, trembling, and attacking the apparatus.† After ten or twelve days the dog ceases to resist the shocks. The conclusion of this experiment is that a combination of the plate glass barrier and foot shock was â€Å"very effective† in eliminating jumping by dogs (Singer 36). No medical benefits emerged from this experiment, yet this same experiment continues to be carried out by other researchers. In fact, every 24 hours in this country, about 200,000 creatures die in the name of medical and scientific progress, some in experiments like the one just described (Satchell 4). Many of these experiments are repetitive and unnecessary. Congress needs to pass a law preventing cruel and unnecessary experimentation on animals. The Animal Welfare Act was passed in 1966, the only Federal law that directly defines the rights of animals. The act sets standards for lab animals’ living conditions but sets no regulations on actual experimentation. The act was amended in 1970, setting standards for the transportation, housing, and handling of animals sold as p... ...ce 14 October 1988: 185-186. Huges, Jane. â€Å"Raining Cats and Dogs.† National Review 23 July 1990: 35-38. Marcus, Erin. â€Å"New Research Methods Seem Unlikely to Eliminate Animal Testing.† Washington Post 28 August 1990: A3. Morrison, Adrian R. and Dominick P. Pupura. â€Å"Legislative Shift on Animal Research.† BioScience March 1990: 172. Rosenberger, Jack. â€Å"Whose Life Is it Anyway?† New York 15 Jan 1990: 30-31. Satchell, Michael. â€Å"Do They Have Rights?† Parade 13 January 1985: 4. Scharmann, Wolfgang. "Ethical Aspects of Animal Experimentation." Fox 89. Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. 2nd ed. New York: New York Review of Books, 1990. United States. United States Codes. 7:2131, 1988. Weiss, Rick. â€Å"Test Tube Toxicology.† Science News 16 January 1988: 42. Wright, Robert. â€Å"Are Animals People Too?† The New Republic 12 March 1990: 20-22, 26-27.

Solar Energy Essay -- A Level Essays

Solar Energy ~Some history, types, and facts~ In this modern fast paced world that we live in, there are many issues that are looked over, energy is one of these. As a world, we are dependant on dwindling fossil fuel supplies and take for granted electricity, oil, and gas. There are four completely renewable sources of energy around us that should be used and developed, they are: wind, growing plants, flowing water, and the sun. These sources of energy are the ones we should be tapping, because they are reliable and renewable. Harnessing the suns energy is the most certain and ultimate energy source. Looking at a brief history and some facts about solar energy, a glimpse of the future can be seen, a future not dependant on fossil fuels. Using the sun for its heat and energy is not a new idea. It has been around for thousands of years. The first record of sun being utilized for energy and heat dates back to 400 BC. The Greeks designed their buildings and oriented their houses to utilize the sun during the winter and obscuring its hot rays during the summer. The Romans then continued on with harnessing the suns energy by developing window glass that allows the sunlight to come in, but traps solar heat. The Romans even put the sun in their legal system as to make sure that every house had so much access to the sun. The first solar water heaters came into play in the 18th century. A French-Swiss scientist in Maryland did an experiment to see how much heat window glass would actually trap. By building a box and putting different glass tops on it, he learned he could reach the boiling point inside the box. Another person developed this idea and decided to put tanks of water into them, and sure enough that w... ... on the fuel supplies and political alliances that are very uncertain. From the history of solar energy, and the present developments, having your own solar power is very attainable for everyday life. Bibliography Facts Regarding Solar Energy. http://www.solar.org.uk/ecoshop/pages/seido1.htm. 2002 Fossil Fuel Consumption. http://zebu.uoregon.edu/1999/ph161/l10.html History of Solar Energy. http://www.solarenergy.com/info_history.html. History of Solar Energy, Revisiting Solar Power’s Past. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/stories/s225110.htm. Charles Smith. 1995. How Stuff Works. http://people.howstuffworks.com/hydrogen-economy1.htm Komp, Richard J. Practical photovoltaics, electricity from solar cells. 3rd edition. aatec. 1995. Solar Energy Basics. http://www.eere.energy.gov/RE/solar.html. U.S. Department of Energy.2003.

A Dirty Job Chapter 23

23 A FUCKED-UP DAY It was a fucked-up day in the City by the Bay. At first light, flocks of vultures perched on the superstructures of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, and glared down at commuters as if they had a lot of goddamn gall to still be alive and driving. Traffic copters that were diverted to photograph the ranks of carrion birds ended up covering a spiral cloud of bats that circled the Transamerica pyramid for ten minutes, then seemed to evaporate into a black mist that floated out over the Bay. Three swimmers who had been competing in the San Francisco Triathlon drowned in the Bay, and a helicopter camera photographed something under the water, a dark shape approaching one of the swimmers from below and dragging him under. Numerous replays of the tape revealed that rather than the sleek shape of a shark, the creature had a wide wingspan and a distinctly horned head, unlike any ray or skate that anyone had ever seen before. The ducks in Golden Gate Park suddenly took to the wing and left the area, the hundreds of sea lions that normally lounged in the sun down at Pier 39 were gone as well, and even the pigeons seemed to have disappeared from the City. A grunt reporter who had been covering the overnight police blotter noticed the coincidence of seven reports of violence or missing persons at local-area secondhand stores, and by early evening the television stations were mentioning it, along with spectacular footage of the Book 'em Danno building burning in the Mission. And there were hundreds of singular events experienced by individuals: creatures moving in the shadows, voices and screams from the sewer grates, milk souring, cats scratching owners, dogs howling, and a thousand people woke up to find that they no longer cared for the taste of chocolate. It was a fucked-up day. Charlie spent the rest of the night fretting and checking locks, then double-checking them, then looking on the Internet for clues about the Underworlders, just in case someone posted a brand-new ancient document since he'd last checked. He wrote a will, and several letters, which he walked outside and put in the mailbox out on the street rather than with the outgoing mail on the counter of the store. Then, around dawn, completely exhausted yet with his Beta Male imagination racing at a thousand miles an hour, he took two of the sleeping pills Jane had given him and slept through the fucked-up day, to be awakened in early evening by a call from his darling daughter. â€Å"Hello.† â€Å"Aunt Cassie is an anti-Semite,† said Sophie. â€Å"Honey, it's six in the morning. Can we discuss Aunt Cassie's politics a little later?† â€Å"It is not, it's six at night. It's bath time, and Aunt Cassie won't let me bring Alvin and Mohammed into the bathroom with me for my bath, because she's an anti-Semite.† Charlie looked at his watch. He was sort of glad that it was six in the evening and he was talking to his daughter. Whatever happened while he was sleeping at least hadn't affected that. â€Å"Cassie is not an anti-Semite.† It was Jane on the other line. â€Å"Is too,† said Sophie. â€Å"Be careful, Daddy, Aunt Jane is an anti-Semite sympathizer.† â€Å"I am not,† Jane said. â€Å"Listen to how smart my daughter is,† said Charlie. â€Å"I didn't know words like anti-Semite and sympathizer when I was her age, did you?† â€Å"You can't trust the goyim, Daddy,† said Sophie. She lowered her voice to a whisper. â€Å"They hate baths, the goyim.† â€Å"Daddy's a goyim, too, baby.† â€Å"Oh my God, they're everywhere, like pod people!† He heard his daughter drop the phone, scream, and then a door slammed. â€Å"Sophie, you unlock this door this instant,† Cassie said in the background. Jane said, â€Å"Charlie, where does she get this stuff? Are you teaching her this?† â€Å"It's Mrs. Korjev – she's descended from Cossacks and she has a little residual guilt for what her ancestors did to the Jews.† â€Å"Oh,† Jane said, not interested now that she couldn't blame Charlie. â€Å"Well, you shouldn't let the dogs in the bathroom with her. They eat the soap and sometimes they get in the tub, and then – â€Å" â€Å"Let them go with her, Jane,† Charlie interrupted. â€Å"They may be the only thing that can protect her.† â€Å"Okay, but I'm only letting them eat the cheap soaps. No French-milled soaps.† â€Å"They're fine with domestic soap, Jane. Look, I drew up a holographic will last night. If something happens to me, I want you to raise Sophie. It's in there.† Jane didn't answer. He could hear her breathing on the other end. â€Å"Jane?† â€Å"Sure, sure. Of course. What the hell is going on with you guys? What's the big danger Sophie's in? Why are you being spooky like this? And why didn't you call earlier, you fucker?† â€Å"I was up all night doing stuff. Then I took two of those sleeping pills you gave me. Suddenly twelve hours are gone.† â€Å"You took two? Never take two.† â€Å"Yeah, thanks,† Charlie said. â€Å"Anyway, I'm sure I'll be okay, but if for some reason I'm not, you need to take Sophie and get out of the City for a while. I mean like up in the Sierras. I also sent you a letter explaining everything, as much as I know, anyway. Only open it if something happens, okay?† â€Å"Nothing better happen, you fuck. I just lost Mom, and I – why the hell are you talking like this, Charlie? What kind of trouble are you in?† â€Å"I can't tell you, Jane. You have to trust me that I didn't have any choice in the matter.† â€Å"How can I help?† â€Å"By doing exactly what you're doing, taking care of Sophie, keeping her safe, and keeping the hellhounds with her at all times.† â€Å"Okay, but nothing better happen to you. Cassie and I are going to get married and I want you to give me away. And I want to borrow your tux, too. It's Armani, right?† â€Å"No, Jane.† â€Å"You won't give me away?† â€Å"No, no, it's not that, I'd pay her to take you, it's not that.† â€Å"Then you don't think that gay people should be allowed to get married, is that it? You're finally coming clean. I knew it, after all – â€Å" â€Å"I just don't think that gay people should be allowed to get married wearing my tux.† â€Å"Oh,† Jane said. â€Å"You'll wear my Armani tux and I'll have to rent some piece of crap or buy something new and cheap, and then I'll go through eternity looking like a total dork in the wedding pictures. I know how you guys like to show wedding pictures – it's like a disease.† â€Å"By ‘you guys,' you mean lesbians?† Jane said, sounding very much like a prosecuting attorney. â€Å"Yes, I mean lesbians, dumbfuck,† said Charlie, sounding very much like a hostile witness. â€Å"Oh, okay,† Jane said. â€Å"It is my wedding, I guess I can buy a tux.† â€Å"That would be nice,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'm sort of needing the pants cut a little looser in the seat these days anyway,† Jane said. â€Å"Thatta girl.† â€Å"So you'll be safe and give me away.† â€Å"I'll sure try. You think Cassandra will let me bring the little Jewish kid?† Jane laughed. â€Å"Call me every hour,† she said. â€Å"I won't do that.† â€Å"Okay, when you can.† â€Å"Yeah,† Charlie said. â€Å"Bye.† He smiled to himself and rolled out of bed, wondering if this might be the last time he would ever do that. Smile. Charlie showered, ate a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and put on a thousand-dollar suit for which he had paid forty bucks. He limped around the bedroom for a few minutes and decided that his leg felt pretty good and he could do without the foam walking cast, so he left it on the floor by the bed. He put on a pot of coffee and called Inspector Rivera. â€Å"It was a fucked-up day,† Rivera said. â€Å"Charlie, you need to take your daughter and get out of town.† â€Å"I can't do that. This is about me. You'll keep me informed, right?† â€Å"Promise you won't try to do anything stupid or heroic?† â€Å"Not in my DNA, Inspector. I'll call you if I see anything.† Charlie disconnected, having no idea what he was going to do, but feeling like he had to do something. He called Jane's house to say good night to Sophie. â€Å"I just want you to know that I love you very much, honey.† â€Å"Me, too, Daddy. Why did you call?† â€Å"What, you have a meeting or something?† â€Å"We're having ice cream.† â€Å"That's nice. Look, Sophie, Daddy has to go do some things, so I want you to stay with Aunt Jane for a few days, okay?† â€Å"Okay. Do you need some help? I'm free.† â€Å"No, honey, but thank you.† â€Å"Okay, Daddy. Alvin is looking at my ice cream. He looks hungry, like bear. I have to go.† â€Å"Love you, honey.† â€Å"Love you, Daddy.† â€Å"Apologize to Aunt Cassie for calling her an anti-Semite.† â€Å"‘Kay.† Click. She hung up on him. The apple of his eye, the light of his life, his pride and joy, hung up on him. He sighed, but felt better. Heartbreak is the natural habitat of the Beta Male. Charlie took a few minutes in the kitchen to sharpen the edge of the sword-cane on the back of the electric can opener he and Rachel had received as a wedding present, then he headed out to check on the store. As soon as he opened the door to the back staircase Charlie heard strange animal noises coming from the store. It sounded as if they were coming from the back room, and there were no lights on, although he could see plenty of light filtering in from the store. Was this it? Sort of solved the problem of what he was going to do. He drew the sword from his cane and crept down the stairs in a crouch, moving along the edge of each step to minimize squeakage. Halfway down he saw the source of the animal noises and he recoiled, leaping nearly halfway back up the staircase. â€Å"For the love of God!† â€Å"It needed to be done,† Lily said. She was astraddle Ray Macy, her plaid pleated skirt (mercifully) draped out over him, covering the parts that would have caused Charlie to have to tear his eyes out, which he was thinking about doing anyway. â€Å"It did,† Ray agreed breathlessly. Charlie peeked down into the back room – they were still at it, Lily riding Ray like he was a mechanical bull, one bare breast bouncing out of the lapel of her chef ‘s coat. â€Å"He was despondent,† she said. â€Å"I found him giving himself hickies with the shop vac. It's for the greater good, Asher.† â€Å"Well, stop it,† Charlie said. â€Å"No, no, no, no, no,† said Ray. â€Å"It's a charity thing,† Lily said. â€Å"You know, Lily,† Charlie said, covering his eyes, â€Å"you could exercise your charity in other ways, like Salvation Army Santa or something.† â€Å"I don't want to fuck those guys. Most of them are raging alcoholics, and they stink. At least Ray is clean.† â€Å"I don't mean do one, I mean be one. Ring the bell with the little red kettle. Jeez.† â€Å"I am clean,† said Ray. â€Å"You shut up,† Charlie said. â€Å"She's young enough to be your daughter.† â€Å"He was suicidal,† Lily said. â€Å"I may be saving his life.† â€Å"She is,† Ray said. â€Å"Shut up, Ray,† Charlie said. â€Å"This is pathetic, desperate pity sex, that's all it is.† â€Å"He knows that,† Lily said. â€Å"I don't mind,† said Ray. â€Å"I'm doing this for the cause, too,† Lily said. â€Å"Ray was holding out on you.† â€Å"I was?† said Ray. â€Å"How?† Charlie said. â€Å"He found a woman who was buying all the soul vessels. She was with the clients you missed. Somewhere in the Mission. He wasn't going to tell you about her.† â€Å"I don't know what you're talking about,† Ray said. Then added, â€Å"Faster, please.† â€Å"Tell him the address,† Lily said. â€Å"Lily,† Charlie said, â€Å"this isn't really necessary.† â€Å"No,† Ray said. There was a loud smack. Charlie opened his eyes. They were still there, doing it, but Ray's right cheek was bright red and Lily was winding up to slap him again. â€Å"Tell him!† â€Å"It's on Guerrero Street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth, I don't know the number, but it's a big green Victorian, you can't miss it. Three Jewels Buddhist Center.† SMACK! â€Å"Ouch, I told him,† Ray whined. â€Å"That's for not getting the address, BITCH!† Lily said. Then to Charlie: â€Å"There you go, Asher. I want a prime position when you take over the Underworld!† Charlie thought that one of the first things he was going to change when he took over was expanding The Great Big Book of Death to include how to handle situations like this. But instead he said, â€Å"You got it, Lily. You'll be in charge of dress code and torture.† â€Å"Sweet,† Lily said. â€Å"‘Scuse me, Asher, I have to finish this.† Then to Ray: â€Å"Hear that? No more flannel shirts for you, grommet!† SMACK! The grunts coming from Ray increased in frequency and intensity. â€Å"Sure,† Charlie said. â€Å"I'll just go out the other door.† â€Å"See ya,† Ray said. â€Å"I'm never going to look either one of you in the eye again, okay?† â€Å"Sounds good, Asher,† Lily said. â€Å"Be careful.† Charlie crept back up the steps, went out the front door of his apartment and down the elevator to the street entrance, suppressing his gag reflex the whole way. On the street he flagged down a cab and rode into the Mission, trying to wipe the image of his shagging employees out of his mind. The Morrigan had followed the gift souls that had escaped through the drains to a deserted street in the Mission. Now they waited, watching the green Victorian building from storm-drain grates at either end of the street. They were more cautious now, their rapacious nature having been dampened somewhat by having been severely blown up the night before. They called them the gift souls because the little patchwork creatures brought the souls right to them in the sewers – the gifts showing up in the Morrigan's weakest moment. After the accursed Boston terrier had chased them through miles of pipelines, leaving them battered and exhausted on a high ledge at a pipe junction, along marched twenty or so of the darling little nightmares, all dressed up in finery and carrying just what they needed to heal their wounds and replenish their strength: human souls. And thus renewed, they were able to scare away that obnoxious little dog. The Morrigan were back – not to the strength they'd achieved before the explosion, maybe not even enough to fly, but certainly enough to venture Above once again, especially with so many souls at hand. No one was out on the streets tonight except the junkies, the hookers, and the homeless. After the fucked-up day in the City, most everyone had decided that it was just a better idea to stay in, safer. To the Morrigan (for all they cared), they were safer in their homes the same way a tuna fish is safer in a can, but no one knew that yet. No one knew what they were hiding from except Charlie Asher, and he was getting out of a cab right in front of them as they watched. â€Å"It's New Meat,† said Macha. â€Å"We should give him a new name,† said Babd. â€Å"I mean, he's really not that new anymore.† â€Å"Hush,† hushed Macha. â€Å"Hey, lover,† Babd called out of her drain. â€Å"Did you miss me?† Charlie paid the cabbie and stood in the middle of the street looking at the big jade-green Queen Anne. There were lights on in the turret upstairs and in one window downstairs. He could just make out the sign that read THREE JEWELS BUDDHIST CENTER. He started to step toward the house and saw movement in the lattice under the porch – eyes shining. A cat maybe. His cell phone rang and he flipped it open. â€Å"Charlie, it's Rivera. I have some good news; we found Carrie Long, the woman from the pawnshop, and she's still alive. She was tied up and thrown in a Dumpster a block from her store.† â€Å"That's great,† Charlie said. But he wasn't feeling great. The things that had been moving under the porch were coming out. Moving up the stairs, standing on the porch, lining up and facing him. Twenty or thirty of them, a little more than a foot tall, dressed in ornate period costumes. Each had the skeletal face of a dead animal, cats, foxes, badgers – animals Charlie couldn't identify, but just the skulls – the eye sockets empty, black. Yet they stared. â€Å"You won't believe what she said put her there, Charlie. Little creatures, little monsters, she said.† â€Å"About fourteen inches tall,† Charlie said. â€Å"Yeah, how'd you know?† â€Å"Lots of teeth and claws, like animal parts stuck together, all dressed up like they were going to a grand costume ball?† â€Å"What are you telling me, Charlie? What do you know?† â€Å"Just guessing,† Charlie said. He unclipped the latch on his sword-cane. â€Å"Hey, lover,† came a female voice from behind him. â€Å"Did you miss me?† Charlie turned. She was crawling out of the drain almost directly behind him. â€Å"The bad news,† Rivera said, â€Å"is we found the junk dealer and the bookstore guy from Book 'em Danno – pieces of them.† â€Å"That is bad news,† Charlie said. He started moving up the street, away from the sewer harpy and the porch full of Satan's sock puppets. â€Å"New Meat,† came a voice from up the street. Charlie looked to see another sewer harpy coming out of the drain, her eyes gleaming black in the streetlight. Behind him he heard the clacking of little animal teeth. â€Å"Charlie, I still think you should leave town for a while, but if you don't, and don't tell anyone I told you this, you should get a gun, maybe a couple of guns.† â€Å"I think that would be a great idea,† Charlie said. The two sewer harpies were moving very slowly toward him, awkwardly, as if their nerves were short-circuiting. The one closest to him, the one from the alley in North Beach, was licking her lips. She looked a little ragged compared to the night she'd seduced him. He moved up the street away from them. â€Å"A shotgun, so you won't need to learn to shoot. I can't give you one, but – â€Å" â€Å"Inspector, I'm going to have to get back to you.† â€Å"I'm serious, Charlie, whatever these things are, they are going after your kind.† â€Å"You have no idea how clear that is to me, Inspector.† â€Å"Is that the one who shot me?† said the closest harpy. â€Å"Tell him I'm going to suck his eyeballs out of the sockets and chew them in his ear.† â€Å"You get that, Inspector?† Charlie said. â€Å"She's there?† â€Å"They,† Charlie said. â€Å"This way, Meat,† said the third sewer harpy, coming out of the drain at the far end of the block. She stood, extended her claws, and flicked a line of venom down the side of a parked car. The paint sizzled and ran where it hit. â€Å"Where are you, Charlie? Where are you?† â€Å"I'm in the Mission. Near the Mission.† The little creatures were coming down the steps now, down the walk toward the street. â€Å"Look,† said a harpy, â€Å"he brought presents.† â€Å"Charlie, where exactly are you?† said Rivera. â€Å"Gotta go, Inspector.† Charlie flipped the phone closed and dropped it in his coat pocket. Then he drew the sword from the cane and turned to the harpy from the alley. â€Å"For you,† he said to her, whipping the sword in a flourish through the air. â€Å"That's sweet,† she said. â€Å"You always think about my needs.† The 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was the perfect show-off of death machines. It consisted of nearly three tons of steel stamped into a massively mawed, high-tailed beast, lined with enough chrome to build a Terminator and still have parts left over – most of it in long, sharp strips that peeled off on impact and became lethal scythes to flay away pedestrian flesh. Under the four headlights it sported two chrome bumper bullets that looked like unexploded torpedoes or triple-G-cup Madonna death boobs. It had a noncollapsible steering column that would impale the driver upon any serious impact, electric windows that could pinch off a kid's head, no seat belts, and a 325 horsepower V8 with such appallingly bad fuel efficiency that you could hear it trying to slurp liquefied dinosaurs out of the ground when it passed. It had a top speed of a hundred and ten miles an hour, mushy, bargelike suspension that could in no way stabilize the car at that speed, and undersized power brake s that wouldn't stop it either. The fins jutting from the back were so high and sharp that the car was a lethal threat to pedestrians even when parked, and the whole package sat on tall, whitewall tires that looked, and generally handled, like oversized powdered doughnuts. Detroit couldn't have achieved more deadly finned ostentatia if they'd covered a killer whale in rhinestones. It was a masterpiece. And the reason you need to know all that, is that along with the battle-worn Morrigan and the well-dressed chimeras, a '57 Eldorado was rapidly approaching Charlie. The bloodred lacquered Eldo slid around the corner, tires screaming like flaming peacocks, hubcaps spinning off toward the curb, engine roaring, spewing blue smoke out of the rear wheel wells like a flatulent dragon. The first of the Morrigan turned in time to take a bumper bullet in the thigh before she was dragged and folded under the car and spit out the back into a black heap. The headlights came on and the Caddy veered toward the Morrigan nearest Charlie. The animal creatures scurried back up the sidewalk and Charlie ran up onto the hood of a parked Honda as the Eldo smacked the second Morrigan. She rag-doll-whipped over the hood as the car's brakes screamed, then flew twenty yards down the street. The Caddy peeled out and hit her again, this time rolling over her with a series of thumps and leaving her tossing down the tarmac, shedding pieces as she rolled. The Caddy blazed on toward the final Morrigan. This one had a few seconds on her sisters and started running up the street, her shape changing, arms to wings, tail feathers trying to manifest, but she didn't seem able to make the transformation in time to fly. The Eldo plowed over her, then hit the brakes, reversed, and burned rubber on her back. Charlie ran up on the roof of the Honda, ready to leap away from the street, but the Caddy stopped and the blacked-out electric window wound down. â€Å"Get the fuck in the car,† said Minty Fresh. Minty Fresh hit the final Morrigan again as he speeded off down the block, took two screeching lefts, then pulled the car to the curb, jumped out, and ran around to the front. â€Å"Oh, goddamn,† said Minty Fresh (damn on the downbeat, with pain and sustain). â€Å"Goddamn, my hood and grille are all fucked up. Goddamn. I will tolerate the rising of darkness to cover the world, but you do not fuck with my ride.† He jumped back in the car, threw it into gear, and screeched around the next corner. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"I'm going to run over the bitches again. You do not fuck with my ride.† â€Å"Well, what did you think would happen when you ran them over?† â€Å"Not this. I never ran over anyone before. Don't act like that's a surprise.† Charlie looked at the gleaming interior of the car, the bloodred leather seats, the dash fitted with walnut burl and gold-plated knobs. â€Å"This is a great car. My mailman would love this car.† â€Å"Your mailman?† â€Å"He collects vintage pimp wear.† â€Å"So what are you trying to say?† â€Å"Nothing.† They were already on Guerrero Street and Minty floored it as they approached the target block. The first Morrigan he had hit was just getting to her knees when he hit her again, knocking her over two parked cars and into the side of a vacant building. The second one turned to face them and bared her claws, which raked the hood as he rolled over her with a drumroll of thumps, then he ran over the third one's legs as she was crawling back into the storm sewer. â€Å"Jeez,† Charlie said, turning and looking out the back window. Minty Fresh seemed to turn his full attention to driving safely now. â€Å"What the hell are those things?† â€Å"I call them sewer harpies. They're the things that call to us from the storm sewers. They're a lot stronger now than they used to be.† â€Å"They're scary is what they are,† said Minty. â€Å"I don't know,† Charlie said. â€Å"Have you gotten a good look at them? I mean, they got the badonkadonk out back and some fine bajoopbadangs up front, know what I'm sayin', dog? Buss a rock wid a playa?† He offered his fist for Minty to buss him a rock, but alas, the mint one left him hangin'. â€Å"Stop that,† Fresh said. â€Å"Sorry,† Charlie said. â€Å"Talk Like a Playa in Ten Days or Less – Stone Thug Edition?† Minty asked. Charlie nodded. â€Å"We got the CD into the store a couple of months ago. I practice in the van. How am I doing?† â€Å"Your Negro-osity is uncanny. I had to keep checking to make sure you're still white.† â€Å"Thanks,† Charlie said, then, as if a light went on: â€Å"Hey, I've been looking for you – where the hell have you been?† â€Å"Hiding out. One of those things came after me on the BART a few nights ago when I was coming back from Oakland.† â€Å"How'd you get away?† â€Å"Those little animal things, a bunch of them attacked her in the dark. I could hear her screaming at them, tearing them to ribbons, but they held her off until the train pulled into the station, which was full of people. She bolted back into the tunnel. There were pieces of the animal creatures everywhere in the train car.† Minty turned onto Van Ness and started heading toward Charlie's side of town. â€Å"So they helped you? They're not part of the Underworlders trying to take over?† â€Å"They don't appear to be. They saved my ass.† â€Å"So you know some of the Death Merchants have been killed?† â€Å"I didn't know. It wasn't in the paper. I saw where Anton's shop burned up last night. He didn't make it out?† â€Å"They found pieces of him,† Charlie said. â€Å"Charlie, I think I caused this.† Minty Fresh turned and really looked at Charlie for the first time, his golden eyes looking forlorn. â€Å"I failed to collect my last two soul vessels, and all of this started.† â€Å"I thought it was me,† Charlie said. â€Å"I missed two as well. But I don't think it's us. My two clients are alive, I think they're in that house where I was going when you saved me: the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. There's a woman there who's been buying up soul vessels, too.† â€Å"Cute brunette?† Minty asked. â€Å"I don't know. Why?† â€Å"She bought some from me, too. Tried to disguise herself, but it was her.† â€Å"Well, she's in that house back there. I've got to go back there.† â€Å"I don't want anything to do with those bitches with the claws,† Minty said. â€Å"True dat,† Charlie said. â€Å"I had a thing with one of them.† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Yeah, she got all up in my grille and shit – had to cut da ho loose.† â€Å"Stop that.† â€Å"Sorry. Anyway, I've got to go back.† â€Å"You sure? I don't think they're dead. Doesn't look like they can be dead.† â€Å"You could run over them again. By the way, how did you know where to find me?† â€Å"After I heard about Anton's place burning, I tried to call him and got a disconnected message, so I went to your store. I talked to that little Goth girl you have working for you. She told me where you went. Talked to her for about ten minutes. She knows about me – I mean us? The Death Merchants?† â€Å"Yes, I told her a long time ago. Wasn't she, uh, busy when you got there? With a guy, I mean.† â€Å"No. She seeing anyone?† â€Å"I thought you were gay?† â€Å"I never said that.† â€Å"Yeah, but you didn't go out of your way to deny it either.† â€Å"Charlie, I run a music store in the Castro, I'd do more business as a gay Death Merchant than a straight shopkeeper.† â€Å"Good point. I never thought of that.† â€Å"Color me surprised. So, she seeing anyone?† â€Å"She's half your age and I think she's a little twisted – sexually, I mean.† â€Å"So is she seeing anyone?† â€Å"She's like a little sister to me, Fresh. Don't you have employees like that?† â€Å"Have you never met anyone who works in a record store? There's no greater repository of unjustified arrogance in the world. I'd poison my employees if I thought I could find replacements.† â€Å"I don't think she's seeing anybody, but since the world is about to be taken over by the Forces of Darkness, you may not have time for dating.† â€Å"I don't know. She seems like she might have an in with the Forces of Darkness. I like her, she's funny in a sort of macabre way, and she likes Miles.† â€Å"Lily likes Miles Davis?† â€Å"You don't know that about your little sister?† Charlie threw his hands up. â€Å"Take her, use her, throw her away, I don't care, she's only part-time. You can date my daughter, too. She's going to be six and probably loves Coltrane for all I know.† â€Å"Calm down, you're overreacting.† â€Å"Just turn around and take me back to that Buddhist center. I've got to stop this thing. It's all on me, Fresh. I'm the Luminatus.† â€Å"You are not.† â€Å"I am,† Charlie said. â€Å"You're the Great Death – with a capital D? You? You know this to be true?† â€Å"I do,† Charlie said. â€Å"I knew there was something different about you, but I thought that the Luminatus would be – I don't know – taller.† â€Å"Don't start with that, okay.† Minty swung the car off Van Ness into a hotel turnaround. â€Å"Where are you going?† Charlie said. â€Å"To run over some sewer harpies again.† â€Å"Back to the Buddhist center?† â€Å"Uh-huh. You have any weapons besides that stupid sword?† â€Å"My cop friend told me I should get a gun.† Minty Fresh reached into his moss-green jacket and came out with the biggest pistol Charlie had ever seen. He placed it on the seat. â€Å"Take it. Desert Eagle fifty-caliber. It'll stop a bear.† Charlie picked up the chrome-plated pistol. It weighed like five pounds and the barrel looked big enough to stick your thumb in. â€Å"This thing is huge.† â€Å"I'm a big guy. Listen, it holds eight shots. There's a round in the chamber. You have to cock it and release the safety before you fire. There and there.† He pointed to the safety and the hammer. â€Å"Hold on to it if you have to shoot. It will knock you on your ass if you're not ready.† â€Å"What about you?† Minty patted the other side of his coat. â€Å"I have another one.† Charlie turned the gun in his hand and watched the streetlights playing off its chromed surface. (Beta Males, who inherently feel they are always at a competitive disadvantage, are suckers for showy equalizers.) â€Å"You have a lot going on under the surface, Mr. Fresh. You are not just the run-of-the-mill seven-foot-tall Death Merchant in a pastel-green suit.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Asher. Very kind of you to say.† â€Å"My pleasure.† Charlie's cell phone rang and he flipped it open. Rivera said, â€Å"Asher, where the hell are you? I've been circling the Mission and there's nothing here but a lot of black feathers flying in the air.† â€Å"Yeah, it's okay. I'm okay, Inspector. I found Minty Fresh, the guy who owns the music store. I'm in the car with him.† â€Å"So you're safe?† â€Å"Relatively.† â€Å"Good. Lay low and I'll call you, okay? I want to talk to your friend tomorrow.† â€Å"You got it, Inspector. Thanks for coming to help.† â€Å"Careful, Asher.† â€Å"Gotcha. I'm laying low. Bye.† Charlie snapped the phone shut and turned to Minty Fresh. â€Å"You ready?† â€Å"Absolutely,† said the fresh one. The street was deserted when they pulled up in front of the Three Jewels Buddhist Center. â€Å"I'll go around to the back,† Minty said. Well, cars suck, I can tell you that,† said Babd, trying to keep herself together as the Morrigan limped back to the great ship. â€Å"Five thousand years, horses are fine, all of a sudden we have to have paved streets and cars. I don't see the attraction.† â€Å"I'm not even sure that we need to rise and let Darkness rule,† said Nemain. â€Å"Apparently darkness isn't qualified yet. Speaking as an agent of Darkness, I think it needs more time.† She had been crushed into a half-woman, half-raven form and was shedding feathers as they limped through the pipe. â€Å"It's like that New Meat has someone watching over him,† said Macha. â€Å"Next time Orcus can deal with him.† â€Å"Yeah, let's get Orcus to go after him,† Babd said. â€Å"See what he thinks of cars.†