A Rose for Emily: the Characteristic of Miss Emily

Emily’s â€Å"Rose† The characteristic of Miss Emily’s house isa symbol for her appearance as she starts aging and deteriorating with time and neglect. â€Å"It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Then it became an â€Å"eyesore among eyesores†. Miss Emily changed the same ways as her house did and she too became an eyesore. She had once been â€Å"a slender figure in white† and later she becomes â€Å"bloated, like a body long submerged in motionless water with eyes lost in the fatty ridges of her face†. During Miss Emily’s death she had been referred to as a â€Å"fallen monument†, which could mean she was once something beautiful and prosperous but with time she grew old and poor. These same changes from prosperity to poverty occurred in the South after the Civil War. (Faulkner 521-527) The mailbox is another symbol that leadsyou to believe Miss Emily is still living in her post bellum era when she was in her prime with her father. The mailbox is Emily’s refusal to move forward, it is a visual representation of the communication she has severed, for her time stands still. She will not allow the town to put a house number on her home for the free postal service. She also tells the tax collectors to talk to Colonel Sartoris (who has been dead for ten years) to resolve her problem that she doesn’t pay taxes. This shows Miss Emily’s, maybe even shows the South’s neglect of time and desire to live in the past. (SparkNotes Editors) The symbolism for the â€Å"rose† which in my opinion is the most intriguing symbol throughout the whole story is actually the symbol for the ending that includes Emily murdering her â€Å"sweetheart that went away†. Homer is Emily’s rose, roses are often acquainted with love, seeing that the rose was preserved we can take it to mean that Emily wanted to preserve the rose and thus also mean she would like to preserve her love. The â€Å"rose for Emily† was the room where she neatly placed the body of Homer Barron (her sweetheart), or possibly just Homer himself. The room was described as having â€Å"rose-shaded lights† and the curtains giving off a â€Å"faded rose color†. Knowing from having a girlfriend, many women like to dry out their roses in order to keep them forever, maybe in Emily’s distorted mind she wanted to keep Homer forever. (SparkNotes Editors) Faulkner uses crafty symbolism for the sake of the story itself, and also takes it a step further by using the changes of Emily Grierson as a symbol for the changes in the post-bellum south. Creatively Faulkner uses the unordered chronology to set the stage of the fallen south, which just wants to keep holding on the past when it reigned. Work Cited

Effects of Globalization Towards Our Culture Essay

This article focuses on the globalization of culture and the role of media in the ensuing identity crisis (both individual and social) resulting from this process. The article tries to display the basic concept of the process of globalization with all of its effects, threats, challengesï ¼Å'and opportunities and will illustrate its interaction with the media in developing countries. The essay will show that the main components of power structure in today’s world can be linked to these two complimentary processes –globalization and the information era. The interaction between these two phenomena has changed the quality of communications which, in turn, is creating new personal and social identities (personification and personifying). According to survey results, it is clear that in societies which are not efficient in reinforcing and strengthening their communication infrastructures and which are unable to compete with the new methods of communication and information exchange, identity formation gains political, economic and culturally adverse and asserts an unrepairable damage. In conclusion, the article tries to present some proposals for developing countries’ media –as the active player of this era – and offers ways to deal with the unavoidable process of globalization and identity crisis. Globalization, the New Phenomenon Globalization, which also has been called global construction, global orientation and global expansion by various schools of thought, is the latest phase process in an old process rooted in the expansion of modern capitalism and encompassing the political, economic and cultural realms worldwide. Modern capitalism that first emerged in the sixteenth century is a far more complex phenomenon embracing a broader economic spectrum and a more detailed definition than the concept of common market. Thus, some experts view it as â€Å"contraction and condensation at the global scale coupled with ever-increasing expansion of awareness† (Robertson, 1992, p. 8). Many have expressed different and even contradictory definitions of globalization in their discussions over the past few years. According to British sociologist Anthony Giddens, some social sectors are utterly pessimistic about globalization and reject it in its entirety. On the other hand, there are those who perceive globalization as an undeniable reality with profound and inevitable consequences. Yet there are others, who are generally referred to as Global Expansionists. They view globalization as an inescapable development developing ever-increasing momentum due to the intensification of global interactions and the waning importance of national boundaries. They believe that national economies, cultures and policies will integrate into a global network and that local and national authority and hence dominance will diminish in favor of a homogenous global economy and culture (Held, 2000). On the other side of the spectrum, there are opposing arguments against the virtues of globalization. Giddens (1999b) refers to them as the pessimists, and they include a gamut of those from the traditionalists to those challenging the dominance of capitalism. They perceive globalization as synonymous to westernization and Americanization. They even include the environmentalists. This school of thought argues that globalization will create a world of winners and losers along with the global conquest and economic domination of specific political groups, especially in the wealthy nations like the U.S. These groups are strong enough to resist any pressures to alter the new world-order and could impose their desires and goals as global agendas and work plans. The promoters of this school of thought point out to the waning of national sovereignty and local identity and the eventual prevalence of inequality and injustice in the world (Rupert, 2000). Meanwhile, some dispute the idea of the â€Å"global village† introduced by Marshall McLuhan and envision more of a â€Å"global pillaging† for the underdeveloped countries (Held, 2000, p. 25). There are other theoreticians who dispute this widely held view. For example, Giddens challenges this prospect and believes that the wealthy should not be blamed for all the negative aspects of this phenomenon, which actually is to some extent very similar to the westernization process. However, globalization is becoming ever-increasingly decentralized and thus it is not dominated by a certain group of countries or multinational companies. Even the western countries are being affected by this new trend. There is increasing evidence of Inverted Colonialism. Inverted Colonialism could be defined as the impact of non-western countries on the development of western culture and economy (Giddens, 1999a). According to Giddens not only is globalization a novel experience, it is a revolut ionary phenomenon. In addition to its economic consequences, its political, technological and cultural impact can not be underestimated. More than anything, globalization is influenced by the advancement of communication systems. In the middle of these two extreme positions, there is a third opinion, which is called â€Å"transformationalism.† This perspective gives limited importance to globalization and emphasizes the significance of national and local institutions (Mirabedini, 2001, p. 147). This third view does not condemn the whole of globalization and praises its positive aspects. These scholars note that although globalization imposes a great deal of pressure on local economies and cultures, it is possible to transform this threat into an opportunity, thereby resisting being conquered by it. Based on this viewpoint, the leaders of the world would support the notion of democratization of global institutions; and nations could play a decisive role in the policymaking process under the framework of the new world order and solidify their territorial rights and legitimacy (Held, 2000). The acceptance of this notion is reflected in the response of former French Premier Leonel Jospin on the issue of France’s national identity in the globalization process. He said, â€Å"We will do our best to make globalization an internal and endemic process in compliance and harmony with our way of life.† He argued that â€Å"The course this globalization process takes will depend on the action we take in relation to it, because although globalization is a fact, it is not an end in itself. We must bring it under control if we are to enjoy its benefits and prevent its negative aspects† (Jospin, 2001). It can thus be concluded that the present range of opinions on globalization, differs from the definition of capital expansion of the 16th century. In this sense it is a new concept based on the ever-increasing time-space compression and the enhancement of public knowledge and awareness due to the profound alteration in communication systems and its immense impact on economic, political and cultural trends. It can be stated fairly that â€Å"Globalization is a complex phenomenon, marked by two opposing forces. On the one hand, it is characterized by massive economic expansion and technological innovation. On the other hand, there is increased inequality, cultural and social tumult, and individual alienation† (Mowlana, 1998, p. 22). Globalization of Culture and Identity in the Information Era On the subject of globalization, the most controversial debate is raised on the issue of cultural globalization and its main topic, the â€Å"identity crisis† and the role of mass media as a facilitating tool for its expansion or limitation. The notion of cultural globalization has prompted various reactions, reflecting contradictory implications. Some perceive this phenomenon as an instrument for establishment of universal unity and democracy based on a global culture signified as the â€Å"global village.† According to the principles of McLuhan (1968, 1964), this is due to the expansion of new communication systems. However, others disagree and contend that globalization has not resulted in a unified political and economic identity (Rajaei, 2001). In contrast, cultural globalization has destroyed national identities. Fukuyama challenges the idea of cultural globalization. He argues that despite external economic pressures, societies tend to preserve their individual identities and cultural values eventually determine the economic direction of the countries. This doesn’t mean that societies will not be impacted by the globalization trend. However, there are more profound elements in national cultures, whic h resist the uniformity derived from economic and political ideologies. Critics argue that cultural globalization will result in cultural dominance and supremacy. The deterioration of endemic cultures will be replaced with a universal culture promoting excessive consumption and dominance of the economic and information technology powers of the world. These scholars believe that the western world is unfit to provide a suitable response to cultural globalization. This is because it is being challenged by numerous social and cultural predicaments, itself. Tomlinson, one of the world-class theorists says: â€Å"The cultural globalization that we are witnessing today is not the net result of human endeavors and experiences and even it has not equitably benefited from cultural diversities. Rather it is the manifestation of dominance of a certain overpowering culture† (Skelton & Allen, 1999, p. 23). These researchers emphasize that the efforts made to conform to the aggressive culture or interpret western culture in various parts of the world have had disastrous results and have revealed insurmountable cultural gaps. Thus, it is impossible to create a global culture with this procedure, and it only widens the existing gap between cultures. Doubtless, globalization has affected certain values rooted in major religions and cultures of the world. Concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, individualism and pluralism, individual interaction with the society and the very meaning of life are all warped and corrupted by global capitalism, international markets, mass media and the promotion of excessive consumption. Even some local languages and valuable traditions are on the verge of disappearance as the result of globalization. Global consumerism is now forming a homogeneous global culture where indigenous cultures of the South are being replaced by Western cultures (Muzaffar, 2002).

Compare and contrast the evil nature of Shakespeare’s antagonists

The following essay will compare and contrast the evil nature of Shakespeare’s antagonists King Richard and MacBeth.   Although Shakespeare intended his play Richard 3 to be a tragedy most of the play could be considered historical, but for the purpose of this paper it will be likened the insidiousness of MacBeth’s compromising morals.   In the dramatic terminology of degradation and tragedy these two works of art encompass the whole of these definitions.   While one is comparably a great portrayal of English kings, the other is a supreme example of how circumstance and identity may become the lingering plight of a man corrupted with autocratic power.   Both however exemplify human characteristics of paranoia, jealousy and victims of their action’s circumstances.   The following paper will play on the idea of comparing characters and event from the Shakespeare’s plays Richard 3 and MacBeth.King Richard is a gruesome man, with deformities, and a w icked personality.   He himself describes his traits as â€Å"rudely stamp'd† and â€Å"deformed, unfinish'd†, who cannot â€Å"strut before a wanton ambling nymph.†I that am curtail'd of this fair proportion, /Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, /Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time /Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, /And that so lamely and unfashionable /That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them;/Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, /gave no delight to pass away the time, /Unless to see my shadow in the sun   And descant on mine own deformity:/And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover, /To entertain these fair well-spoken days, /I am determined to prove a villain.This speech give insight into Richard’s character just as the speeches made by Lady MacBeth organize a reader to realize the depressed nature of MacBeth in comparison to his wife’s expectations from him, and his willingness to succeed with such actions, (Mac) If we should fail?(Lady M.) We Fail!But screw your courage to the sticking place,And we’ll not fail.   (Act 1, Scene 7).King Richard begins his Machiavellian procedures in gaining the throne in a similar manner as MacBeth; although, for the argument of this paper, Richard is the more evil of the two.The theme of the evil nature of man in King Richard the III deals with politics.   It is through marriage that the ugly King may become what he wants to be perceived as being; in marrying Lady Anne he allows himself the illusion that he is someone who is worthy of love even though King Richard had Anne’s husband murdered.   The transition qualities of marriage in this play serve to produce a faà §ade of change in the characters (Hunt 1997).It is the wooing of Lady Anne that the theme of love or the charade of love as it were in this play becomes apparent to the dynamic of transition.   Richard tells Anne that he killed her husband because he (Richard) loved h er,No! why? When he, that is my husband now /Came to me, as I followed Henry's corpse;/When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his hands,/Which issu'd from my otherangelhusband, /And that dead saint which then I weeping follow'd;/O! when I say, I look'd on Richard's face, /This was my wish, ‘Be thou,' quoth I, ‘accurs'd, /For making me so young, so old a widow! /And, when thou wedd'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed;/And be thy wife—if any be so mad— /More miserable by the life of thee /Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death!' /Lo! ere I can repeat this curse again, Within so small a time, my woman's heart /Grossly grew captive to his honey words, /And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse:/Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest;/For never yet one hour in his bed /Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, /But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd. /Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick, /And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.In this line is found the bewitching personality of Richard.   In this personality there are striking similarities between King Richard and MacBeth.   Both men demand of their women obediance leastwise they go berserk when not obeyed (as is seen with the later episodes between Lady MacBeth and MacBeth) as is seen in Act One Scene Five of MacBeth as Lady MacBeth states,The raven himself is hoarse/ That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan /Under my battlements. Come, you spirits /That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, /And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full /Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, /Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, /That no compunctious visitings of nature /Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between /Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts, /And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers, /Wherever in your sightless substances /You wait on nature’s mischief. Come, thick night, /And pall thee in the dun nest smoke of hell, /That my keen knife see not the wound it makes, /Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark, /To cry ‘Hold, hold!’Thus is MacBeth’s evil nature propelled by his wife.   However, since MacBeth is the character whom carries on the theme of evil in his autocratic power over the throne, it may also be suggested that MacBeth is the stronger of the two characters, and henceforth, his evil nature becomes entirely his, and not something which is funneled into him from Lady MacBeth.   Therefore this demand of obseqious behavior warrents the premise of Shakespeare’s play being about the dominance of women and their gullability as Lady Anne commits to marry a man who killed her husband.   In this act is found that Shakespeare has created in Lady Anne a female character who is unable to gain retribution for her husband’s murder by sticking a knife into Richard’s chest.   Thus, as Lady Anne as a widow may have been of stro ng character, Lady Anne as she becomes the wife of Richards is duty-bound, sad, and realizes too late what her actions consists of, which is her culpability.MacBeth and King Richard are similar characters on other grounds as well.   When MacBeth’s wife urges him to murder for power, his protests are not long heard in the play, but MacBeth’s actions speak towards his depraved state. He is given to pity, and self-loathing as well as introverted nature with his overwhelming power once he achieves the throne.  Ã‚   King Richard uses a similar ploy when he convinces Anne Neville to marry him even after he kills her father and her husband.   Ã‚  Ã‚  In both characters then the capacity to hoodwink the general populace is exorbitant.   However, each character in turn must pay the price of their actions.;   it is the hunting of the boar’s quality of karma that kills Richard due to his plotting, and MacBeth dies the way the play began, as a warrior, without muc h power in politics.King Richard sees his ugliness as a crutch, as away to get people to feel sorry for him and thus gain power; King Richard does this covertly.   Richard has to disguise his true intentions leastwise he will be beheaded for treason.   Richard attempts a charade with Anne when he tells her he had her husband killed because he (Richard) loved her,No! why? When he, that is my husband now /Came to me, as I followed Henry's corse;/When scarce the blood was well wash'd from his hands,/Which issu'd from my other angel husband, /And that dead saint which then I weeping follow'd;/O! when I say, I look'd on Richard's face, /This was my wish, ‘Be thou,' quoth I, ‘accurs'd, /For making me so young, so old a widow! /And, when thou wedd'st, let sorrow haunt thy bed;/And be thy wife—if any be so mad— /More miserable by the life of thee /Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death!' /Lo! ere I can repeat this curse again, Within so small a time, my woman's heart /Grossly grew captive to his honey words, /And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse:/Which hitherto hath held mine eyes from rest;/For never yet one hour in his bed /Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, /But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd. /Besides, he hates me for my father Warwick, /And will, no doubt, shortly be rid of me.Thus, in Richard’s view of himself and the man he truly has become is the juxtaposition of pity, jealousy and the actions therein.Another strikingly similar point of evil between these two Shakespearean plays is their willingness to gain power through any means necessary, and often times this involves murder.   The realism for MacBeth in knowing that his actions are stygian appears with Banquo’s ghost, while with Richard, the realization of evil comes from Queen Margaret.   Queen Margaret warns nobles about Richard and his devious nature, but her claims go unheeded by the table of noblemen.   Queen Margaret is ushered out or banished from the court, just as MacBeth’s choice of denying he really did see a ghost attests to him not accepting his own nature of evil.In the insanity that visits MacBeth’s character in Shakespeare’s play of the same name there is a definite difference between Richard and him, as insanity portends to evil.   MacBeth becomes increasingly insane throughout the duration of the play due in most part to the predictions and misleadings of the three witches.   MacBeth’s rise into power in Scotland was begotten due to his first murder (Clausen p. 43).MacBeth’s obvious insanity, and thus his evil nature can be seen most notably in the way in which he rules; his choices of using force, violence, and murder in his autocratic rule tend to be the persuasions of his debilitating sanity.   Although his actions may in part speak towards his psychosis, the fact of MacBeth’s personality remains in that he cannot cope with his active violence and it is way of ruling as a tyrant which also enables his role as an insane person.   MacBeth uses his position to thwart his will on the people and it is his way of ruling which leads to his further violence and his insanity.MacBeth’s evil nature may be submitted to be revealed through the introduction of the play with the three witches.   In the dialogue of the play, and the actions therein, which represent this initial scene, the true evil of MacBeth rests within his imagination, for this aggrandized factor of his personality is what drives MacBeth to desire power in its tyrant form, and through murder as Bloom states, â€Å"†¦the play depends on its horror of its own imaginings.   Imagination is an equivocal matter for Shakespeare and his era where it meant both poetic furor and a gap torn in reality, almost a punishment for the displacement of the sacred into the secular.  Ã‚   MacBeth†¦is a tragedy of the imagination† (p. 4).The shortc omings which lead to MacBeth’s degradation of mind is due in part to his own ambitions (and imagination) and his dealings with the three witches as well as his inferiority complex which in turn causes him to use violence in order to rule.   Another attribute of MacBeth’s evil nature is shown with his partner, Lady MacBeth.   It is her driving force to have MacBeth kill Duncan which furthers MacBeth’s self-doubt.   Lady MacBeth is inclusive of MacBeth’s insanity since she urges him to commit the necessary crimes to gain power while also disregarding the guilt burdening MacBeth; Lady MacBeth urges MacBeth’s evil nature,   his criminal acts, because she like her husband is addicted to power and knows the necessary means to gain such power, and so, urges her husband past the guilt, and self-doubt in order to achieve their goals.Richard plots to have Clarence killed by his own brother by making Edward believe that George of Clarence is trying to kill.   This is accomplished by Edward having a pretense of someone killing him whose name begins with the letter G (George in this case).   Richard succeeds in this plot and is named King.   However, Richard’s nephews are still in the Tower of London and could be successors to the throne once they come of age.   King Richard has Buckingham murder the nephews.   Not only does Richard succeed in his murdering campaign but he also beguiles the kingdom to believe he is a just king, as least for awhile.King Richard is abandoned on the battlefield by Lord Stanley and loses his horse and is murdered in a type of boar hunt.   These two characters are similar in this scene in their scope of personality and the actions that haunt them (Bradley p. 56).After Duncan’s murder however, Lady MacBeth’s character diminishes and so MacBeth is left even more alone in his act of betrayal which further leads to his suffering mind.   Plagued by guilt and contempt for h imself and his actions, the reader begins to see the disintegration of MacBeth.  Ã‚   Thus, it is proven that both characters of Shakespeare’s plays, King Richard 3, and MacBeth are evil.   Both Richard, and MacBeth’s mental powers show a decline in power and cohesion as the plays progress with murder and violence.The contrast between these two antagonists seem to depict no true relevant difference but in comparison the evil nature of either of these two men is one in which pure evil is seen.   In both of their quests for the throne, and the power which comes with the throne, the more evil of the two seems to be Richard, since his thirst for such a prize entails the con of marriage, as well as of killing his two young nephews, while MacBeth’s dirty deeds are supported by his wife (Bradley p. 101).These two characters are a great fascination because of their striking similarities.   Their evil nature warrants great sacrifice, as well as leading them down the path of fast glory, but ultimately ending in betrayal and death (as with Richard’s army, and as will Lady MacBeth’s eventual self-doubt as to MacBeth’s rise in power, and the means by which he gained it so swiftly).Shakespeare’s great accomplishment with these two characters is undoubtedly within the realm of pure evil, in that neither seems to have great remorse at the end of their power reign.   It is in the necessity of guilt which makes a character redeemable to an audience, and by denying any remorse for either character, Shakespeare has created two very strong, evil antagonists.   The fact that they remain of interest to the audience is found in just how despicable and evil their deeds, and just how far they are willing to push their power onto others in order to achieve the end of their goals.BibliographyBloom, H.   (2004).   Shakespeare’s MacBeth.   Riverhead Publishing, New York.Bradley, A.C. (2005).   Shakespearean Tragedy .   Adamant Media Corporation.   London.Clausen, C.   (2005).   MacBeth Multiplied.   Bodleian Publishing, Netherlands.Hunt, M.   (1997).   Shakespeare’s King Richard111 and the Problematics of Tudor Bastardy.Papers on Language & Literature, Vol. 33.Shakespeare, W. (1989).   King Richard the III. Manchester University Press, UK.Shakespeare, W.   (1990).  Ã‚   MacBeth.   Washington Square Press, New York.

Research Paradigms, Knowledge and Practice Essay

Research Paradigms, Knowledge and Practice - Essay Example 5). This essay identifies and critically discusses the research paradigms to be the most relevant to the development of nursing knowledge: positivism/empiricism and phenomenology/interpretivism. Nursing has progressed as a unique discipline through the application of theories from other academic fields and the advancement of clinical research. The discipline of nursing focuses on the personal circumstances of individual patients. In essence, this suggests that research to enhance the clinical practice of nursing should focus on environmental factors and individual attributes that are not open to plain quantitative approach. Nursing has formulated research paradigms to address these challenging issues. The discipline of nursing revealed that there is a need to expand the foundation of nursing knowledge, and research is the best way to accomplish such goal. Focus of the Discipline of Nursing The discipline of nursing gradually grew from established theories, intuition, religious belief s, apprenticeship, philanthropic intentions, and traditional women’s role, as well as diverse impact of feminism, economics, politics, technology, and medicine (Shaw, 1993). Florence Nightingale, the first practitioner of nursing, described nursing as a field of study that has social relevance and structured concepts different from the field of medicine. However, M.E. Roger’s (1970 as cited in Shaw, 1993, p. 1651) more recent holistic perspective of individuals have become an important foundation in developing theory by characterizing nursing as ‘an art and a science’ and by creating a concrete starting point for testing theories. Donaldson and Crowley (1978), in their seminal work, identify a discipline as â€Å"a unique perspective, a distinct way of viewing all phenomena, which ultimately defines the limits and nature of its inquiry† (as cited in Rich, 2010, p. 26). Nursing practitioners have long tried to identify, investigate, understand, and e xplain the concepts fundamental to the discipline of nursing—nursing, environment, health, and person. Issues defining the limits for nursing research and practice involve (Shaw, 1993, p. 1651): (a) laws and principles governing life processes and well-being of humans, (b) influences of the environment on human behavior, (c) processes whereby nursing positively affects health, and (d) families and communities as a focus of nursing practice. Several researchers found out an agreement on the frequent topics and similarities fundamental to nursing research and inquiry. Development of knowledge in a discipline could progress from a number of scientific and philosophic worldviews. The focus of nursing as a discipline has developed most significantly over the recent decades. Several concepts have been determined as fundamental to the discipline of nursing. A case in point is the often mentioned tetralogy, namely, ‘person, environment, nursing, and health’ (Polifroni & Welch, 1999, p. 20). Although recognition of these concepts helps simplify the focus of nursing, there is still the importance of social relevance and apparent interrelatedness to define the discipline that makes up nursing (Keele, 2010). Unrelated concepts do not create the scientific or philosophic questions that encourage inquiry. The discipline of n

Effects of flicker on reading comfort Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Effects of flicker on reading comfort - Essay Example Meares in 1980 and subsequently Irlen in 1983 described same set of symptoms induced by reading as visual perceptual disorder known as Meares-Irlen syndrome (MIS) or scotopic sensitivity syndrome (SSS)2,3. Jeanes et al4 reported that this syndrome can be found in 12 percent of general population and 65 percent of dyslexics. Furthermore, Wilkins5 identified these symptoms as ‘visual stress’ and categorised them into somatic such as tired eyes and visuo-perceptual like color, motion or shape illusions. Another name of this group of symptoms is ‘pattern glare’ that was used by Wilkins and Nimmo-Smith6 because they induced in normal people, who do not have photosensitive epilepsy, when they observed patterns of strips. There are number of parameters to characterise pattern of strips such as the total size, spatial frequency, duty cycle and contrast7. Wilkins et al8 found that the frequency of pattern glare depends on the characteristics of patterns. Similarly, reading text can induce same effects of discomfort because straight lines of text form a pattern of strips5. The same characteristics of pattern of strips can also determine the effects induced from text. The size of the page contains text excluding the margins corresponds to the size of pattern, the interline spacing represents the spatial frequency, the middle body of written letters excluding ascenders and descenders corresponds to duty cycle, and the contrast of the ink used on the paper besides the thickness and spacing of the words strokes determines the grating contrast7. Thus, text can induce the incidence of pattern glare, which depends on text characteristics. The book â€Å"Visual stress†, by Wilkins5 has a whole chapter to discuss photosensitive epilepsy and the visual stimulation of seizures. Wilkins states that visual stimulation may trigger seizures in 4 percent of patient with epilepsy. In addition, visual stimulation is the only factor to provoke seizures in many

Definition of Faith Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Definition of Faith - Research Paper Example The Bible describes faith as â€Å"substance of things that are hope for and also as the evidence of things that cannot be seen. The description of the Bible shows that faith entails believing that something will happen and also the fact that there is confidence in something that exists even if it cannot be seen. Faith, therefore, focuses on religious issues and sacred believes that certain things like God exist even if we cannot see Him. This leads to beliefs in the existence of God and the infinite wonders of nature that were created. It also expresses confidence that a certain idea, person or a thing is true and should be trusted without a doubt. The fact that people also have confidence in another human being or a thing reveals acts of faith. There are also principles and doctrines that are held as true especially by believers and the express faith and loyalty towards a certain being, idea or a thing. Thus faith can be described as a strong and unwavering belief that something i s real even without evidence (Deighton 73). Faith is not only based on religious practices but also on scientific explanations and events that affect the lives of human beings. For instance, in science, there are certain things that people believe they exist but they have never seen them. Electricity is one of the examples that can be outlined. People believe in the existence of electricity but they have never seen it. The universe is full of inspiring infinite and complicated phenomena that have been extensively been outlined to people through the use of books and other resources. However, since the knowledge of human beings constitutes a small fraction of the universe’s knowledge, people are made to believe in the existence of various phenomena through the construction of certain perspectives in their minds to form the picture of the  universe.

Philosephy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosephy - Essay Example He also intends that his work will be used by anatomists of reason away from historical knowledge. Because the content of his work is something new, Kant contends that the time for philosophical historians will come after critics and anatomists are done with their work. His intent behind writing this essay is to show that metaphysics requires openness in order to get fresh insights, rather than its reduction to something already known in scientific circles. Simply, Kant intends to restrict metaphysical investigations to the knowledge and experience that will make it actual or possible. The question on whether a science is possible shows that there is doubt about its actuality. The metaphysics that Kant refers to is only possible through virtue of its existence, as well as what he calls illusionary knowledge, which works to render it unviable as a science. Kant proposes several conditions that must be satisfied for a possible science like metaphysics to become actual science. He contends that possible science must have universal recognition with its validity being a major feature. He also says that possible science must have lasting recognition with featured acceptance in order for it to be considered actual science, while it should also undergo continual advancement and cumulative progress. Finally, possible science should also possess standards of knowledge that aid in discrimination of ignorance. There needs to be a careful and accurate investigation of pure reason’s existing critique, which, if absent, should render all pretensions of the possible scienc e impractical. The modern idea of science is that there should be knowledge that is experimentally verifiable and methodical, which are the critical factors and conditions of an actual science. Kant argues that it is no possible to extend knowledge to speculative metaphysics, which is a super-sensible realm in his words. He argues that

Read my requirement and write information Assignment

Read my requirement and write information - Assignment Example The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has identified Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) to be a common childhood disorder. NIMH states that children as young as seven years old are most vulnerable to ADHD. In addition, the condition affects 5.0% young adults in America. NIMH further explains that 10% of American teenagers (between 13 and 18) are prone to ADHD. The condition is also discriminatory on gender with NIMH claiming that boys are highly at risk as compared to girls (4:1). However, it is not clear why the number of children being affected by the condition is rising by the day. The main motivation for conducting the research is to identify the relationship between anxiety and depressive disorders with the deficit disorder with hyperactivity in children between 6 and 15 years old. The NIMH has identified three major symptoms for ADHD namely; The psychological make-up of children influences their emotions in different situations; that is, they get excited and bored relatively quick. Such character traits may get out-of-hand and influence their personality. As a result, they may portray personality disorders that require immediate mental health care. In a report titled Anxiety and Depressive Disorders in Attention Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity, Peter Jensen, Robert Shervette, Stephen Xenakis, and John Ritchers explore the inequality inherent in the diagnosis of ADHD among children. They concluded that family and psychosocial stressors contribute to ADHD for concurrent psychiatric disorders. In addition, they stated that different subtypes of ADHD require different treatment options considering the different etiologic pathways. The variables used for the study were among age, gender, and military rank, whereby 47 children were matched with others in the psychiatric clinic and the pediatric attention deficit disorder clinic. The 47

Future Marketing Implications (Response 1) Assignment

Future Marketing Implications (Response 1) - Assignment Example With the advancement of internet marketing, the future implications of marketing will mean that a person will be able to market any product or service from anywhere in the world and in real time (Perrault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009). Secondly, I think the student has missed the point by bringing in the issue of global warming as being a consequence of various marketing strategies. In my opinion, they should have discussed the future implications in terms of how marketing would have influenced both the microeconomics and the macroeconomics of a country amid globalization. The idea of marketing bringing in illnesses is a bit farfetched as most companies struggle to give their customers the best in the market, closely following internationally accepted standards of production and quality assurance. Besides, it is the duty of every consumer to be aware of the products and services and their side effects irrespective of what the law says about such products and services. Marketing is a multifaceted tool in business and can have various implications like rapidly growing economy, and improved communication channels and strategies (Perrault, Cannon, & McCarthy,

Global Warming Issues Facing the U.S. Today Essay Example for Free

Global Warming Issues Facing the U.S. Today Essay Throughout history, the fastest increase rate in the average global temperature has been recorded during the past 50 years, and experts further believe that the trend is alarmingly accelerating. Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-blown consequences are difficult to foresee ahead of time. Nevertheless, every year scientists gain more knowledge of how global warming is upsetting the planet, and many have the same opinion that definite outcomes are expected to take place if present trends persist. Unless Americans reduce global warming emissions, distressing and almost irreversible impact on the country, planet and its life will be greatly expected in the near future. United States Issues Air pollutants, particularly carbon dioxide that is accumulating in the atmosphere is condensing extensively, trapping the heat of the sun and causing the earth to warm up. Despite the fact that Americans make up merely 4 percent of the world’s inhabitants, yet through fossil-fuel burning, they generate roughly 25 percent of the worldwide carbon dioxide pollution, which is considerably the largest share of any nation (â€Å"Global Warming Basics†). In the United States, the largest sources of carbon dioxide are the coal-burning power plants, producing 2. 5 billion tons annually; while automobiles running throughout the country’s streets are the second largest source, producing almost 1. 5 billion tons each year (â€Å"Global Warming Basics†). In the United States, global warming is already causing damage in its numerous regions. In June 2006, a panel organized by the United States National Research Council, the leading science policy body of the country, expressed confidence that the planet is the hottest it has been in at least four centuries, and probably even the last 20 centuries (â€Å"Global Warming†). Snow buildup in the United States has declined by almost 60 percent and winter seasons have abridged in a number of regions of the Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon since the early 1950s (â€Å"Global Warming Basics†). Oregon, Arizona and Colorado suffered their most terrible wildlife seasons, and drought produced relentless dust storms in Kansas, Colorado and Montana, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in destruction in North Dakota, Kansas, Colorado and Montana. All the same, by the last part of the century, global warming is expected to further elevate the typical temperatures of the United States to three to nine degrees, which is expected to affect more of the country’s species and wildlife that cannot endure warmer environments. Americans wellbeing is as well in jeopardy, as abnormal climate changes may bring about the spread of certain illnesses, a greater possibility of heat stroke, poor air quality, and the flooding of the country’s foremost cities. Conclusion America must take a leadership function in solving the global warming crisis. Technologies exist today that make power plants produce electricity from nonpolluting sources, cars burn less gas and run cleaner, and electricity consumption lower and more efficient. Americans can take the initial move in seriously campaigning for energy conservation and manufacturing of more efficient appliances, as well as increase their reliance on renewable energy sources such as geothermal, sun and wind. Currently, the challenge for the country is to be certain that these solutions are implemented. Unfortunately, while the technologies are present, the country’s political and corporate will to put them into extensive exploitation are waning. Without doubt, every Americans must demand for it if development and environmental sustainability are desired to be achieved. Works Cited â€Å"Global Warming. † 2008. Standford SOLAR Center. 16 March 2009 http://solar-center. stanford. edu/sun-on-earth/glob-warm. html. â€Å"Global Warming Basics. † 18 October 2005. Natural Resources Defense Council. 16 March 2009 http://www. nrdc. org/globalWarming/f101. asp.

Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction Critique

Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction Critique This Research will critically discuss the problems associated with the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction with regard to Internal Crimes by National courts The bases upon which Jurisdiction can be assumed under International Law are: 1. Territorial Principle 2. Protective or Security Principle 3. Nationality Principle 4. Passive Personality Principle 5. Universality Principle. UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION Unlike the territorial principle where jurisdiction is assumed based on the place where the crime is committed, the protective principle which permits jurisdiction to be assumed when the interest of the state is threatened, Nationality principle which looks to the nationality of the offender and the passive personality principle which looks to the nationality of the victim of the crime, Universal jurisdiction looks solely to the crime and jurisdiction is assumed on this basis. King-Irani stated that Universal jurisdiction is based on customary law as well as an international consensus, that some crimes are so heinous that they threaten the entire human race.[1] Perpetrators of such crimes are considered to be enemies of all mankind and in that lies the right and authority of all states to prosecute perpetrators of such crimes. This really is the foundation of the Universal Jurisdiction principle. The International Council on Human Rights Policy in its booklet on Universal Jurisdiction explained Universal Jurisdiction to mean a system of international justice that gives the courts of any country jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes, regardless of where or when the crime was committed, and the nationality of the victims or perpetrators. It allows the prosecution of certain crimes before the courts of any country even if the accused, the victim, or the crime, has no link to that country.[2] Universal Jurisdiction is usually invoked over International Crimes. Problems associated with the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction frustrate prosecution of international crimes on the basis of Universal jurisdiction; they threaten the continued prosecution of international crimes by states and can undermine the effective administration of justice at the international level. Some of these problems are: UNCERTAINTY AS TO THE SCOPE OF UNIVERSAL JURISIDCTION Uncertainty of the scope of Universal Jurisdiction takes different forms; uncertainty as to its true meaning, mode of its application and the crimes over which it applies are issues that have made the scope of Universal Jurisdiction uncertain. Luc Reydams in a paper written for the European Parliaments Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) stated that Most..agree that Universal Jurisdiction exists but everyone has a different understanding of what it means[3] Reydams further states that the problem with Universal Jurisdiction starts with its definition; its definition is too broad, and it leaves so much undefined thus failing to satisfy the legal requirement of certainty. There is no consensus on the offences in respect of which Universal Jurisdiction can be exercised and there also exists differing views on the true meaning of Universal Jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction arose in the context of piracy, and it remains the most longstanding and uncontroversial Universal Jurisdiction crime.[4] David Stewart in identifying one of the challenges of Universal Jurisdiction stated that Difficulty lies in knowing exactly which crimes qualify for unilateral prosecution by any and all states. Even if one accepts that, as a matter of international law, jurisdiction must be limited to crimes of universal concern, there is no means for determining exactly which offenses fall into that category.[5] The Princeton Principles on Universal Jurisdiction states the fundamentals of Universal Jurisdiction as its first principle; under this it states that Universal Jurisdiction should be asserted with reference to the crime only; such crimes should be serious crimes.ÂÂ   In its second principle, it states that the serious crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction should be asserted are piracy, slavery, war crimes, crimes against peace, crimes against humanity genocide and torture. The Princeton principles further states that the exercise of jurisdiction in respect to the above listed crimes is without prejudice to other International Crimes under International Law. This raises a fundamental question; what are the parameters for determining the crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction may be asserted? It is generally agreed that while Universal Jurisdiction may be asserted over International crimes, it is not every International crime that can be subject to Universal Jurisdiction? Dr. Oner states that some International crimes are subject to Universal Jurisdiction as a matter of Customary International Law and some others as a result of treaty.[6] He opines that those are the two ways of ascertaining what crimes are subject to Universal Jurisdiction.[7] He traces the history of how different crimes came to be recognised as International crimes over which Universal jurisdiction could be asserted, his work would be relied on in tracing the history of those crimes. Piracy is the oldest recognised crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction can be assumed, the basis of asserting Universal Jurisdiction over this crime lies in the fact that it is committed in a place which cannot be categorised as the territory of any state; the High Seas. It was an offence that affected every state; hence all states had the authority to combat it. This is the only crime over which it is generally accepted that Universal Jurisdiction can be asserted over. Jurisdiction over this crime arose under customary law and it was later recognised by treaties. Jurisdiction was later extended to Hijacking by virtue of Article 4 of 1970 Hague Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft and the 1982 Convention of the Law of the Sea. After the Second World War and the application of Universal Jurisdiction to the prosecution of War crimes, Genocide and Crimes against Humanity, they gained acceptance as International Crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction could be asserted both under Customary International Law and treaties which created an obligation on states to either prosecute or extradite.[8] With time more Conventions on certain other offences also placed an obligation on states to either prosecute or extradite persons who have committed certain crimes; Universal Jurisdiction was therefore extended to certain other offences such as Torture.[9] Another arm of this problem is national legislation of states on Universal Jurisdiction. The scope of such legislation determines the extent of Jurisdiction that can be assumed over International Crimes, and crimes over which Universal jurisdiction may be asserted. Some states have expanded the scope of crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction may be assumed under their laws, some others have tried to maintain the scope asÂÂ   has been ascertained by them Under International Law, while some others have conferred jurisdiction on their national courts in a very limited manner. States have delimited the scope of Universal Jurisdiction in their respective jurisdictions by their respective laws. Mark Ellis stated that As much of the international community promotes universal jurisdiction, state practice is limiting the scope and use of it. AND this is being done without much notice. [10] Ellis further opined that The propensity of states retaining a more expansive view of jurisdictional reach is ending. The discernible trend is moving towards a more restrictive interpretation and application of universal jurisdiction.[11] The absence of uniformity in the legislation of states conferring jurisdiction on their respective courts to assert Universal Jurisdiction poses a problem to the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction because the exercise of jurisdiction by one state may be opposed by another, especially when its nationals are involved. One factor which is closely related to the uncertain scope of Universal Jurisdiction is uncertainty as to the factors which must exist before a state can assume jurisdiction. One of such factors is whether the Accused or the person over whom jurisdiction is sought to be asserted is within the territory of the prosecuting state; this is referred to as Jurisdiction in Absentia. Zemach in defining Jurisdiction in Absentia adopted the definition of Colangelo thus: Universal jurisdiction in absentia can be roughly defined as the conducting of an investigation, the issuing of an arrest warrant, and/or the bringing of criminal charges based on the principle of universal jurisdiction when the defendant is not present in the territory of the acting state. This definition does not include adjudication of the case.[12] Many states are reluctant to assert Jurisdiction unless the accused is within their territory. This is consistent with the extradite or prosecute obligation imposed on states by quite a number of Conventions which permit the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction; the obligation to prosecute or extradite only arises when the offender is within the territory of the state. It could therefore be argued that the implication of this is that the Conventions which place an obligation on states to prosecute or extradite do not envisage the exercise of Jurisdiction in absentia. This problem is further compounded by the absence of consensus on whether Jurisdiction in absentia is permitted under International Law.ÂÂ   Judges Higgins, Kooijmans, and Buergenthal observed, in their Joint Separate Opinion as follows: is it a precondition of the assertion of universal jurisdiction that the accused be within the territory?ÂÂ   Considerable confusion surrounds this topic, not helped by the fact that legislators, courts and writers alike frequently fail to specify the precise temporal moment at which any such requirement is said to be in play. Is the presence of the accused within the jurisdiction said to be required at the time the offence was committed? At the time the arrest warrant is issued? Or at the time of the trial itself? .. This incoherent practice cannot be said to evidence a precondition to any exercise of universal criminal jurisdiction. [13] Rabinovitch, echoes the position of proponents of Universal Jurisdiction in Absentia when he stated that State practice in recent years has increasingly supported the view that States may exercise universal jurisdiction in absentia if they so desire,[14] provided there are safeguards to prevent an abuse of the accused rights. Judge Ranjeva in his Declaration held a contrary view; he stated that developments in International Law did not result in the recognition of Jurisdiction in absentia.[15] All of these uncertainties surrounding the principle and practice of Universal Jurisdiction pose a problem to the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF STATES One major problem which affects the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction is the perceived and actual breach of the sovereignty of a state. I use the word perceived to mean this; most times the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction by a state may be looked upon by the state whose national or official is tried as an affront or threat to its sovereignty. This might not necessarily be the case. While in a case of actual breach of a nations sovereignty, it is the case that exercise of jurisdiction may actually amount to a breach of a nations sovereignty. The Democratic Republic of the Congo V. Belgium[16] popularly known as the Arrest Warrant case illustrates this. In this case, Belgium issued an International Arrest warrant on 11 April 2000, for the arrest of Congos Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdulaye Yerodia Ndombasi. The Democratic Republic of Congo was highly displeased with the issue of the warrant for the arrest of its minister, and accordingly instituted an action at the International Court of Justice praying the court that Belgium recalls and cancels the Arrest warrant. Belgium had issued the warrant on the grounds that Mr. Yerodia had breached the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and protocols I and II; such breach Belgium claimed was punishable under its laws. Congo prayed the International Criminal Court to order Belgium to cancel the warrant on the ground (amongst other grounds) that [t]he universal jurisdiction that the Belgian State attributes to itself under Article 7 of the Law in question constituted a [v]iolation o f the principle that a State may not exercise its authority on the territory of another State and of the principle of sovereign equality among all Members of the United Nations[17]. In essence, Congos contention was that Belgiums exercise of Its Universal Jurisdiction amounted to a violation of its sovereignty. The Court found that the issue of the Warrant of Arrest for Congos Minister for Foreign Affairs amounted to a breach of Congos Sovereignty. Kontorovich has stated that the New Universal Jurisdiction[18] is perhaps the most controversial development in contemporary international law, precisely because it encroaches on or qualifies nations jurisdictional sovereignty[19] whileÂÂ   Kings-Irani opines that Universal jurisdiction casesusually raise troubling questions about state sovereignty. Hawkins opines that when states established universal jurisdiction, they created a decentralized mechanism for the erosion of sovereignty[20] It is not likely that the constant clash between the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction and the violation or the alleged violation of the sovereignty of a state would come to an end in the nearest future. This is attributable to the political element in the definition of the crimes over which Universal Jurisdiction can be assumed; that is the fact that most crimes against humanity and war crimes are most times not committed independent of the state and its agencies, rather they are sometimes committed by state officials with the aid of state agencies. The principle of Universal Jurisdiction has no inherent principles which can tackle the clash between assumption of jurisdiction on this basis and the sovereignty of a state. CLASH BETWEEN THE EXERCISE OF JURISDICTION AND IMMUNITY It is a principle of Customary International Law that State officials are immune from the jurisdiction of foreign courts in certain instances.[21] The immunity enjoyed could be as a result of the position occupied; this is Immunity ratione personae or it could be enjoyed as a result of the official acts carried out in furtherance of the office occupied; this is immunity ratione materiae.[22] The challenge that the issue of sovereign immunity poses is a multi-faceted one. This challenge raises quite a number of questions. What exactly is the law on the immunity of sovereigns of states, both current and past and what is the extent of the immunity in relation to the acts of the sovereign? What acts of the sovereign are covered by immunity? This difficulty arises primarily because the position of International law on the immunity of Sovereigns of States or Heads of States remains unclear.[23] Indeed the authors of the article The Future of Former Head of State Immunity after ex parte Pinochet[24] borrowed the words of other authors to describe the position of International Law on the immunity of Heads of States as lacking coherence[25], problematic and ambiguous[26] and in Re Doe[27] the United States Court of Appeal described it as been in an amorphous and Undeveloped state. This issue came up for consideration In the Arrest Warrant Case[28]; Congos contention was that ÂÂ  the non-recognition, on the basis of Article 5 of the Belgian Law, of the immunity of a Minister for Foreign Affairs in office constituted a [v]iolation of the diplomatic immunity of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of a sovereign State, as recognized by the jurisprudence of the Court and following from Article 41, paragraph 2, of the Vienna Convention of 18 April 1961 on Diplomatic Relations[29] The court came to the decision that a Minister of Foreign Affairs enjoyed Immunity which was inviolable for as long he remained in office. I will reproduce a portion of the Courts decision as this sheds some light on the position of International Law on the Immunity of Sovereigns; The Court has carefully examined State practice, including national legislation and those few decisions of national higher courts such as the House of Lords or the French Court of Cassation. It has been unable to deduce from this practice that there exists under Customary International law any form of exception to the rule according immunity from criminal Jurisdiction and inviolability to incumbent Ministers for Foreign Affairs, where they are suspected of havingÂÂ   committed war crimes or crimes against humanity. Jurisdictional immunity may well bar prosecution for a certain period or for certain offences; it cannot exonerate the person to whom it applies from all criminal responsibility[30] What this translates to is the fact that there may be times when a National Court could have jurisdiction to try a person subject to immunity, however, it might be impossible to exercise jurisdiction because of the immunity that such a person enjoys; the risk in this is that it could lead to impunity, even though this is a situation the Law seems to want to avoid or it could just lead to a situation of delayed justice. In senator Pinochets case,[31] the House of Lords held that Pinochet, a former Head of State of Chile was not entitled to immunity for torture, as torture was not an official act carried out in furtherance of his official duties. The position of International Law on the Immunity of High level officials of states remains uncertain, and there is no uniformity in state practice in recent years which can help in ascertaining the position of International law in this regard. In November 2007, France dismissed a complaint filed against Former secretary of Defence of the United States and the reason for the dismissal wasÂÂ   given by the prosecutor, Jean Claude Marin, he stated in an open letter that according to rules of customary international law established by the International Court of Justice, immunity from criminal jurisdiction for Heads of State and Government and Ministers of Foreign Affairs continues to apply after termination of their functions, for acts carried out during their time of office and hence, as former Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, by extension should benefit from this same immunity for acts carried out in the exercise of his functions.[32] There was an outcry against the position of France, particularly because the Prosecutor, Jean Claude Marin had some years earlier personally signed an order calling for General Pinochet to appear before the Paris Court of Appeal. Human Rights organisations felt he should have known better. The Human Rights Organisation also felt greatly disappointed that the dismissal of the complaint was largely due to the position taken by the French Foreign Ministry which is headed by Bernard Kouchner, a fellow who had distinguished himself in the fields of Human Rights. This goes to illustrate the inconsistency in state practices when it comes to the issue of exercising Universal Jurisdiction and the Immunity of State officials. Perhaps one logical explanation for this inconsistency might not be unrelated to the need to preserve good relations between states. THE ALLEGATION OF BIAS Selective approach in the prosecution of International Crimes on the basis of Universal Jurisdiction has posed a great challenge to the Universal Jurisdiction regime. The outcry against the selective approach of some states in the prosecution of crimes using Universal Jurisdiction has been loudest in Africa, where African leaders allege that they have been the primary target of Western Countries. This allegation of bias is not without any merit, neither is it entirely true. Ian Brownlie has been quoted by Zemach as stating that [p]olitical considerations, power, and patronage will continue to determine who is to be tried for international crimes and who not.[33] Dr. Oner captured an aspect of this problem aptly when he stated that: Universal jurisdiction gives powerful nations a means of politically influencing less powerful ones. Indeed, thus far, weak countries with little to no political leverage have not exercised universal jurisdiction over powerful people from powerful countries through their courts.[34] It is important that states have faith in the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction by any state that chooses to prosecute using Universal Jurisdiction. There should be transparency and good faith when arriving at the decision to prosecute; and this should as clearly as possible be seen by all to be fair. POLITICAL PRESSURE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS IMPLICATIONS Nations usually want to maintain good relations with their allies; however, the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction could pose a threat to this. In order to maintain good relations with other states, a state may give in to political pressure which would in turn affect its exercise of Universal Jurisdiction. The case of Belgium and Spain illustrate this. Belgiums Universal Jurisdiction laws were so broad that anybody could be tried by Belgium courts without having any link at all to Belgium The American society of International Law Commenting on the Belgian law stated that: The Belgian law was widely recognized as the most far-reaching example of a state exercising universal jurisdiction. During the first decade of the laws existence, some thirty legal complaints were filed against a variety of government officials worldwide, including against Rwandans for genocide, General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Cuban President Fidel Castro, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon[35] The United States uncomfortable with the possibility that its officials could be victims of Belgiums law threatened and coerced Belgium until Belgium finally amended its laws in August 2003, thus finally removing the Absoluteness from the Universal Jurisdiction law of Belgium. ÂÂ  U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld stated authoritatively at the time: Belgium needs to realize that there are consequences to its actions. This law calls into serious question whether NATO can continue to hold meetings in Belgium and whether senior U.S. officials, military and civilian, will be able to continue to visit international organizations in Belgium Certainly until this matter is resolved we will have to oppose any further spending for construction for a new NATO headquarters here in Brussels until we know with certainty that Belgium intends to be a hospitable place for NATO to conduct its business.[36] The new Belgian Law now requires a link with Belgium for the Belgian courts to be able to exercise jurisdiction. All pending cases in Belgium against U.S Officials were dismissed in September 2003 because of Belgiums new law. When Belgium ruled that Israels Prime Minister Ariel Sharon could stand trial for War crimes under its Universal Jurisdiction laws, but only after he leaves office, Israeli public television quoted an unnamed official as calling the court decision scandalous and warning that it threatened to open a serious crisis between the two countries.[37] And Israel in protest was reported to have recalled its Ambassador to Belgium for consultation The case of Spain is quite similar to the Belgium experience. After Spain gave in to pressure from Israel, the United States and China, Spain amended its Universal Jurisdiction law; the new law now requires a link to Spain before Spanish Courts can assume jurisdiction.[38] Clearly political considerations and interactions between states pose a problem to the exercise of Universal jurisdiction. DIFFCULTY OF OBTAINING EVIDENCE AND WITNESSES Stewart is also of the opinion that In some measure, the lack of actual prosecutions based on universality must result from practical difficulties in obtaining evidence and witnesses regarding crimes committed in other countries.[39] Most International Crimes are usually prosecuted many years after the offences have been committed. The chances of gathering quality evidence with the passage of time reduces, when that is added to the long distance and legal difficulties that it might entail, it becomes even more difficult to obtain evidence. Language barrier could also further compound this problem. Where it is difficult or impossible to obtain evidence it might be difficult to proceed with prosecution on the basis of Universal Jurisdiction. COMPETING JURSIDCITION It is always the case most times, if not always that where jurisdiction is asserted on the basis of Universality, jurisdiction could also be asserted on other bases. Where more than one state decides to assert jurisdiction, whether on the basis of Universality or other principles, it might pose a problem, especially when extradition is requested by the competing states. To reduce the conflict that this situation may create, it is usually best that in the prosecution of International crimes, exercise of jurisdiction on the basis of Universal Jurisdiction should be the last resort, states with stronger connections to the crime should first be given opportunity to prosecute the crime, where they fail to or where they are unable to do so, then a state with no connection or a weaker connection can then prosecute on the basis of Universal Jurisdiction. COST One of the problems associated with the exercise of Universal jurisdiction is cost. A state expends its resources in prosecuting crimes, when the prosecution of crimes serves the states interests, there would be no problem with it but where it serves no practical purpose that is when the difficulty arises. The argument and view held in some quarters, that a nation that prosecutes a crime that does not threaten it in any way and which it has no interest in prosecuting stands to gain nothing from it, rather, it expends its resources and the benefits of prosecuting the crime is enjoyed by other states is one problem that militates against the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction. Kontorovich stated that ÂÂ  A nation exercising Universal Jurisdiction expends scarce resources to punish crimes that have not injured it; thus it bears all the costs of enforcement while the benefits are enjoyed primarily by other nations. Rational choice models of state behaviour suggest that nations will generally not undertake such activities.[40] David Stewart also opined that Depending on the facts, prosecutors and ministries of justice may have little enthusiasm for devoting time, money, and resources to prosecutions having little enough to do with their own countries, citizens, and direct national interests.[41] Kontorovichs position is actually a true reflection of what is currently going on at the international scene, nations decline to prosecute or even investigate where their interests are not affected, and this runs contrary to the principle of Universal Jurisdiction. One of the underlying principles governing Universal Jurisdiction is that crimes such as torture, genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes are so serious that they harm not just a particular state but the international community and should therefore be prosecuted by all states.[42] Kontorovich opines more articulately that many of the crimes subject to the universality principle are so heinous in scope and degree that they offend the interest of all humanity, and any state may, as humanitys agent, punish the offender. . . [43] DOMESTIC LEGISLATION AND STATE POLICIES It is not sufficient that International Law establishes an obligation to prosecute on the basis of Universal Jurisdiction. There must exist national legislation which authorises the courts of a state to assert jurisdiction, where this is absent, a court might not be able to assert Universal Jurisdiction. Senegal had to enact a law vesting jurisdiction in its courts before it could prosecute Hissene Habre, former Chad president. State practice is limiting the scope and use of Universal Jurisdiction. [44] Universal Jurisdiction can only be used to the extent that a states mun

Essay --

Furniture can enhance the appearance of any space and add value to the house while improving the function. Wall cabinet is one of a furniture range that can be used in a kitchen, living room, bedroom, office and many other spaces. Wall cabinets are built in a wide variety of designs, material, functions and sizes. Most wall cabinets are simply for storage but nowadays, people require durable, sturdy, long lasting yet affordable furniture with improved functionality. Modular furniture provides components that can be combined to meet individual needs and tastes which utilize all space where it can be interchanged and adjusted. In order to create a successful design of a modular kitchen cabinet, appropriate hanging mechanisms are needed. It is important to understand the properties of materials and design of the hanging mechanism so that proper utilization can be achieved to ensure efficient product design and user safety. Material selection is among one of the most important aspects that must be taken into account before any hanging mechanism is produced. This is because material plays an important role in determining the suitability and durability of the hanging mechanism design. Nowadays, more advanced materials have been used to replace conventional materials because advanced materials offer more advantages (Myrdal, 2009). For instance in furniture manufacturing, conventional material such as solid wood have been replaced with alternative lumber such as particle board, plywood, glulam, LVL or OSB because of their economic and production efficiencies. This study is aimed at discovering a better solution by providing an alternative material and design to make the most important part of a wall mounted cabinet which is the hanging... ...gs but could produce a higher strength product. Therefore, using this material as hanging mechanism could lower raw material cost and at the same time provide a strong and eco-friendly alternative hanging mechanism. Hypothetically, if the proposed design (French cleat) and material (LVL) has the same or better qualities than the existing design and material, it can be used as the hanging mechanism in modular kitchen cabinets. Therefore, the thesis is proposing a new design of hanging mechanism using LVL which could probably give similar or better loading capacity and mechanical properties as compared to existing designs used in kitchen cabinets. Due to the lack of natural resources, the alternative material which is engineered wood product offers additional advantages as it retains the structural properties of wood and may be used as a substitute for solid wood.

The Greatest Motivational Factor in My Life Essay example -- Motivatio

Motivation is the process by which one is moved, whether the process is external or internal. It encourages one to do something or not to do something. It can bring about positive change or a negative reaction depending on the situation. Many things affect motivation such as, the environment, your family background, schools, the government, and many other stimuli. Probably the greatest motivational factor in my life is my mother. She has always encouraged me to complete my education, many times when I did not want to. I remember once when I was going to drop out of college, she nearly threatened me with bodily harm if I didn’t finish. Of course, I can’t say that I blame her, I only had one year left. I am extremely glad that she did. I have always had the notion that I had to please everyone else when I was growing up. In elementary school, I had to always do good because my older brothers and sisters were good. Naturally I had to behave as well. I come from a large family. My parents had 15 children! Everyone one of us graduated from high school as well as worked on a farm. When I attended school, all I ever heard was that your brother or sister did well with this subject so you will naturally do as well. Sometimes this was good motivation and sometimes it was not a good tactic to use. There was always one good thing going for the Jacobs family, which was the fact that all of us liked math in school and it was real easy. It is no wonder we had straight A’s i...

Melvilles Moby Dick :: Essays Papers

Melvilles Moby Dick Melville was born in a time of American history where inspiring works of American literature began to emerge. It was also a time when America had not completely separated its literary heritage from Europe, partly because there were successful literary genius’ flourishing there. Melville proved to be a genius of his own, with his many works such as Moby Dick, Billy Bud, and Bartleby. Three distinct themes could be seen throughout most of his literature; whales and the whaling industry, commentary on the universe and human destiny, and ideas about God and nature. Moby Dick is an incredible work by Melville most often referred to as an epic, a tragedy, a novel, an exposition on the whaling, and a spiritual autobiography. It is often overlooked that a deeper, more symbolic, meaning may have been the driving force behind Moby Dick. Herman Melville was born on August 1, 1819, to Allan and Maria Melville. He was the third of eight children in the Melville family. He was generally described as silent and slow; his mother thought him to be a very dull child. In 1832 Melville suffered tragedy when his father died. Finishing school when he was fifteen, Melville took service as cabin boy aboard the St. Lawrence. After returning to his home in New York for some time after serving as cabin boy, Melville took berth as an ordinary seaman aboard a whaling ship called the Acushnet. After approximately four and a half years as a seaman on various ships, he set down, again in New York, to write of his experiences. Within six years he had published five books. Shortly thereafter Melville was married and moved his family to a farm near Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was at this location where Moby Dick was written. Moby Dick was first published in 1851. Melville continued to write, both poetry and stories, until three months before his death in 1891. Melville’s perspective on life was that God created the universe with an infinite number of meanings and man is always trying to determine one specific meaning (Robertson-Lorant 65). It is possible that Melville, through writing, was seeking out some of his many destinies bestowed upon him by God. The basis of the name Moby Dick can be traced back to an article in the New York Knickerbocker Magazine in May of 1839 (Madden).

Counter-Intuitive Marketing

Chapter 10 gives the reader a view if direct marketing is really effective on selling products to consumer at large. Most of selling companies consider direct marketing as a â€Å"personalized† marketing; however, there is more to the tedious door-to-door selling. Factors are attributed to how the consumers buy-in to the concept that goes to the product, may it be the message it conveys or the packaging itself. Before going to the assessment of current direct marketing strategies and research designs that can be used to target the right customers, the current problems of direct marketing were enlisted.One of the problems experienced was the decline in the response rates among the consumers. This situation may lead to the next problem which is saturation to direct marketing mails. Since many companies are into direct selling, there may also be a thin delineation among these companies. This leads to the problem of having not enough innovation in the part of the marketers. With t hese problems at hand, the author routed us to the idea if the list that marketers have at hand is really the list that would patronize their products.In marketing, it is important to understand the market so you would know if your product will fit. It is easy to secure a list, but the book tells us that there is more to having that list. When marketing a certain product, it is important to understand the behavior and attitudes of the consumers. The material recommends that it pays the company who builds their own list and understands the needs of those consumers on that list. In this way, from a bigger perspective of the population, the company can identify the segment of the population that is expected to buy.However, the concept of direct marketing is not only confined to the relationship of the company to its consumers. Direct marketing can also happen to business-to-business. One computer company can sell its services to another company who would need its products. But just lik e how one company should understand its consumers, when dealing with companies as well, it would need to know what it values, what it finds important or what risks it will take. Towards the end of the chapter, it discusses methods on how one company can find effective direct marketing strategies.The process of finding the appropriate strategy is continually evolving. It is not serving the same content yet in different packaging. Changing strategy mix from time to time will help the marketer fine tune his design to effectively sell the products. It also pays in direct marketing to make itself visible, not only once to the customer. Once a direct mail is sent to the consumer twice, it will yield a higher possibility of response from the side of the consumer. Direct marketing in an essence is an experiment that molds itself to perfection.One cannot really have a perfect model to follow, but one thing sure about making it effective is to always acknowledge the side of your productâ€⠄¢s market. Indeed, it is a powerful tool once a company can get it right, but also a way of wasting resource if done otherwise. The next chapter leads the readers to a more specific perspective of marketing – building the concept for the product that will be sold to the customers. Within a product, marketers can actually think of numerous possibility or mixes on how to market it effectively.Some companies would go on for discounts, freebies and favors. However, not all these would actually work. It shows that it will be all competition driven, thus, sacrificing the actual sales that the product would have. Most of companies employ the idea of the traditional concept testing. In doing this design, it is recommended that companies should have larger sample sizes and should disclose the full description of the product. This is to ensure that they will have at least the credible response of the consumers about their selling proposition.However, this strategy is engulfed with pro blems. It fails to acknowledge that consumers may not really mean what they are saying. The customer’s promise of saying that he will buy the product may not necessarily mean that they will do the thing of buying it. Models may say that consumers will most likely buy it if there is a high self reported probability of purchase. Then again, this is still a gamble. As mentioned on the previous chapter, there is more to understanding the target market. Affective and cognitive components affect the consumer’s decision to buy the product.Affective would mean their intangible impressions or their feelings, and the latter focuses on their intellectual impressions on how the product could be of help to them. These two components have to be reconciled in order to have a clearer picture on the consumer’s willingness to buy the product. However, as mentioned, there are still numerous options under one concept. The two components cannot give the marketers a concrete answer o n what to really market on the larger scale of consumers. A methodology is herein presented to address this challenge.As proposed by Paul Green of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, the multiple trade-off analysis can address the problem on how to consolidate the factors and all other small concept under the big product design. One can also evaluate each factor independently; however the multiple trade-off analysis can also show the interaction effects between factors. Not all factors is a stand-alone, the researcher must acknowledge that one factor can actually rely on another. The end each analysis is always to come up with the best marketing decision.The chapter warns marketers that the most appealing concept may be the most expensive one. As the company proceeds with its operations, not taking into consideration the financial part can be detrimental. Thus, deciding on the best concept will speak about optimality – not only considering the dimension but always keeping in mind profitability. Evaluation thousands of options is always worth doing and balancing it with the returns would lead to a marketing success. Possible Questions to the CEO During the Interview 1.What strategy does your company employing when you market directly your products? 2. What were the success and failures of this strategy? 3. How did you understand your market base in order to cope up with the failures of the existing strategy? 4. What method did you use to know what effective marketing concept that would let your consumers avail of your product or service? 5. Do you think you method has been successful in capturing your target market? Why? BIBLIOGRAPHY Clancy, Peter C. Krieg Kevin J.. Counter-Intuitive Marketing. New York City: Free Press, 2000.

Response to “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” By Rachels Essay

In the text â€Å"The Challenge of Cultural Relativism,† James Rachels breaks down and discusses the theory of Cultural Relativism by presenting the pros and cons of this theory. He exposes some of the shortcomings of the theory arguing that some of the claims are wrong and contradictory. The theory of Cultural Relativism states that â€Å"there is no such thing as universal truth in ethics; there are only the various cultural codes.† In other words, the view of moral or ethical systems vary from culture to culture, therefore, we cannot say if one system is better than any other. In his text, Rachels argues that the idea of cultural relativism is an invalid argument, that it leads to implausible consequences, and that moral codes are not entirely different. At the same time, Rachels concludes that there are no good or bad things, but social norms; likewise, the cultural relativism influences us to have an open mind. Rachels begins by explaining that the cultural differe nces argument is invalid because the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises. Here Rachels uses as argument the old belief that the earth was flat, which is wrong, to show that if you believe in something, it does not necessary has to be true. Furthermore, Rachels argues that some of the possible consequences of this theory are that we cannot criticize sadistic cultures. In this case, he uses the anti-Semitic example to claim that if cultural relativism establishes that it is wrong to criticize this kind of action because they are part of the cultural code, then the theory is incorrect. At the same time, another of the serious consequences is that we cannot criticize our own culture, much less try to reform it since the theory states that it is wrong to make intracultural judgments. In other words, Rachels says that if cultural relativism is true, then what MLK Jr. did was wrong because his actions were against the moral code of his culture. Finally, Rachels discusses how the beliefs of one culture to another do not differ at all, since there are things that a re essential in any society.

A Dirty Job Chapter 13

13 CRY HAVOC, AND LET SLIP THE GOGS OF WAR! Watching Madeline Alby die had shaken Charlie. It wasn't her death so much, it was the life he'd seen in her minutes before she passed. He thought: If you have to stare Death in the eye to be able to take the life out of your moments, then who better to do it than the man who shaves Death's face? â€Å"Cheese wasn't in the book,† Charlie said to Sophie as he walked her out of the shop in her new runner's stroller – which looked like someone had crossbred a carbon-fiber bicycle and a baby carriage and ended up with a vehicle you could use to take a day trip to Thunderdome – but it was strong, easy to push, and kept Sophie safely wrapped in an aluminum frame. Because of the cheese, he didn't make her wear her helmet. He wanted her to be able to look around, see the world around her, and be in it. It was watching Madeline Alby eat cheese with every ounce of her being, like it was the first and best time, that made him realize that he had never really tasted cheese, or crackers, or life. And he didn't want his daughter to live that way. He'd moved her into her own room the night before, the bedroom that Rachel had decorated for her with clouds painted on the ceiling and a happy balloon carrying a happy bunch of animal friends across the sky in its basket. He hadn't slept well, and had gotten up five times during the night to check on her, only to find her sleeping peacefully, but he could lose a little sleep if Sophie could go through life without his fears and limitations. He wanted her to experience all the glorious cheese of life. They strolled through North Beach. He stopped and bought a coffee for himself and some apple juice for Sophie. They shared a giant peanut-butter cookie, and a crowd of pigeons followed them down the sidewalk feasting on the river of crumbs that flowed from Sophie's stroller. The World Cup soccer championships was playing on televisions in bars and cafs, and people spilled out onto the sidewalks and out into the street, watching the game, cheering, jeering, hugging, swearing, and generally acting out waves of elation and dejection in the company of new companions who were visiting this Italian-American neighborhood from all around the world. Sophie cheered with the soccer fans and shrieked with joy because they were happy. When the crowd was disappointed – a kick blocked, a play foiled – Sophie was distressed, and would look to her daddy to fix it and make everyone happy again. And Daddy did, because a few seconds later, they were all cheering again. A tall German man ta ught Sophie to sing â€Å"Goooooooooooooooooooooal!† the way the announcer did, practicing with her until she got the full five-second sustain, and she was still practicing three blocks away, when Charlie had to shrug at confused onlookers as if to say, The kid's a soccer fan, what can you do? As naptime approached, Charlie looped through the neighborhood and headed up through Washington Square Park, where people were reading and lounging in the shade, a guy played guitar and sang Dylan songs for change, two white Rasta boys kicked a Hacky Sack around, and people were generally settling in for a pleasant and windless summer day. Charlie spied a black kitten sneaking out of a hedge near busy Columbus Avenue, stalking a wild McMuffin wrapper, it appeared, and he pointed it out to Sophie. â€Å"Look, Sophie, kitty.† Charlie felt bad about the demise of Bear, the cockroach. Maybe this afternoon he'd go to the pet shop and get a new friend for Sophie. Sophie screamed with glee and pointed to the little cat. â€Å"Can you say ‘kitty'?† Charlie said. Sophie pointed, and gave a drooly grin. â€Å"Would you like a kitty? Can you say ‘kitty,' Sophie?† Sophie pointed to the cat. â€Å"Kitty,† she said. The little cat dropped on the spot, dead. Fresh Music,† Minty Fresh answered the phone, his voice a bass sax sketch of cool jazz. â€Å"What the fuck is this? You didn't say anything about this? The book didn't say anything about this? What the fuck is going on?† â€Å"You'll be wanting the library or a church,† Minty said. â€Å"This is a record store, we don't answer general questions.† â€Å"This is Charlie Asher. What the fuck did you do? What have you done to my little girl?† Minty frowned and ran his hand over his scalp. He'd forgotten to shave this morning. He should have known something was going to go wrong. â€Å"Charlie, you can't call me. I told you that. I'm sorry if something has happened to your little girl, but I promise you that I – â€Å" â€Å"She pointed at a kitten and said ‘kitty' and it fell over, stone dead.† â€Å"Well, that is an unfortunate coincidence, Charlie, but kittens do have a pretty high mortality rate.† â€Å"Yeah, well, then she pointed to an old guy feeding the pigeons and said ‘kitty' and he dropped over dead, too.† Minty Fresh was glad that there was no one in the store right then to see the look on his face, because he was sure that the full impact of the willies dancing up and down his spine was blowing his appearance of unflappable chill. â€Å"That child has a speech disorder, Charlie. You should have her looked at.† â€Å"A speech disorder! A speech disorder! A cute lisp is a speech disorder. My daughter kills people with the word kitty. I had to keep my hand over her mouth all the way home. There's probably video somewhere. People thought I was one of those people who beats their kid in department stores.† â€Å"Don't be ridiculous, Charlie, people love the parents who beat their kids in department stores. It's the ones who just let their kids wreak havoc that everybody hates.† â€Å"Can we stay on point, Fresh, please? What do you know about this? What have you figured out in all your years as a Death Merchant?† Minty Fresh sat down on the stool behind the counter and stared into the eyes of the cardboard cutout of Cher, hoping to find answers there. But the bitch was holding out. â€Å"Charlie, I got nothin'. The kid was in the room when you saw me, and you saw what it did to you. Who knows what it did to her. I told you I thought you were in a different league than the rest of us, well, maybe the kid is something else, too. I've never heard of a Death Merchant who could just ‘kitty' someone to death, or cause anyone to die outside of normal, mortal means. Have you tried having her use other words? Like puppy?† â€Å"Yeah, I was going to do that, but I thought it might fuck up property values if everyone in my neighborhood suddenly fell over dead! No, I didn't try any other words. I don't even want to make her eat her green beans for fear she'll kitty me.† â€Å"I'm sure you have some kind of immunity.† â€Å"The Great Big Book says that we're not immune to death ourselves. I'd say the next time a kitten comes on the Discovery Channel my sister could be picking out caskets.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Charlie, I don't know what to tell you. I'll check out my library at home, but it sounds like the kid is a lot closer than we are to how all the legends portray Death. Things tend to balance, however, maybe there's some positive side to this, uh, disorder she has. In the meantime, maybe you should head over to Berkeley, see if you can find anything at the library there. It's a repository library – every book that's printed goes there.† â€Å"Haven't you tried that?† â€Å"Yes, but I wasn't looking for something specific like this. Look, just be careful going over. Don't take the BART tunnel.† â€Å"You think the sewer harpies are in the BART tunnels?† Charlie asked. â€Å"Sewer harpies? What's that?† â€Å"It's what I call them,† Charlie said. â€Å"Oh. I don't know. It's underground, and I've been on a train when the power goes out. I don't think you want to risk it. It feels like their territory. Speaking of that, from my end they've been conspicuously silent for the last six months or so. Not a peep.† â€Å"Yeah, the same here,† Charlie said. â€Å"But I suppose this phone call might change that.† â€Å"Yeah, it probably will. But with your daughter's condition, we might be in a whole new game, too. You watch your ass, Charlie Asher.† â€Å"You, too, Minty.† â€Å"Mr. Fresh.† â€Å"I meant Mr. Fresh.† â€Å"Good-bye, Charlie.† In his cabin on the great ship, Orcus picked his teeth with the splintered femur of an infant. Babd combed his black mane with her claws as the bullheaded death pondered what the Morrigan had seen from the drain on Columbus Avenue: Charlie and Sophie in the park. â€Å"It is time,† said Nemain. â€Å"Haven't we waited long enough?† She clacked her claws like castanets, flinging drops of venom on the walls and floor. â€Å"Would you be careful,† Macha said. â€Å"That shit stains. I just put new carpet in here.† Nemain stuck out a black tongue. â€Å"Washerwoman,† she said. â€Å"Whore,† Macha replied. â€Å"I don't like this,† Orcus said. â€Å"This child disturbs me.† â€Å"Nemain is right. Look how strong we've become,† Babd said, stroking the webbing that was growing back between the spikes on Orcus's shoulders – it looked as if he had fans mounted there, like some ornate samurai armor. â€Å"Let us go. The child's sacrifice might give you your full wings back.† â€Å"You think you can?† â€Å"We can, once it's dark,† said Macha. â€Å"We're stronger than we've been in a thousand years.† â€Å"Just one of you go, and go in stealth,† said Orcus. â€Å"Hers is a very old talent, even in this new body. If she masters it, our chance may have passed for another thousand years. Kill the child and bring its corpse to me. Don't let her see you until you strike.† â€Å"And her father? Kill him?† â€Å"You're not that strong. But if he wakes to find his child gone, then maybe his grief will destroy him.† â€Å"You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?† said Nemain. â€Å"You stay here tonight,† said Orcus. â€Å"Dammit,† said Nemain, slinging steaming venom across the wall. â€Å"Oh, pardon me for questioning the exalted one. Hey, head of the bull, I wonder what comes out of the other end?† â€Å"Ha,† said Babd. â€Å"Ha. Good one.† â€Å"And what kind of brain do you find under the feathers?† said Orcus. â€Å"Oh! He got you, Nemain. Think about how bad he got you when I'm killing the child tonight.† â€Å"I was talking to you,† Orcus said. â€Å"Macha goes.† She came in through the roof, tearing up the bubble skylight over the fourth floor and dropping into the hallway. She moved as silent as a shadow down the hall to the stairs, then appeared to float down, her feet barely touching the steps. On the second floor she paused at the door and examined the locks. There were two strong dead bolts in addition to the one in the main plate. She looked up and saw a stained-glass transom, latched with a tiny brass latch. A claw slipped quickly through the gap, and with a twist of the wrist the brass lock popped off and clattered on the hardwood floor inside. She slithered up and through the transom and flattened herself against the floor inside, waiting like a pool of shadow. She could smell the child, hear the gentle snoring coming from across the apartment. She moved to the middle of the great room, and paused. New Meat was there, too, she could sense him, sleeping in the room across from the child. If he interfered she'd tear his head from his body and take it back to the ship as proof to Orcus that he should never underestimate her. She was tempted to take him anyway, but not until she had the child. A night-light in the child's room sent a soft pink band of light across the living room. Macha waved a taloned hand and the light went out. She trilled a small purr of self-satisfaction. There had been a time when she could extinguish a human life in the same way, and maybe that time was coming again. She slid into the child's room and paused. By the moonlight streaming through the window she could see that the child lay curled on her side in her crib, hugging a plush rabbit. But she couldn't see into the corners of the room – the shadows so dark and liquid that even her night-creature eyes couldn't penetrate them. She moved to the crib and leaned over it. The child was sleeping with her mouth wide open. Macha decided to drive a single claw through the roof of her mouth into her brain. It would be silent, leave plenty of blood for the father to find, and she could carry the child's corpse that way, hooked on her claw like a fish for the market. She reached down slowly and leaned into the crib so she'd have maximum leverage for the plunge. The moonlight sparkled off the three-inch talon and she drew back, and she was distracted for an instant by its pretty shininess when the jaws locked down on her arm. â€Å"Motherfu – † she screeched as she was whipped around and slammed against the wall. Another set of jaws clamped onto her ankle. She twisted herself into a half-dozen forms, which did nothing to free her, and she was tossed around like a rag doll into the dresser, the crib, the wall again. She raked at her attacker with her claws, found purchase, then felt as if her claws were being ripped out by the root, so she let go. She could see nothing, just felt wild, disorienting movement, then impact. She kicked hard at whatever had her ankle and it released her, but the attacker on her arm whipped her through the window and against the security bars outside. She heard glass hitting the street below, pushed with all her might, shape-shifting at a furious rate until she was through the bars and falling to the pavement. Ouch. Fuck!† came the shout from out on the street, a female voice. â€Å"Ouch.† Charlie flipped on the light to see Sophie sitting up in her crib holding her bunny and laughing. The window behind her had been shattered, and the glass was gone. Every piece of furniture except the crib had been overturned and there were basketball-sized holes in the plaster of two walls, the wooden lath behind it splintered as well. All over the floor there were black feathers, and what looked like blood, but even as Charlie watched, the feathers started to evaporate into smoke. â€Å"Goggy, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Goggy.† Then she giggled. Sophie slept the rest of the night in Daddy's bed while Daddy sat up in a chair next to her, watching the locked door, his sword-cane at his side. There was no window in Charlie's bedroom, so the door was the only way in or out. When Sophie awoke just after dawn, Charlie changed her, bathed her, and dressed her for the day. Then he called Jane to make her breakfast while he cleaned up the glass and plaster in Sophie's room and went downstairs to find some plywood to nail over the broken window. He hated that he couldn't call the police, couldn't call someone, but if this is what one phone call to another Death Merchant was going to cause, he couldn't risk it. And what would the police say anyway, about black feathers and blood that dissolved to smoke as you watched? â€Å"Someone threw a brick through Sophie's window last night,† he told Jane. â€Å"Wow, on the second floor, too. I thought you were crazy when you put security bars all the way up the building, but I guess not so much, now. You should replace the window with that glass with the wire running through it, just to be safe.† â€Å"I will,† Charlie said. Safe? He had no idea what had happened in Sophie's room, but the fact that she was safe amid all the destruction scared the hell out of him. He'd replace the window, but the kid was sleeping in his room from now until she was thirty and married to a huge guy with ninja skills. When Charlie returned from the basement with the sheet of plywood and hammer and nails, he found Jane sitting at the breakfast counter, smoking a cigarette. â€Å"Jane, I thought you quit.† â€Å"Yeah, I did. A month ago. Found this one in my purse.† â€Å"Why are you smoking in my house?† â€Å"I went into Sophie's room to get her bunny for her.† â€Å"Yeah? Where's Sophie? There might still be some glass on the floor in there, you didn't – â€Å" â€Å"Yeah, she's in there. And you're not funny, Asher. Your thing with the pets has gone completely overboard. I'm going to have to do three yoga classes, get a massage, and smoke a joint the size of a thermos bottle to take the adrenaline edge off. They scared me so bad I peed myself a little.† â€Å"What in the hell are you talking about, Jane?† â€Å"Funny,† she said, smirking. â€Å"That's really funny. I'm talking about the goggies, Daddy.† Charlie shrugged at his sister as if to say, Could you be any more incoherent or incomprehensible? – a gesture he had perfected over thirty-two years, then ran to Sophie's room and threw the door open. There, on either side of his darling daughter, were the two biggest, blackest dogs he had ever seen. Sophie was sitting, leaning against one, while hitting the other in the head with her stuffed bunny. Charlie took a step toward rescuing Sophie when one of the dogs leapt across the room and knocked Charlie to the floor, pinning him there. The other put itself between Charlie and the baby. â€Å"Sophie, Daddy's coming to get you, don't be afraid.† Charlie tried to squirm out from under the dog, but it just lowered its head and growled at him. It didn't budge. Charlie figured that it could take the better part of one of his legs and some of his torso off in one bite. The thing's head was bigger than the Bengal tigers' at the San Francisco zoo. â€Å"Jane, help me. Get this thing off of me.† The big dog looked up, keeping its paws on Charlie's shoulders. Jane swiveled on her bar stool and took a deep drag on her cigarette. â€Å"No, I don't think so, little brother. You're on your own after springing this on me.† â€Å"I didn't. I've never seen these things before. No one's ever seen these things before.† â€Å"You know, we dykes have very high dog tolerance, but that doesn't give you the right to do this. Well, I'll leave you to it,† Jane said, gathering up her purse and keys from the breakfast bar. â€Å"You enjoy your little canine pals. I'm going to go call in freaked out to work.† â€Å"Jane, wait.† But she was gone. He heard the front door slam. The big dog didn't seem to be interested in eating Charlie, just holding him there. Every time he tried to slither out from under it, the thing growled and pushed harder. â€Å"Down. Heel. Off.† Charlie tried commands he'd heard dog trainers shout on TV. â€Å"Fetch. Roll over. Get the fuck off me, you beast.† (He ad-libbed that last one.) The animal barked in Charlie's left ear, so loud that he lost hearing and there was just a ringing on that side. In his other ear he heard a little-girl giggle from across the room. â€Å"Sophie, honey, it's okay.† â€Å"Goggie, Daddy,† Sophie said. â€Å"Goggie.† She stumbled over and looked down at Charlie. The big dog licked her face, nearly knocking her over. (At eighteen months, Sophie moved like a small drunk most of the time.) â€Å"Goggie,† Sophie said again. She grabbed the giant hound by its ear and dragged it off Charlie. Or more accurately, it let her lead it by the ear off of him. Charlie leapt to his feet and started to reach for Sophie, but the other hound jumped in front of him and growled. The thing's head came up to Charlie's chest, even with its feet flat on the ground. He figured the hounds must weigh four or five hundred pounds apiece. They were easily twice the size of the biggest dog he'd seen before, a Newfoundland that he'd seen swimming in the Aquatic Park down by the Maritime museum. They had the short fur of a Doberman, the broad shoulders and chest of a rottweiler, but the wide square head and upturned ears of a Great Dane. They were so black that they appeared to actually absorb light, and Charlie had only ever seen one type of creature that did that: the ravens from the Underworld. It was clear that wherever these hounds had come from, it wasn't from around here. But it was also clear that they were not here to hurt Sophie. She wouldn't even make a good meal for animals this size, and they certainly could have snapped her in two long before now if they'd meant her harm. The damage in Sophie's room the night before might have been caused by the hounds, but they had not been the aggressors. Something had come here to hurt her, and they had protected her, even as they were now. Charlie didn't care why, he was just grateful that they were on his side. Where they'd been when he first rushed into the room after the window broke, he didn't know, but it appeared that now that they were here, they were not going to go away. â€Å"Okay, I'm not going to hurt her,† Charlie said. The dog relaxed and backed off a few steps. â€Å"She's going to need to go potty,† Charlie said, feeling a little stupid. He just noticed that they were both wearing wide silver collars, which, strangely, disturbed him more than their size. After the stretching it had gotten over the last year and a half, his Beta Male imagination fit easily around two giant hounds showing up in his little girl's bedroom, but the idea that someone had put collars on them was throwing him. There was a knock at the front door and Charlie backed out of the room. â€Å"Honey, Daddy will be right back.†