Supreme Court Essays (503 words) - Anal Eroticism, Judicial Activism

Supreme Court Restraint & Activism Judicial activism is loosely defined as decisions or judgements handed down by judges that take a broad interpretation of the constitution. It is a decision that is more of a reflection of how the judge thinks the law should be interpreted rather than how the law has or was intended to be interpreted. There are many examples of judicial activism; examples include the opinions of Sandra Day OConnor in the Lynch v. Donnelly and the Wallace v. Jaffree trials. Sandra Day argues for the changing of the First Amendments ban on establishment of religion into a ban on endorsement of religion. Others include US v. Kinder where our congress passed legislation that would require a minimum sentence for persons caught distributing more than 10 grams of cocaine. Judge Leval used a weighing method suggested by the sentencing commission rather than the method required by congress. The different method used did not trigger the mandatory sentence whereas the congressional method would have. Miranda v. Arizona is a very important activist decision that required police to inform criminal suspects of their rights before they could be interrogated. These rights include: the right to remain silent, that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have a right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you be the court. In this case the Fifth Amendments right that a person may not be forced to incriminate ones self was interpreted in an activist way as meaning that one must be aware of this right before on is interrogated by the police. Prior to this ruling it was common practice to force and coerce confessions from criminal suspects who did not know they had the right not to incriminate themselves. Judicial restraint is loosely defined as decisions or judgements that take a narrow interpretation of the constitution. It reflects a respect for the law as it has been enacted by the Legislature. Rather than creating new laws from broad interpretations. For myself, it is somewhat harder to distinguish what judicial restraint is. An example of judicial restraint would be the 1996 case of Bowers v. Hardwick. Hardwick was charged with violating the Georgia statute of sodomy by committing a sexual act with another male in the bedroom of his home. He challenged his conviction in the Supreme Court. The key issues were that Supreme Court upheld his conviction stating that the Constitution does not give the right for homosexuals to engage in sodomy. The justices also felt that there should be great resistance to expand the reach of the due process clauses to cover any new fundamental rights. Whereas the Roe v. Wade decision stated that women have the right to privacy when in the constitutio n no right exist, the Bowers v. Hardwick decision stated that there is no part of the constitution that gives the right of sodomy by homosexuals. Political Issues

10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume

10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume 10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume 10+ Tools and Resources to Write the Perfect Resume By Ali Hale If you read my post of resume tips a few weeks ago, you’ll already be familiar with best practice for writing a great resume. While there’s nothing wrong with hand-crafting your resume in Microsoft Word (or your word processor of choice), there are plenty of online tools that can save you lots of time by formatting your resume in seconds. Plus, if you’re still struggling with exactly what to put on your resume in the first place – there’s lots of great advice out there. Before we get into the list of great tools and resources, there are a couple of crucial things to keep in mind: Whatever tools you use, employers will expect a resume that conforms to a standard format. There are some nifty tools out there that let you create a resume that looks like, say, an infographic: unless you’re very certain that’ll go down well with your potential employer, stick to something a little more conventional. Tools can be hugely helpful but they can only do so much. If there are major issues with your resume (like a huge unexplained gap in your work history, or a total mismatch between your listed skills and what an employer wants), you’ll want to fix those problems before trying to format your resume beautifully. With those caveats out of the way, here’s the list: Online Advice and Support on Creating Your Resume #1: â€Å"Resume† Category (free), Ask a Manager I love the blog â€Å"Ask a Manager† by Allison Green (though be warned, it’s an easy place to spend a little too much time reading about other people’s weirdly dysfunctional workplaces). There’s a whole category of advice about â€Å"Resumes†, which is well worth a read. (Allison Green is a manager who’s been extensively involved in hiring and really knows her stuff. You can submit your own questions to her, if you have a resume query that hasn’t already been covered on the blog.) #2: Resume Samples (free), Resume Genius If you’re writing a resume for the first time – or after a long time away from employment – then you might feel quite unclear on how a resume should even look. Going through some resume samples can be really helpful, because it gives you a good feel for what potential employers will expect. There are plenty of sites out there offering sample resumes, but Resume Genius is a particularly easy-to-use one, with samples categorised by industry, and with related samples like cover letters, plus additional tips. You can click to download a sample as a Microsoft Word document without having to sign up or put in your email address. Tip: Don’t assume that the wording or layout of a sample is perfect (or that it’s perfect for the role you have in mind): it won’t necessarily be appropriate to copy a particular phrase that a sample resume or cover letter uses, for instance. In any case, you should be very careful about using wording from any sample unless it’s something very standard (like â€Å"I am interested in applying† or â€Å"Thank you for your consideration†), unless you have express permission – otherwise, copying the sample is plagiarism. #3: CV Tips: this is what a recruiter can see after 30 seconds with your resume (free), The Independent This is a single article, but one I wanted to link to because it provides a very honest and valuable perspective from the other side of the fence. It’s easy to end up agonising over things on your resume that don’t really matter – or giving too much importance to areas that employers simply aren’t that interested in (like your educational history). Tip: Although published by a UK newspaper, the author of the piece (Ambra Benjamin) is American, so the advice here applies fairly well on either side of the Atlantic. #4: 43 Resume Tips That Will Help You Get Hired (free), The Muse This is another single article, but one that’s packed with practical tips and lots of links to further information, from the big picture (focusing on recent, relevant jobs) to the little details (avoiding using the same words repeatedly). Note that the article is aimed at US readers, so if you’re in a different country, you may find that some of the advice doesn’t necessarily apply – and even if you are in the US, don’t feel that you have to follow every single point slavishly. Give this a skim-read when you’re first putting together your resume; you can then go through it point by point as you edit and polish your resume, following the links to further information if there’s a particular area where you need extra help or want more details. Tip: There’s some particularly good advice towards the end of the article about saving and sending your resume – do make sure that it displays correctly once emailed (you can send it to yourself and check it on another computer), and make sure you include your name in the file name, not just â€Å"Resume† or â€Å"CV†. #5: 103 Resume Writing Tips, Resume Genius This piece, like the one from The Muse, collects together lots of practical tips – with links to further help when needed. It’s a little different, though, in that it’s a collection of common mistakes – things that the team at Rescue Genius see on a daily basis when reviewing people’s resumes (like â€Å"forgot to use action verbs† or, worryingly, â€Å"misspelled own name†). Some of the mistakes might seem like obvious ones to avoid, but others are ones you might never have thought about before – like â€Å"weak bullet points displayed before strong ones† and â€Å"not bringing multiple copies of it to interview†. Tip: The article is US-focused, but a lot of these tips will apply wherever you are in the world.   There might be cases where standard practice in your own country is different, though – so do seek local advice as well, and ignore the tips/mistakes that don’t apply to you. Tools to Create Your Resume #6: Canva Resume Builder (free) Canva offers a wide range of design tools and resources, and it has a great resume building tool. You start by writing your name and then you will be able to pick the style you are looking for. For example, you can go with corporate style, acting resume, high school, creative professional and so on. The next step is to pick the templates you like from a list of available ones. Finally, you will be able to input your resume information and to edit any design aspects you want. Overall the process is very simple and will produce a professional looking resume in a very short time. #7: Google Docs templates (free), various creators If you want a straightforward way to create a resume, why not use Google Docs’s templates? Click on the link above to go straight to the â€Å"Template gallery†, then click â€Å"General† to view them. You should see a whole series of different templates: scroll down to get to the resumes. Click your chosen template to load it up, then simply fill in the details. Keep in mind that once you’ve chosen a template to edit, you can’t switch your text to a different template – so you might want to try a few before you settle on one. Tip: Most of the resume templates have a corresponding â€Å"letter† template that uses the same colours and fonts. You might want to use this for your cover letter (if you’re not simply including the cover letter in the body of an email). #7: Kickresume (free/paid), Kickresume SRO Kickresume is a free and straightforward site that lets you create a standard resume, providing templates for both resumes and cover letters (plus websites). It’s simple to use, though you will need to create an account (or you can login via Google, Facebook or LinkedIn). To save time, you can import your LinkedIn profile, by downloading a .zip file from LinkedIn and uploading it to Kickresume – full instructions are provided. You can change the template you’re using at any time, without losing any of the text you’ve uploaded or inputted. There are only three basic, free templates though – if you want to use the â€Å"pro† options, you’ll need to upgrade to the paid plan ($15/month or $48/year). Tip: Some of the resume templates include space to put a photograph of yourself. This isn’t standard practice in the US or UK for resumes, so if you’re in those countries, you may want to choose a template that only has text content. #9: Enhancv (paid, has free trial) Enhancv is a complete platform for those looking to create a modern and effective resume. After signing up you will be prompted to choose one of the many existing templates. you will then be able to edit all the sections with your personal information and experience. One interesting feature the platform offers are the automated suggestions to improve the wording of specific parts of your resume. This is a paid product, but it comes with a free 7-day trial. On top of that the website offers a wide range of resources and articles you can use to improve your resume without paying anything. #10: CV Maker (free, paid), CV Maker CV maker offers several basic templates for creating a resume. You fill in your information in a form, and you can then switch between different templates if you want to. While it’s possible to create your resume without logging in, you’ll need to create an account if you want to save your CV and edit it in the future. It’s free to create an account, and you’ll get full access to the basic templates and to the save/download features. The premium level (which gives you lots of advanced options) only costs $16/year, too – so you might decide it’s worth upgrading. Tip: CV Maker’s site is available in a wide range of different languages: if English isn’t your native language, you can easily change this from the drop-down menu at the top of the site or the list in the footer. #11: Standard Resume (free, paid), Minimum Works Standard Resume has a very straightforward LinkedIn import – you can bring in all your information from LinkedIn, then edit or add anything you need to. As with Kickresume and CV Maker, the basic templates are free; you can pay for a premium account ($5/month or $20/year) to tailor your resume further. Unlike some other sites, Standard Resume keeps the templates simple and straightforward: you won’t find profile photos or odd infographic elements here. If you’re applying to a fairly traditional industry, or if you just want to keep things as simple as possible, that could make Standard Resume a great option for you. Tip: The pro level also lets you see when your resumes have been viewed and/or downloaded, which you might find useful. #12: Slick Write (free), RussTek LLC In Top 10 Online Tools to Help You Write the Perfect Essay, I covered the popular spelling and grammar checking tools Grammarly and Hemingway. Slick Write is similar: you can paste in a passage of writing (or use a Chrome or Firefox extension) and it will automatically flag up potential problems. You could use it on your cover letter or any emails you need to send, as well as on your resume. While I don’t think any tool can replace careful proofreading – and ideally, a second pair of eyes on your resume – Slick Write can help you to edit your work. It’s completely free, so well worth a try. (It is, however, funded by ads, which you may find slightly intrusive or annoying.) Tip: As with any grammar checker, don’t feel that you have to follow every single recommendation. You might decide that your phrasing is fine as it is! Whatever tools you use to help, writing a resume can be tough. You need to convey, clearly and concisely, exactly why you’ll be a good fit for a particular role – in a standard format that supplies potential employers with all the information they’ll expect. For further help on knowing what to include in your resume, take a look at my article Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for 2018. Best of luck with your job-hunting. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Bare or Bear With Me?Social vs. SocietalMood vs. Tense

Feminine Mystique Definition and Background

Feminine Mystique Definition and Background The Feminine Mystique is remembered as the book that â€Å"started† the womens movement and 1960s feminism in the United States. But what is the definition of the feminine mystique? What did Betty Friedan describe and analyze in her 1963 bestseller? Famous, or Famously Misunderstood? Even people who have not read The Feminine Mystique can often identify it as a book that drew attention to the massive unhappiness of women trying to fit a media-idealized â€Å"happy suburban housewife† image. The book examined the role of women’s magazines, Freudian psychology, and educational institutions in limiting women’s life options. Betty Friedan drew back the curtain on society’s pursuit of the pervasive mystique. But exactly what did she expose? Definition of the Feminine Mystique The feminine mystique is the false notion that a woman’s â€Å"role† in society is to be a wife, mother, and housewife - nothing else. The mystique is an artificial idea of femininity that says having a career and/or fulfilling one’s individual potential somehow go against womens pre-ordained role. The mystique is the constant barrage of homemaker-nurturer-mother images that esteem the virtue of keeping house and raising children as essential womanhood while criticizing the â€Å"masculinity† of women who want to do other things, whether along with or instead of the mystique-approved duties.   In Betty Friedans Words â€Å"The feminine mystique says that the highest value and the only commitment for women is the fulfillment of their own femininity,† Betty Friedan wrote in The Feminine Mystique’s second chapter, â€Å"The Happy Housewife Heroine.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It says that the great mistake of Western culture, through most of its history, has been the undervaluation of this femininity. It says this femininity is so mysterious and intuitive and close to the creation and origin of life that man-made science may never be able to understand it. But however special and different, it is in no way inferior to the nature of man; it may even in certain respects be superior. The mistake, says the mystique, the root of women’s troubles in the past is that women envied men, women tried to be like men, instead of accepting their own nature, which can find fulfillment only in sexual passivity, male domination, and nurturing maternal love. (The Feminine Mystique, New York: W.W. Norton 2001 paperback edition, pp. 91-92) One major problem was that the mystique told women it was something new. Instead, as Betty Friedan wrote in 1963, â€Å"the new image this mystique gives to American women is the old image: ‘Occupation: housewife.’† (p. 92) Inventing an Old-Fashioned Idea The new mystique made being a housewife-mother the ultimate goal, rather than recognizing that women (and men) could be freed by modern appliances and technology from many of the domestic labors of earlier centuries. Women of previous generations may have had no choice but to spend more time cooking, cleaning, washing and bearing children. Now, in mid-20th century U.S. life, instead of allowing women to do something else, the mystique stepped in and made this image: â€Å"into a religion, a pattern by which all women must now live or deny their femininity.† (p. 92) Rejecting the Mystique Betty Friedan ably dissected the messages of women’s magazines and their emphasis on buying more household products, a self-fulfilling prophecy designed to keep women in the fabricated role. She also analyzed Freudian analysis and the ways women were blamed for their own unhappiness and lack of fulfillment. The prevailing narrative told them they simply weren’t living up to the mystique’s standards.   The Feminine Mystique awakened many readers to the realization that the upper-middle-class-suburban-homemaker-mother image being spread across the land was a false idea that hurt women, families, and society. The mystique denied everyone the benefits of a world in which all people could work to their fullest potential.

The Contemporary Issues in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The Contemporary Issues in Marketing - Essay Example There are thousands of books for marketing in the recent time, but do all of these books say the same thing in a different manner? Or these books are not at all applicable in the real life? Well, this paper reveals the major contemporary issues of these marketing books in a descriptive manner. The great virtue of marketing management is, that it is bound to change and evolve over time, developing newer strategies and theories which may benefit the marketing of products, and ultimately help in improving human lives in the process. Such improvements and evolution of marketing concepts and theories; play a key role in enhancing the quality of our lives by making more and more products and services accessible to us. However, marketing is a huge functional entity which comprise of various branches. The contemporary issues of marketing include the manner in which products and services are marketed, in an ethical manner and the use of technology as a new-age marketing strategy. This paper w ill discuss all the contemporary issues which are important to improve the product. ... This paper will be focusing on all the aspects as well as issues related to contemporary marketing. Furthermore, other critical issues such as the traditional and modern marketing approaches as well as the involvement of the technologies; the ethical aspects of the Marketing are also discussed comprehensively, in this paper. This paper will help the reader to understand the contemporary definition and the approaches of marketing in the modern era. Introduction: There are thousands of books for marketing in the recent time, but do all of these books say the same thing in a different manner? Or these books are not at all applicable in the real life? Well, this paper reveals the major contemporary issues of these marketing books in a descriptive manner. The great virtue of marketing management is, that it is bound to change and evolve over time, developing newer strategies and theories which may benefit the marketing of products, and ultimately help in improving human lives in the proce ss. Such improvements and evolution of marketing concepts and theories; play a key role in enhancing the quality of our lives by making more and more products and services accessible to us. However, marketing is a huge functional entity which comprise of various branches. The contemporary issues of marketing include the manner in which products and services are marketed, in an ethical manner and the use of technology as a new-age marketing strategy. This paper will discuss all the contemporary issues which are important to improve the product. The concept of marketing and its components: Definition: Marketing is an age-old phenomenon and it comprises of various critical

Career management in business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Career management in business - Essay Example In the changing demands by businesses in the modern era, career management is a necessity to adapt to the changing environmental demands. The mode in which careers are studied in the organizational context take the form whereby careers are shaped by organizations and they as well shape themselves up through both theoretical and systematic approaches (Denison, 1996). It is often interesting to realize how the day to day work around companies and businesses are based on technology hence the way in which work is conducted around such work places is highly altered. It is also worthwhile to realize how scientists are on the rise in terms of numbers hence the crop of modernization is likely to go up. To cope up with all theses changes at the work place it is advisable to therefore be necessary to keep our knowledge current and skills (Arthur, Inkson & Pringle, 1999). II. The Career Management Practices in use today To mange an employee’s career plan successfully so as to achieve the necessary development some of the following practices may be adopted. First, provide the employees with career planning workshops while conducting constant assessment on them. The managers should be placed under career workshops. Employee career centers can be created within the organizations to encourage employees to constantly go for performance check (Fombrun, Tichy & Devanna, 1984). The management can also give open career briefing to enable the employees have a chance of planning their careers. These can be within a defined timeframe or through the relevant media to ensure that there is no lapse at all. Furthermore, a team of internal network of information providers so that information can always reach the parties concerned of for example the nature of work and their job qualifications. The internal job and talent banks ought to be maintained since it enables employees to frequently peruse through which employees learn about open positions and the skills required from them. O ther practices include: - establishment of individual learning accounts, starting a mentoring program formally as they are effective in ensuring employee retention by quite a big percentage (Ghoshal & Bartlett, 1997). III. Why organizations should implement supportive career management practices There are numerous reasons as to why it is appropriate for organizations to adopt and implement career management practices most so due to the changing work environment and dynamic workforce. Firstly, such practices enable the employees take charge of their careers by in the first instance assessing their abilities, interests and values. Such practices will enable the employees engage in planning process where they dig deep into the organizations needs hence determining the future options for the organizations and how to prepare for them. Secondly, through the career management practices, managers in many business organizations are able to learn how to support and reward employee efforts thr ough becoming familiar with their career assessment and planning process hence practicing vital techniques of career planning. Thirdly, career management practices can create a situation in the organization where services become automated and modernized hence able to incorporate all round feedbacks, competency assessment, confidential counseling, career management and resilience training (Gratton, 2000). Furthermore, career management

Literary Devices Essay Example for Free

Literary Devices Essay While attending my course on â€Å"War and Literature†, and listening to the conversation, I found myself struck by an intellectual question presented by another student. This student asked, â€Å"When does paradox become hypocrisy?† Immediately afterwards I wrote the response, â€Å"A good war is a war that teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them.† At first I didn’t know if I had truly responded to the question. I analyzed both the question and response carefully through the literary devices and found myself satisfied with the responses standing. When analyzing the response I first had to return to the question. â€Å"When does paradox become hypocrisy?† Referring to this question I had to ask if my response held a paradox. â€Å"A good war is a war that teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them.† Considering that a paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory, and that â€Å"a good war† is the introduction to the response, suggested that â€Å"a good war† is a paradox. However, why is it that â€Å"a good war† is a paradox? War can best be defined as active hostility. Good can also be best defined as being well behaved. Considering these definitions and the response, â€Å"a good war† would certainly be a paradox because active hostility is contradictory to being well behaved. However, most would assume that â€Å"a good war† was the responses paradox, and to assume otherwise would be insulting to someone’s intellect. So then one has to ask how it is so commonly understood that â€Å"a good war† is a paradox? To conclude this question, one must consider that most of everyone was raised with the developmental understanding of good and bad. Most of everyone also would commonly agree that war is not good. So why do people still go, and why do we not learn from â€Å"it’s mistakes without someone having to live with them†? From statistics taken in the year two thousand fourteen, seven percent of America’s society is a veteran, and in that year there were near three hundred eighteen million citizens. That means that over twenty two million American citizens are veterans of foreign war. So how is it that we can convince over seven percent of our citizens to go risk their livelihood? We determined that war is wrong so how do we replace the ideas of good and bad? To better answer that question, it is better to replace the employment of a soldier with a painter. In order to make someone who is not a painter become a painter, one would have to go through a series  of tasks. First, cut off access to other mediums. Do not allow that person to work with anything other then painting. If they want to write a letter home, they paint it. If they want to create something three dimensional, they paint it. If they want to tell a story, they again, will paint it. Now there is no difference between the painter with their paintbrush, and the recruit with their rifle. Second, apply influences to praise the ideals. The same recruited painter now needs to be surrounded with people who share the same ideals. The painter cannot have the influences of sculptors, graphic designers, or any other ambassador of other art form. The painter needs the overall support of peers with the subject matter. This again, is no different from the soldier and their peers. Third, discourage all other ideals. The facilitator, who is regulating the transition between non-painters to painters, needs to openly degrade the ideals of all other art forms. The facilitator needs to make sure that th e recruits hear their passionate opinions about how other art forms are â€Å"wrong†. This will guide the recruits to also share the same ideals. This relationship resembles the relationship between Drill Instructors and their recruits. Fourthly, revival the title has a distinguished history of renowned individuals. For a painter, there are many distinguished individuals that made a dramatically difference within the realm of art. For some examples, there is Vincent Van Gough, Pablo Picasso, and Leonardo De Vinci. It is up to the facilitator to idolize these individuals in front of the forth-coming painters. This will give the recruited painters the expectations they need to become idolized into their new profession. This will also make the recruited painters strive to achieve the same honor. For the recruited soldier, they hear about the selfless actions of the Medal of Honor, Prisoners of War, and Purple Heart recipients. For them, they also strive to achieve that honor. Lastly, provide the graduate with a quote that brands them with honor. For instance, EARTH, Semper Fi, or Army of One. This will give the graduate something to display as pride and unite them forever with the other individuals who also have endured the same training. Now returning back to the question, â€Å"when does a paradox become a hypocrisy†, the response needed to be evaluated for the literary device of hypocrisy. Is â€Å"a good war is a war that teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them†, a response of hypocrisy. Through the development of good and bad, we have concluded that war is  wrong. To suggest otherwise would propose a state of insanity. Insanity is a derangement of the mind or not conforming. Since we have conclude that the popular choice is to say that war is wrong suggests that people who desire to go to war, miss war, or idolize war are insane. So are they insane? If the response, â€Å"war teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them† is true, than yes. However, the statement is hypocrisy and hypocrisy is the pretense of having. So reverting back to the practice of transitioning from non-painter to painter, the recruit became a painter. Now what if, during t he transition, the recruit never got the opportunity to paint. The entire time the recruit was given black ink to practice the techniques of painting, but never received oil or acrylic paints. The recruit sat through sessions where they viewed images of others painters and their colorful paintings, only to never receive color to paint with. After the transitions period, after the recruit was given the title of painter and hope to finally paint with color. However, the restriction continues and they again were never given oil or acrylic paints. They had practiced the trade for years without actual execution. The outcome is apparent. They will forever long to paint. This is the situation with the soldier. The soldier practices with blank ammunition for years, views images of warfare, practices the techniques of warfare, and never gets to execute their practices in war. The outcome is apparent. They will forever long for warfare. So in regards to the response, from the soldiers perspective, they would disagree because war cannot â€Å"teach itâ₠¬â„¢s mistakes without one having to live with them.† They themselves desire warfare. However, for sanities sake, they would suggest the response to be true in the company of other American citizens. This is the pretense of having and concludes the statement to be hypocrisy; at least from the soldiers perspective. So does the statement apply to other citizens of America? Again, the response to the initial question suggests that war is wrong and a sane response is to agree with the statement. This implies that American citizens do not see the statement as hypocrisy. However, how much money is accumulated over the showing of one Hollywood movie about warfare? How much money and time is spent reading through the stories about warfare? How often do people find excitement when sharing a conversation with a veteran where they can ask personal questions about their experiences? As peaceful people who agree with the statement,  American citizens curiously find something compelling about war. It is not my position to accuse the masses of being warmongers. However, to defend the integrity of my response, the response is hypocrisy. It cannot â€Å"teach it’s mistakes† if people live vicariously through the experiences of war. Without war that satisfaction is taken away and the entertainment lost, suggesting that the mistakes aren’t learned; they’re idolized. To propose other wise is the pretense of having or also known as hypocrisy. So can war teach â€Å"it’s mistakes†? Can the statement ever become true? Lets again look at the question, â€Å"when does paradox become hypocrisy?† and compare it to the response, â€Å"a good war is a war that teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them.† In order to make the response true we would have to rephrase the question. This time we will ask, when does paradox become integrity? We have concluded that the response to the initial question is both a paradox a nd hypocrisy, but we have overlooked one literary device. Personification. Personification is the representation of an abstraction in the form of a person. In the response we suggested that â€Å"a good war† is a paradox, and if â€Å"war teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them† is hypocrisy. However, the response also suggests that we have personified war. So in order to make the statement, â€Å"a good war is a war that teaches it’s mistakes without one having to live with them† true, we have to remove the personification and rephrase the response to â€Å"a good person is a person that teaches their mistakes without one having to live with them†. By removing the literary device of personification we have successful removed the other literary devices of paradox and hypocrisy, and gave the response integrity. If a good person were to teach others about their life’s mistakes, maybe others could learn from them. It is the gift from the veteran of foreign wars to express to others the mistakes of warfare. From that point forward, it is up to the recipient of the gift to learn from the veteran’s mistakes. War cannot teach it’s mistakes because war as a whole removes the personal aspect of warfare. It gives the individual a number instead of a valued story. However, the individual’s personal story, the veteran, includes the emotional toll of warfare. From that personal story, the audience can now begin to understand the dysfunction of warfare and that personal story can be identified as the gift.

Blaise Pascal :: essays research papers

Blaise Pascal was a great mathematician who lived in 17th Century France. His mother was Antoinette Begon; she died when Blaise was three. His father, Etienne took the responsibility of bringing him up. Pascal had two sisters, Gilberte and Jacqueline. Pascal began his studies in 1635 with his reading of Euclid’s Elements and mastered them by age 12. This won the boy respect for his great talent in mathematics. Pascal in fact did not attend school; instead, Etienne brought him to lectures and mathematical gatherings at the â€Å"Academie Parsienne† nearly from its founding. At the early age of 16, Pascal began to play an active role in â€Å"Academie Parisienne†. There, Pascal became the principal disciple of Girard Desargues, a professor working there because he was the only one who appreciated his work in geometry. Pascal began work on conics and published several papers to do with geometry. In fact, in June 1639, Pascal has already made a significant discovery with his â€Å"mystical hexagram†. In 1641, he began to suffer from problems of health that delayed his research for a year, but he recovered and continued his work. In 1642, Pascal began to create a machine that would be similar to an everyday calculator to help his father with his accounting job. His first attempts were failures and Pascal was discouraged from working on the project for many years. He returned to it in 1644 because of the encouragement of many people. He finished the final model in 1645 after going through more than 50 incarnations of the design, he finished the final model in 1645, Pascal himself did the selling with a few associates but because of it’s high price of and limited uses, sales were probably modest. He did present one to Queen Christina of Sweden and he was allowed a monopoly over it by royal decree. Although Pascal had been raised as a Catholic, later in his life, Pascal had been converted to Jansenism in 1646 and moved to a monastery in Port Royal in France. But in 1658, he left the monastery to continue his mathematical work. Pascal then worked on many mathematical problems, including how fluids and gases behave (1646) this proved that the mercury in a barometer did not move because of a vacuum but rather because of barometric pressure, created â€Å"Pascal’s Triangle† which calculated the probabilities of winning in gambling (1654) which today has been important in the study of statistics and even modern day physics, and the theory of indivisibles (1658).

How Is Peak Load Staffing, Unit Hour Utilization and System Status Management Used in the Fire Service and Ambulance.

The majority of non EMS/Fire related people believe that the EMS and Fire calls are sporadic. In reality there is a predictable trend where the call volumes are higher and lower. There are 3 concepts that I will discuss further, first, System Status Management. SSM is simply what its name implies, the management of a EMS/Fire system’s resources before and between calls. It is the process of preparing the system for the best possible response to the next EMS or Fire call. Second, the concept is of Unit-Hour Utilization. UHU is an equation to find out what percent of the time a specific unit is being used on a specific day.Third, Peak Load Staffing will be discussed. PLS is a pretty simple topic to understand, For instance, Industrial areas and commercial office building usually have the highest call volume during the 9am-5pm business day when residential areas have a higher call volume after 5pm, lessen at night and start again around 6am the next day. The concept of PLS is to have more resources in the higher call volume times and areas. I work as a Paramedic for the Medical Express Ambulance Service (Medex) where both SSM and PLS are used. First, the concept of System Status Management.Our 2 most northern posts at Medex are Swedish Covenant Hospital (northeastern chicago) and Resurrection Medical Center (northwest chicago). The dispatchers attempt to keep 2 ALS and 3 BLS ambulances around the hospital. However if all of our ambulances out of Swedish Cov. Hospital get dispatched, Our dispatchers will move a few ambulances from Resurrection over to Swedish Cov. to cover the area and decrease overall response times. There have been times where we have not been relocated to either hospital and had to travel more than 30-45 minutes lights and sirens to get to a patient.If SSM had been implemented appropriately, that response time could have been greatly decreased. â€Å"UHU, or unit hour utilization, itself is fairly straightforward. It's calculated by divi ding the number of transports by the number of â€Å"unit hours,† with one unit hour defined as a fully equipped and staffed vehicle in your EMS system. If your system has 10 ambulances around the clock, there are 240 unit hours in a 24-hour period. If those 10 ambulances do 120 transports in 24 hours, you would calculate your system's UHU as follows:120 transports/240 unit hours = . 5 UHU† (http://www. ems1. om/ems-management/articles/1365144-How-to-explain-UHU-from- UFOs-to-your-city-manager/) Back to personal experience at Medex for the implementation of PLS. On average, our Medical calls on the week days are nearly double that of which we get on the weekend. In addition, the number of calls during the day is cut in half at night. On average, I run 6 medical calls per 12 hour shift on a week day, 3 at night and 3 on the weekend. If you look at those numbers, if you were to staff the same amount of ALS and BLS ambulances on the weekend or at night as you did during th e day, the UHU ratio would be extremely low.On average, Medex has around 12 ALS and 24 BLS ambulances on the street during the week. For the weekend, they only have 6 ALS and 10 BLS ambulances on the street. This effectively reduces the running cost for the company but does not strain the line staff. The EMS and Ambulance companies utilize these three concepts quite effectively, however they can also be applied to municipal Fire/Rescue departments. Most people see the Fire Departments as a rigid system, The stations are where you sit. However this does not always cover the most amount of area.For instance, town ABC has 2 fire stations both on the main road in town 5 miles apart. Both have 2 ambulances at each station, If both ambulances at one of the stations go our on a call. One of the towns regions around the station would experience a long ETA for an ambulance. However if one of the 2 ambulances sitting at the other station would go and cover the empty station until a unit clear ed from a call, the ETAs would be greatly reduced. This system is partially implemented with the station coverage neighboring departments participate in.The concept of UHU would be implemented in the Fire service more for evaluation purposes. This can help identify if addition resources are required, which units are near operational limits and which units are not utilized to their potential. Finally PLS is a topic which is not often used in the Fire service. This if properly implemented can reduce line staff strain, more adequately cover the areas required and save money. For instance, a town like Rosemont is primarily commercial business that are open 9-5 with very little residence on off hours and weekends. The majority of their Fires are 9-5 weekdays.To have more staff on duty during those hours would simply make more sense and save the town money. The Ambulance services have less complications than the Fire services does implementing the above concepts. The Fire service provides a larger spectrum of services and has many different apparatus for different uses. In the ambulance service they only have ALS and BLS ambulances which can sometimes work for eachother. For instance, a ALS ambulance can run a BLS call easily. However in the Fire service, a ALS ambulance cannot have the firefighting capabilities of a Truck or Engine crew.In addition, Ambulance companies have a plethora of resources that they can call on, to get another ambulance on the street is easy as calling a few people in since they have many spare ambulance that can be deployed if needed. The largest problem with the Firefighting side of this concept being implemented is that fires, sizes and resources needed truly is a sporadic event. Yes you can predict in the winter there will be more fires but the resources needed to combat a fire cannot be predicted as accurately.The UHU is extremely variable as is the ability to effectively implement PLS on Fire Apparatus. For the 4th of july scenario sh ows the utilization of Peak Load Staffing by having more resources on duty for events and days shown to require more resources. City XYZ FD is using System Status Management to cover the high call volume areas between the hours required. The final example uses Unit Hour Utilization to most effectively distribute the resources. The three above concepts of properly applied to the fire service can greatly reduce strain on the staff and running costs.

Storm Born Chapter Eighteen

It was like deja vu. Two fights, two blackouts, and two â€Å"mornings after† back in my own bed. Talk about tedious. Only this time, I wasn't alone in bed. I knew Kiyo was with me even before I opened my eyes. I recognized his smell, the way his arms wrapped around me. They held me with delicacy now, not with the fierceness that usually seized him. â€Å"You don't quit,† I murmured, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. â€Å"Even wounded, you're still trying to get me back in bed.† â€Å"I've already got you here.† He lay on his side, his eyes staring into mine. Smiling, he ran a hand over my hair, smoothing it back. â€Å"I was so worried about you.† I snuggled against him, slowly dredging up memories from last night. â€Å"I was worried about you too. What happened? Why wouldn't you change back?† â€Å"I did†¦eventually.† Well, that was obvious. I waited expectantly, needing more. â€Å"Being a kitsune isn't just about the novelty of turning into a fox. It's more than that. It's like†¦I also can turn into – I don't know – a fox god. No. That's not right. I don't know how to describe it.† â€Å"A superfox?† His soft laughter vibrated against my forehead, and he kissed the skin there. â€Å"That's not quite right either. The foxes of the Otherworld are like the progenitors of mortal foxes in this world. They're stronger, more powerful, wilder. I can change into one of those, but to do so†¦I almost have to give up my humanity. They're too animal, too†¦I don't know, primordial. When I'm a normal red fox, I'm still pretty much the same as I am now unless I've been in that form for a really long time. Then the human part starts to go. But for your ‘superfox,' I'm already gone in one transformation. I can hang on to only a few human instincts – like that I had to fight that thing and that I had to protect you.† I took all this in, frowning. â€Å"But that doesn't explain why you didn't change back.† â€Å"It takes time to go in and out of that form. The change is more than physical. I have to give up my human nature to go in, my fox nature to come out. Both are hard. That's why it took me awhile to even help in the first place. I had to make a quick call, even though it left you undefended. I thought I'd do more damage in the other form.† â€Å"Yeah, you did do a pretty good job. But you sure scared me there.† I fell silent, recalling those terrible moments of uncertainty while I bled all over myself. â€Å"When did you finally change back?† â€Å"Not long after you passed out, I think.† â€Å"That would explain why I'm still alive.† He nodded. â€Å"You lost a lot of blood. You needed ten stitches.† I blinked. â€Å"Did you take me to a doctor?† He grinned. â€Å"You bet I did.† It took me a moment to catch on. I pulled back the covers and lifted the skirt of one of my racier and rarely used nightgowns – how'd I get dressed in that anyway? – and saw black stitches standing out starkly against my skin, off to the side of my stomach. â€Å"You did this?† I exclaimed. â€Å"You stitched me up? Without a doctor?† â€Å"I am a doctor. I do this all the time.† â€Å"Yeah†¦to cats and dogs. Not to people.† â€Å"It's exactly the same. We're animals too.† I eyed the stitches uneasily. The skin around them was red. â€Å"Was everything sanitized?† He made a disparaging sound in his throat. â€Å"Of course it was. The standards are the same. Come on, stop worrying. It was either that or let you bleed to death in the car. I had a kit in the back and used it.† â€Å"How'd you have enough light out there?† â€Å"The overhead lamp still worked.† I couldn't believe he'd stitched me up in a smashed car with a vet's kit. Improvisation at its best. â€Å"Did the car actually start?† â€Å"Sort of†¦I got us back to the freeway before it died. I found your cell phone and called Tim.† â€Å"Poor Tim. When I first told him I was a shaman, I think he thought it was as fake as his own Indian charade.† â€Å"Wait – he's not actually Indian? I've been trying forever to figure out what tribe he's from.† â€Å"He's from the tribe of Tim Warkoski. It's ridiculous, but – â€Å" The air in the room rippled, pressure building. I had to blink a few times to ensure the shimmering around us wasn't in my head. Kiyo propped himself up, alert and wary. The pressure abruptly faded. A rift from the Otherworld opened up in front of us, and suddenly Dorian stood on a small table in the corner. Not unexpectedly, it promptly broke under his weight, making a horrible crashing sound as its pieces and contents fell to the floor. To his credit, he sidestepped the disaster rather gracefully, easily landing both feet on the floor. I winced, seeing the anchor ring lying among the debris. I'd set it on the table, not considering the consequences of Dorian arriving exactly where it lay. â€Å"What the hell – † Kiyo started to climb out of bed, but I was in his way. I laid a restraining hand on his chest. â€Å"No, it's all right. He's here for our next lesson. Jesus†¦I can't believe it's that time already.† I'd lost a lot of time since the car. Dorian wore his usual simple but fine clothes, covered by another elaborate robe. This one was black satin, edged in silver and small seed pearls. If the present circumstances surprised him, he didn't show it. He kept his face typically unimpressed and sardonic. His smile twisted as he regarded us. â€Å"I can come back later if it's more convenient. I do so hate to interrupt.† â€Å"No, no,† I said hastily, sitting up and swinging my legs over the bed's edge. The movement uncomfortably tugged the skin around my stitches. â€Å"We were just, um†¦resting.† Dorian arched an eyebrow. â€Å"You rest in that?† I glanced down, flushing. I'd worn this exactly once when Dean and I had gone to Mexico for a weekend. The nightgown was pale green, its top and bottom hems ornamented with elaborate green leaves and tiny pink flowers. The mid-thigh-length skirt was sheer chiffon. Note to self: Never let Kiyo dress me again, unconsciousness notwithstanding. Tim chose that moment to walk in, summoned by the noise. â€Å"Eug, what†¦Ã¢â‚¬  His mouth dropped – and not just because of me. I looked around at us all: me in my nightgown, Kiyo bare-chested, Dorian in his extravagant robes, and Tim in his Native getup. â€Å"God,† I muttered, standing up, â€Å"we look like the Village People.† I pulled the terry cloth robe over me, wondering how I always seemed to be half-naked lately. Tim continued to stare, wearing the shocked look of one who has just walked in on his parents having sex. â€Å"Everything's fine,† I told him. He still didn't move, and I waved a hand in front of his face. â€Å"Hey, wake up. Think you can make some breakfast?† He blinked. â€Å"It's three in the afternoon.† I gave him a pathetic look. The familiarity of it seemed to snap him back to normal. He could never resist it. That, or he felt he owed me food for the free rent. â€Å"What do you want?† â€Å"Eggs and toast.† â€Å"Healthy or unhealthy toast?† I considered. â€Å"Healthy.† â€Å"Are your, uh, friends eating too?† I glanced at the other two men. â€Å"I'd love to,† replied Dorian with a cordial half-bow. â€Å"Thank you.† â€Å"Famished,† said Kiyo, eyes still narrowed on Dorian. â€Å"Thanks, Tim, you're the best.† I practically pushed him out the door. â€Å"Charming man,† remarked Dorian politely. He glanced around. â€Å"And a charming room.† The broken table aside, the room's other contents included: a pile of laundry, the wicker chair, a case of ammunition, a dresser, and a small desk with my laptop and a half-finished puzzle of the Eiffel Tower. The room didn't have a lot of space, so everything had been jammed in. It all seemed so chintzy compared to the opulence of his bedroom. Kiyo also got out of bed, wearing just a pair of jeans. â€Å"You want to tell me again what's going on?† â€Å"I already did.† I opened my dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt that said I'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT on it. â€Å"We're doing my next lesson.† â€Å"She can't do it today,† Kiyo told Dorian. â€Å"She was in a fight last night.† â€Å"Unless I'm mistaken, she gets in a fight every night.† â€Å"This one was bad. She was injured. Didn't you see the stitches?† â€Å"My humble eyes had better things to occupy themselves with than her stitches.† â€Å"Hey, guys?† I snapped. â€Å"I'm still here, you know. Stop talking about me in the third person.† Kiyo walked over and touched my arm. â€Å"Eugenie, this is crazy. You need to go back to bed.† â€Å"Today's lesson will not require physical exertion,† said Dorian primly. â€Å"There, you see?† I said. â€Å"I've got to keep going with our deal.† Kiyo looked darkly from me to Dorian. â€Å"Your ‘deal' doesn't seem to be doing a lot of good. I thought it was going to keep your would-be rapists away.† I had turned my back to them, opened the robe, and started pulling my jeans on. I froze, considering. â€Å"The fachan wasn't trying to rape me,† I said slowly. â€Å"He wanted to kill me.† â€Å"Are you sure?† â€Å"He tried to throw me through a windshield. That's not very romantic.† â€Å"A fachan?† asked Dorian. I shed the robe and nightgown and pulled the shirt over my head before turning back around to face them. I gave Dorian the short version of what had happened. He stood up from where he'd been leaning against my desk and strolled over to the window, hands clasped behind his back. â€Å"A fachan,† he mused. â€Å"Here. Curious.† â€Å"Not really. Not compared to anything else that's happened to me,† I reminded him. He pointed out the window. â€Å"You live in a desert. Fachans like bodies of water. You have a lot of enemies, my dear, but I doubt any fachan would hate you enough to show up here of his own volition.† â€Å"What are you saying?† asked Kiyo. â€Å"That someone went to considerable trouble to summon him here. Someone with either a lot of raw power or simply an affinity for water creatures.† â€Å"Who could do that?† I asked. â€Å"Any number of people. Maiwenn could.† Kiyo took a few dangerous steps toward him. â€Å"Maiwenn didn't do that.† Dorian smiled, unfazed by Kiyo's intimidating presence. They were the same height, but Dorian's frame was lean and slim, Kiyo's broader and more muscled. â€Å"You're probably right,† Dorian said after several tense moments of silence. â€Å"Particularly since she's been so under the weather lately.† Kiyo's face grew darker. I glanced back and forth uneasily, uncertain as to what I was in the middle of. â€Å"Do you guys know each other?† Dorian extended a hand to Kiyo, cool and collected. â€Å"I know of you, but I don't believe we've been properly introduced. I am Dorian, king of the Oak Land.† Kiyo grudgingly took his hand. â€Å"I know who you are.† â€Å"This is Kiyo,† I said. â€Å"Delightful to meet you. You're a†¦kitsune.† Dorian said the word in an odd tone. It wasn't exactly disrespectful, but it clearly implied they were not equals. I grabbed both their arms and steered them out. â€Å"No pissing contests. Come on. It'll only take Tim about five minutes to whip up the food.† Whatever antagonism existed between Kiyo and Dorian, it took a break as the gentry king entertained himself with the rest of my house. He was like a kid, unable to keep his hands off of everything. Well, everything that wasn't made of plastic or an iron affiliate. My living room was a veritable wonderland, with everything conveniently piled up in junk heaps for him to explore. â€Å"What's the purpose of this?† He held a fluorescent pink Slinky, tossing it from side to side so he didn't have to touch the plastic extensively. My impression was gentry could touch the taboo substances in small doses with minor discomfort; prolonged exposure grew much more uncomfortable. Charge it up with power, and it could kill them. â€Å"It doesn't really have a purpose,† I decided. â€Å"You just sort of†¦play with it when you're bored.† He tossed it back and forth, watching it spring up in arches. â€Å"Let me see it,† I said. I held it, closing my eyes. My focus was back now with the excruciating pain vanquished. I concentrated on the Slinky, putting a small piece of my essence into it. I handed it back. â€Å"Wrap it up and take it with you. It'll be my anchor.† He grinned. With so many other distractions, we eventually had to drag him to the kitchen table when the food was ready. â€Å"Haven't you ever been in the human world before?† I asked, once we all sat down. â€Å"There you go again, assuming we all just traipse over here for no good reason.† â€Å"So you haven't.† â€Å"Well, actually, I've vacationed here a number of times. Not in this desolate place, of course, but several other nice spots.† I rolled my eyes and slapped butter on my toast. It was made of good, hearty bread, chock-full of whole wheat and about a billion other grains. You could use this stuff as sandpaper. I doused my coffee with sugar and cream, gulping it to chase down some ibuprofen. I might not be dying anymore, but myriad aches and stiffness filled my body. I didn't think I could handle regularly getting into high-magnitude fights every other night. When the whole prophecy thing had surfaced, I had joked that I preferred attempts on my life to sexual advances. I didn't really believe that anymore. At least when the bad guys wanted my clothes off, it bought me some time. That fachan, however, had had no intentions short of crushing me. And he'd done a pretty good job of doing that. I had never fought something so massive before. Most of my fights, before this all started, had been with spirits and elementals. I could take them out with barely any effort. The fachan had been in a different league. The spirit army from the other day had also been new. Dorian's words rang back to me. The fachan had been deliberately sent. But by whom? One of the many who had a grudge against Odile? Someone like Maiwenn who wanted the prophecy to fail? Maiwenn herself? This latter thought bothered me. She'd seemed more or less trustworthy, despite her bland personality. If she turned into an enemy, it was going to create some serious friction between Kiyo and me. We finished breakfast, and Dorian declared we had to go outside for our lesson. I took one look at him and the scalding sunshine and saw imminent disaster for that perfect, alabaster skin. Figuring he wouldn't want my prissy, vanilla sunscreen, I dug him out a wide-brimmed cotton hat of Tim's that looked only mildly ridiculous. â€Å"Are you going to be able to do this?† I asked, leading Dorian out to my back patio. Tim had left for drumming practice, but Kiyo followed us, still watchful. â€Å"Your magic's weaker on this side.† Dorian draped his elegant robes over a lawn chair. â€Å"Not me who needs to do the magic. And really, I doubt you will either. Not in the way you're thinking of. Hmm†¦yes, this area may work better than I'd hoped.† He surveyed the patio area and the small grassless yard surrounded by a stucco wall. Dragging up another chair, he set it near the center of the patio, facing the house, and beckoned me to it. I sat down. â€Å"Now what? More meditation?† He shook his head. â€Å"Now we need a bowl of water.† â€Å"Kiyo? Can you grab us one? There's a big ceramic bowl in the back of one of my cupboards.† Kiyo silently complied, looking as though leaving us alone for even one minute would result in Dorian trying something. I found that protectiveness endearing, albeit a bit over the top. And then Dorian did try something. â€Å"What are those?† I exclaimed. â€Å"Think of them as†¦learning aids.† He had produced a handful of silken cords from the deep pockets of his robe, all in different colors. â€Å"What are you – no. You are not serious.† He had moved behind my chair and grasped my hands. I jerked away. â€Å"You're trying to tie me up?† â€Å"Not for sinister purposes, I assure you, although if you'd like to experiment with them later, I'd be happy to show you their various and sundry uses. For now, simply trust me that they'll be useful.† I continued to regard the cords warily. He shook his head, smiling. Moving behind me, he gently ran his hands down my arms. â€Å"You still don't trust me. And yet you do. An interesting mix. You fear me but want to connect with me. Do you remember what I said the night we met?† He knelt down, speaking softly in my ear. â€Å"This is exactly the way it will be when you come to my bed. You'll surrender yourself, and though it'll scare you, you'll exult in it too.† â€Å"I think you're imagining more to our charade than there is. And I don't really see myself feeling exultant over being tied up.† â€Å"Have you ever tried it?† His fingers slowly slid back up to the sleeves of my shirt, like butterflies on my skin. It was†¦nice. I shrugged him off. â€Å"No. And I don't need to. Besides, whatever your kinky intentions are, it doesn't matter. I've got something going with Kiyo.† â€Å"Ah. Of course you do. From what I hear, he's always ‘got something going.'† I stiffened. â€Å"Don't try to cause trouble.† â€Å"I'm attempting nothing of the sort. Just stating a fact. A man with human blood is just as appealing to our women as you are to our men.† â€Å"I already know about Maiwenn.† â€Å"I see. What do you know?† â€Å"The truth. They used to be involved. Now they're not.† â€Å"Ah. And that doesn't bother you? Especially considering it's likely she'll try to kill you someday?† I turned around as much as I could and glared at him. â€Å"I meant it: Don't try to pick a fight. I trust Kiyo, and I like Maiwenn. End of story. Now if you're going to tie me up, just get it over with.† He rose from his crouch, the sensuality gone from his voice as he began the business of binding me. â€Å"I'd never dream of picking a fight. Your pet fox in there will break my neck if I so much as look at you the wrong way.† â€Å"Don't act like you're actually afraid of him. You can supposedly bring down buildings.† I relaxed back in the chair and let him tie my hands together behind me. He took a long time in doing it, like he was weaving or braiding. â€Å"Why, Eugenie, are you saying you'd wager on me in a fight? I'm touched. Very touched. Although, I do hear foxes have very sharp claws. How are those scratches on your back, by the way?† Kiyo walked out just then, carrying the bowl of water. He froze when he saw Dorian tying a cord above my breasts and around my upper arms. â€Å"What's this?† â€Å"An awakening,† said Dorian. â€Å"It's fine,† I said. â€Å"Set the water over there.† Kiyo did so and then stood next to me, arms crossed and eyes on the gentry king. Again, Dorian took his time in tying my upper body. He used multiple cords, and able to see better this time, I realized he had indeed woven them into an intricate pattern. Aesthetic and functional. â€Å"There.† With a last tight knot, he straightened up and regarded his work. â€Å"Not bad. It seems I haven't forgotten how to tie a decent knot after all. One more thing, and we're set.† â€Å"One more thing† turned out to be a blindfold. â€Å"No way,† I said. â€Å"Eugenie, my sweet, your outraged protests are adorable, but they only continue to slow us down. If you want me to help you, then let me. If you don't, then take me to one of those places where human women wear revealing clothing and quickly lose their virtue through alcohol.† I let him blindfold me, feeling uneasy. I trusted Kiyo and sort of trusted Dorian, but the other bindings had already unsettled me. I didn't like being trapped or in someone else's control. The bright world went dark as fabric covered my eyes. â€Å"This is all giving me a bad feeling,† Kiyo said nearby. â€Å"On the contrary,† said Dorian, â€Å"it's giving me a very warm, very pleasant feeling. But I suppose we should return to the lesson at hand, hmm?† â€Å"Is this the part where you explain the bondage getup?† I asked. â€Å"Or where I find out you just did it for fun.† â€Å"No, no. As hilarious as that would be, I do have my reasons. Now. I'm going to pick up this bowl of water that Kato so kindly fetched – â€Å" â€Å"It's Kiyo,† came the irritated response. â€Å"So sorry. Anyway, I'm going to set it somewhere out here in this miniature wasteland, and you will tell me where it is.† â€Å"Oh. I get it. I'm supposed to, like, work on my non-visual senses? Listen to where you set it?† â€Å"You won't use any of your physical senses at all.† I heard him walk away, presumably with the water, but I couldn't tell where he set it. He paced and paced in circles, kicking rocks and scuffing his shoes so I was clueless by the time he returned to me. When he spoke next, his words were right by my ear again. â€Å"Now, given freedom, even with just a blindfold, you'd be inclined to move and want to use something – anything – to find the water. You'd turn around, sniff the air, whatever. Now you have to accept that all of that is gone. You cannot rely on what you usually can. You are trapped and powerless – more or less. Give in to that. Open yourself up to whatever comes. Find the water.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"By reaching out to it. Tap into a sense other than the usual five. Remember the exercises we did last time, about reaching beyond yourself – in this world, not the spirit one.† â€Å"I thought magic was inborn. Isn't that what separates humans and gentry?† â€Å"It is inborn. And your inner magic summons and controls storms. To do that, you must summon and control the appropriate elements. And to do that, you must be able to find them. Hence, you focus outward.† â€Å"How do I do that?† â€Å"Just concentrate. But relax too. Think about the water. How it feels, what it's like. Spread your consciousness out around you, but don't go into a trance and let your spirit slip out. That'd be cheating.† â€Å"How long does it take?† â€Å"As long as you need.† He retreated, and I sat there and waited for some revelation. Okay. Somewhere around me was a bowl of water. And something inside of me was supposed to be able to sense it. I wouldn't have believed any of it if the living room on the other side of the patio door didn't stand as proof of my supernatural powers. But I hadn't had to think to cause the storm. This was different. All I mostly felt at first was my own body. Dorian's binds didn't hurt me, but they were snug. The stitched-up cut stung a little. The back of my head ached. My leg muscles felt stretched and inflamed. I slowly took inventory of every part of me, assessing how each one felt. I could feel the beat of my own heart, the steadiness of my breathing. After that, I started concentrating on the stuff around me. I heard someone, Dorian maybe, slide up a chair and sit down. A plane droned overhead. One of my neighbors kept a bird feeder, and sparrows regularly chirped and squabbled around it. The harsher cries of less melodic birds sounded in the distance. My street had few houses and was removed from real traffic, but a block or so away, a car started and then drove off. I thought about water, its appeal growing as the sun beat down. I had put on my own sunscreen and was grateful for it. Still, I could feel sweat pouring off of me. Water would be cool, refreshing. My mom's house had a pool, and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to dive into that crystal-blue surface. I thought about the bowl of water, thinking of its cool temperature, the wetness on my skin. I tried to feel it, to call to it. â€Å"There,† I said at last. I don't know how much time had passed. Awhile. â€Å"Where?† asked Dorian. â€Å"Four o'clock.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"She means over there,† I heard Kiyo say. Presumably he pointed. â€Å"No,† said Dorian. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Sorry.† â€Å"Was I close?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Not even a little?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Damn it! Get me out of this.† I wriggled against my constraints. â€Å"Hardly.† Dorian's voice held mild surprise. â€Å"We must try again.† â€Å"Oh, dear lord. This might be even more boring than the meditation,† I grumbled. â€Å"Can I at least get something to drink?† He hesitated. â€Å"Actually, I think your odds will increase if you're thirsty.† â€Å"Oh, come on – â€Å" â€Å"Here we go,† said Dorian. I heard him get up and walk around again, and once more, I couldn't tell where the bowl ended up. When he returned to his chair, I tried again. More time passed as I concentrated my little heart out. At one point, I heard someone get up and move toward the door. â€Å"Who is that?† â€Å"Me,† said Dorian. â€Å"I'm bored.† â€Å"What? You're my teacher.† â€Å"The kitsune will call if you need me.† â€Å"I don't believe this,† I said when he was gone. â€Å"Hey, this was your idea,† said Kiyo. I heard him shift in a chair, getting comfortable. I was on the verge of my next guess when Dorian came outside again. â€Å"There. Nine o'clock.† Kiyo must have pointed again. â€Å"No,† said Dorian. He made me do it again, and by then, I was furious. My poor muscles, already put through enough, were locking up from lack of movement. The heat was unbearable. To make matters worse, Kiyo asked if Dorian wanted something to drink and then went inside. He returned, and I heard the sound of a two-liter of pop opening, followed by the filling of two glasses. After that, they started carrying on casual conversation. â€Å"Eugenie will be at my Beltane ball,† Dorian explained, â€Å"as my special guest.† â€Å"Sounds great.† â€Å"Your enthusiasm is palpable.† â€Å"Just not my thing, that's all.† â€Å"Ah, pity. Because if you wanted to come, I'd be happy to extend the invitation.† â€Å"I wouldn't want you to go to any trouble.† â€Å"It's no trouble at all. You could come with Eugenie. I always make special arrangements for dignitaries' entourages and servants.† â€Å"Will you two shut up?† I asked. â€Å"I'm working here.† They fell silent. Water, water. I needed that goddamned water so that Dorian would untie me and I could return to air conditioning. I'd also drink a gallon of water while I was at it. Maybe two or three. In fact, when I found that stupid bowl, I'd dump it over my head. Sweat pooled along the hem of my shirt and where the cords and blindfold pressed against my skin. I'd probably sweated away the sunscreen and would burn. As if my body hadn't been through enough. Where the hell was that water? Why couldn't I find it? I thought again about my mom's pool, vowing I'd pay her a visit tomorrow. God, it was so hot. I just wanted to be cooler. Water, water, water. I felt like Helen Keller. Or maybe one of those people in the Lakota sun dances where excessive heat exposure induced hallucinations. Maybe I could imagine the water. I sighed, and then, somehow, I felt coolness touch me. It was a reprieve from the heat. I straightened up as much as I could. Had I done it? Was this what it felt like to touch the water? The third time was the charm. Yes. There it was again. Like cool, moist air blowing at me from the east. I could taste its dampness, hanging around me like humidity in the sauna. I inclined my head in the direction I'd sensed the cool air. â€Å"I've got it. Three o'clock.† â€Å"No.† â€Å"The hell it isn't!† I heard Dorian get up. He sighed. â€Å"I think we'd better quit for the day.† â€Å"But I swear I had it! I could feel it! I was thinking about water so hard.† â€Å"I know you were.† He undid the blindfold, and I looked up. Billowing clouds, colored like lead, inked out the sky. Wind blew at me from the east – not imagined after all – picking up in strength. Great, heavy drops fell around us, landing with loud splashes. Water at last.

Shakur essays

Shakur essays There are many rappers and actors that have come and gone throughout the years who have made significant contributions to the industry. However none have even come close to what Tupac Amaru Shakur has done to revolutionize this controversial business. His love for rap music and his brilliant talent brought him fame and fortune through songs, poetry, and movies. Shakur changed what the public thought of rap and himself through his life and death, and his work. This is why he is considered a hero. Born on June 16, 1971 to Alice Faye Williams, better known as Afeni Shakur, Tupac grew up in the slums of the Bronx. No matter where his family went Tupac was seriously distressed. "I remember crying all the time. My major thing growing up was I couldn't fit in. Because I was from everywhere. I didn't have no buddies that I grew up with." says Shakur. The solitude began to wear on him. He withdrew into writing love songs and poetry. He was quoted saying, "I remember I had a book like a diary. And in that book I said I was going to be famous." His mother enrolled him in the 127th Street Ensemble, a theatre group in the impoverished Harlem section of Manhattan, where he landed his first role at age twelve, that of Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. (Ro, 1) In the city Baltimore, at the age of fifteen, Tupac took interest in rap. He began writing lyrics, walking with a swagger, and taking advantage of his background in New York for all it was worth. People in small towns were intimidated by Big Apple's reputation, he was known MC New York, and automatically people assumed that he was a thug. By the age of twenty, Tupac had been arrested eight times and had served ei ght months in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse. After serving his time, Shakur decided to team up with Eddie Humphrey and other rappers from Oakland to create a band intent on immense bass beats and chaotic rhythms called Digital Underground. (Ro, 1) ...

Quotes for a Wedding Toast by the Father of the Bride

Quotes for a Wedding Toast by the Father of the Bride For many fathers of the bride, a daughter’s wedding day is a bittersweet occasion. Happiness mingles with sadness at the reality that the little girl who once relied so heavily on her father  is now going out into the world as her own woman and as someone’s wife. A toast on this day marks both an ending and a beginning. Fathers of the bride  can share their love, their pride, and express their best wishes for their daughter’s life going forward. They may even want to impart some wisdom about what it means to be a loving husband and father and what it takes to make a marriage a success. Whether the goal is to be lighthearted and humorous, sentimental and serious, or a little of both, including a few of the following sentiments, will make the father of the bride toast just that more special. Father of the Bride Quotes John Gregory Brown: There’s something like a line of gold thread running through a man’s words when he talks to his daughter, and gradually over the years it gets to be long enough for you to pick up in your hands and weave into a cloth that feels like love itself.  Enid Bagnold: A father is always making his baby into a little woman. And when she is a woman he turns her back again.  Guy Lombardo: Many a man wishes he were strong enough to tear a telephone book in half, especially if he has a teenage daughter.Euripides: To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter.Barbara Kingsolver: It kills you to see them grow up. But I guess it would kill you quicker if they didnt.  Phyllis McGinley: These are my daughters, I suppose. But where in the world did the children vanish?  Goethe: There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings.Mitch Albom: Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of themâ₠¬ ¦It is not until much later†¦that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives.   H. Norman Wright: In marriage, each partner is to be an encourager rather than a critic, a forgiver rather than a collector of hurts, an enabler rather than a reformer.  Tom Mullen: Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.Leo Tolstoy: What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.  Ogden Nash: To keep your marriage brimming with love†¦whenever you’re wrong; admit it. Whenever you’re right, shut up.  Friedrich Nietzsche: When marrying, ask yourself this question: Do you believe that you will be able to converse well with this person into your old age? Everything else in marriage is transitory.

Cold War Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cold War Politics - Essay Example This mutual distrust assumed the shape of a rivalry between the two countries in the post-World War II period, and is popularly know as cold war - an era of neither peace nor war. According to Prof. Perkins and Deusen (19985), these differences between the two powers were inevitable because "their objectives were widely different: on one side was the idea of free society, on the other an iron despotism; on one side was an economic system which put the major emphasis on the ingenuity and enterprise of the individual, on the other an economic system in which the state controlled virtually the whole economy" (p.666). The Truman Doctrine: The first important step in the direction of combating Communist danger was taken by President Truman in March 1947, to check the ever increasing intervention by the Communists in Greece. The Greeks had been liberated from the Germans in 1944 by the British Troops. In 1946 elections were arranged under an International Commission to install a popular government in the country. In these elections the Rightist Party won a substantial victory.