Monday, August 24, 2020

Subsurface Layer Characterisation Research

Subsurface Layer Characterisation Research SUBSURFACE LAYER CHARACTERISATION FOR ENGINEERING PURPOSES USING VERTICAL ELECTRICAL SOUNDING IN BANANA ISLAND, LAGOS, NIGERIA OLADUNJOYE, H.T., 2OLALEYE, A.O. Dynamic Seven (7) vertical electrical sounding stations along two crosses were utilized to examine the profundity to able arrangement for establishment of building structures in Banana Island of Lagos. The investigation is intended to disentangle the nearness of issue soils that can be unfriendly to structures.  The sounding information utilized in this investigation was procured utilizing Schlumberger Electrode Configuration. The VES information were deciphered into a model bend utilizing forward displaying programming called Winglink. The translation boundaries (layer resistivities and thicknesses) for each VES point were gathered into three geo-electric areas to speak to the 2-D models of the subsurface layers in the investigation region. The last understanding outcomes (resistivities and profundities) displayed as geoelectrical segments and pseudosections were looked at inside the overviewed territory and corresponded with the borehole log-inferred profundities to decide a likely profundity for establishments of tall structure. The examination presumed that the geophysical examination is of extraordinary hugeness in incomplete bend coordinating understanding procedure gives the most reliably low rate deviation blunder edges among the three VES fundamental translation strategies. There is reliable increment top to bottom expectation mistake, with profundity, in all the understanding methods. Presentation Geophysical resistivity procedures depend on the reaction of the earth to the progression of electrical flow. In all techniques, an electrical flow is gone through the ground and the subsequent potential cathodes permit us to record the resultant likely distinction between the flow terminal is estimated. The clear resistivity is then an element of the deliberate impedance (proportion of potential to current) and the geometry of the cathode exhibit. Contingent on the overview geometry, the obvious resistivity information are plotted as 1-D soundings, 1-D profiles, or in 2-D cross-areas so as to search for peculiar districts. In the shallow subsurface, the nearness of water controls a significant part of the conductivity variety. Estimation of resistivity (opposite of conductivity) is, by and large, a proportion of water immersion and network of pore space. This is on the grounds that water has a low resistivity and electric ebb and flow will follow the easy way out. Expanding immersion, expanding saltiness of the underground water, expanding porosity of rock (water-filled voids) and expanding number of breaks (water-filled) all will in general diminishing estimated resistivity. Resistivity estimations are related with changing profundities relying upon the partition of the present and expected cathodes in the study, and can be deciphered regarding a lithologic and additionally geohydrologic model of the subsurface. The decision for Direct Current (DC) resistivity study in this task is because of its capacity to give a speedy succinct picture of lithological and groundwater attributes regarding its clear resistivity differentiate. In this work the electrical resistivity character gathered were model with Winresist and Winglink reversal programming. The layers boundaries (resistivities and thicknesses) acquired from information preparing were then transformed with Winglink to give two-dimensional pictures of the subsurface clear resistivity variety (Pseudosection). Be that as it may, information on the geography of the zone from obtained borehole log has assumed a crucial job in deciding the best fit model. MATERIALS AND METHOD OF STUDY The vertical electrical resistivity is utilized to decide the subsurface resistivity circulation and profundity of the sub-surface layers with the guide of electrical resistivity meter. In this investigation, Schlumberger exhibit of electrical resistivity technique was embraced in view of the minimal effort of the field activity, decreased coordinations labor and furthermore quicker. An aggregate of Six (6) vertical electrical sounding (VES) were estimated inside the zone. The resistivity estimation is taken by presenting little segment of power through two current cathodes (An and B) and estimating the resultant voltage drop between a couple of expected anodes (M and N). A straightforward determined estimation of evident resistivity is the boundary bearing the data for the qualities of the earth (Tonkov, 2008). From the establishment of electrical resistivity hypothesis is the ohms law (Grant and West, 1965; Dobrin and Sarvit, 1988):    â â â â â â â â (1) Where Ï  is the resistivity, R is the obstruction, L is the length of the directing chamber and An is the cross sectional region. For the strong earth, whose material is dominatingly comprised of silicates and essentially non channels, the nearness of water in the pore space of the dirt and in the stones breaks improves the conductivity of the earth when an electrical flow I is gone through it, along these lines making the stones a semi conductor.â Since the earth isn't care for a straight wire and it's anything but an anisotropic, at that point Equation 1 can be redone as:  â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â â (2) Where change in voltage and r is the range of current terminals side of the equator. Since the earth isn't homogeneous, Equation 2 is utilized to characterize a clear resistivity which is figured as the result of the geometric factor and the obstruction recorded in the electrical resistivity meter and resistivity the earth would have on the off chance that it were homogeneous (Grant and West, 1965;):  â â â  â â  â â â â â â â â â (3) Where, 2ï€r is then characterize as the geometric factor (G) fixed for a given anode design and is subject to the terminal game plan. The Schlumberger anode design was utilized for this investigation. The geometric factor is along these lines given as:  â â (4) Where AB is the separation between two current cathodes, MN is the separation between two likely anodes. Area AND GEOLOGY OF THE STUDY AREA The investigation zone is situated in the south-eastern piece of Lagos State between Latitudes 6â ° 25 to 6â ° 28 North of the Equator and Longitudes 3â ° 24 to 3â ° 30 East of the Greenwich Meridian (Fig.1.1). The examination region Lekki and its environ issituated inside the western Nigeria seaside rivers and tidal pond created by boundary sea shores related with sand testimony (Pugh, 1954). It frames some portion of the Lagos tidal pond framework known as the biggest of the four tidal pond framework in the bay of guinea coast (Adepelumi and Olorunfemi, 2000). Banana Island is a counterfeit island in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is situated in the Lagos Lagoon and connected toward the North-Eastern Ikoyi Island by a committed street strip which is connected to the current street arrange. The banana-molded Island is roughly 1,630,000 square meters in size (not exactly a square mile) and is isolated into 536 plots (of somewhere in the range of 1000 and 4000 square meters in size) principally orchestrated along circular drives, so intended to upgrade the generally private nature of Ikoyi. Banana Island is a counterfeit island recovered from segments of the Lagos Lagoon, topographic rise acquired at the site found the middle value of 4 meters above mean ocean level. The investigation territory is situated inside the beach front locale of Nigeria with an atmosphere of long wet season (April to October) and short dry season (November to March). Normal yearly precipitation is above 2000mm and fills in as a wellspring of groundwater revive. The territory is helpless to flooding after substantial precipitation during the wet season. Nigeria lies in a broad Pan-African versatile belt which isolates the West African and Congo Cratons. The belt is deciphered to have developed from the mainland crash between the West African craton and the Pan-African belt (Black et al., 1979; Caby et al., 1981). Geochronologically, the Precambrian rocks of Nigeria can be assembled into four significant classes (Liberian Orogeny 2800  ± 200 Ma, Eburnean Orogeny 2000  ± 200 Ma, Kibaran Orogeny 1100  ± 200 Ma and The Pan-African Orogeny 600  ± 150 Ma). These classes relate with the four orogenic occasions that have punctuated the Precambrian history of Africa (Odeyemi, 1979). Figure 2.1: Regional Geological Map of Nigeria (Modified after Ajibade et al., 1988) Beach front Nigeria contains two sedimentary bowls: The Benin-Dahomey bowl and the Niger Delta bowl isolated by the Okitipupa edge. The stones of the Benin bowl are predominantly sands and shales with some limestone which thicken towards the west and the coast just as down plunges to the coast. Late dregs are underlain by the Coastal Plains Sands which is then underlain by a thick dirt layer the Ilaro Formation and other more seasoned Formations (Jones and Hockey, 1964). The Coastal Plains Sands spring is a multi-spring framework comprising of three spring skylines isolated by silty or clayey layers (Longe et al., 1987). It is the principle spring in Lagos Metropolis that is abused through boreholes for residential and modern water flexibly. The sedimentary rocks of Lagos State are made out of five (5) sedimentary arrangements (Jones and Hockey, 1964) viz: Abeokuta Formation, Ewekoro Formation, Ilaro Formation, the Coastal Plains Sands and the alluvial stores. The waterfront fields sand otherwise called the Benin Formation extends over the Dahomey bowl into the Niger Delta Basin. The geographical developments of the investigation zone made out of dregs set down under fluviate, lascustrine and marine situations. These residue grade into each other and change broadly in sidelong degree and thickness (Adepelumi and Olorunfemi 2000). Longe et al., (1987) arranged the spring into three kinds. Quantitative translation of the bends included halfway bend coordinating utilizing two-layer Schlumberger ace bends and the aux

Saturday, August 22, 2020

United States History Essays - Monopoly, Economic Liberalism

US History From 1790 to the 1870's, state and national governments interceded in the American economy for the most part to help private monetary interests and advance financial development. Somewhere in the range of 1890 and 1929, be that as it may, government mediation was structured essentially to check and control private financial action in the open intrigue. Survey the legitimacy of this announcement, talking about for every one of these periods in any event TWO significant zones of open financial strategy. The announcement is basically obvious, in the hour of 1790 to 1870's personal business was at its pinnacle, government and state did little to control or as a rule was supportive of huge business. Free enterprise was the basic strategy towards guidelines and professional interactions when all is said in done. Anyway structure 1890 and 1929 the mentalities changed, more individuals were worried about the prosperity or the individuals, worried about the regularly developing intensity of large organizations; government and state began to control them in the very manners that the past timeframe. I. 1790-1870 a. guideline 1. numerous organizations were allowed to do however they wanted I. Carnegie Steel ii. RR 2. imposing business models were built up I. multimillion dollar ventures were framed a. Standard Oil b. Carnegie Steel ii. minimal done to direct these large organizations a. not until Sherman Anti-trust Act was there an endeavor made to control restraining infrastructures 1. indeed, even that didn't have teeth 3. with the restraining infrastructures costs can be fixed, nothing was done to stop this until the late 1800's 4. free enterprise arrangements were supported at that point b. business by and large 1. directed in the manner the top 1% saw fit I. Andrew Carnegie ii. John D. Rockefeller iii. J.P. Morgan 2. huge business flourished while the entrepreneurs were left to the benevolence of the huge folks 3. economy depended on the couple of individuals that had all the cash I. this brought about numerous poor, barely any rich ii. once more government/state didn't do a thing till after the late 1800's 4. strikes and associations illicit at that point II. 1890 - 1929 a. guideline 1. Acts start to go on the defensive I. Sherman Anti-Trust Act ii. Interstate Commerce Act 2. Restraining infrastructures began to be separated I. Trust Busters a. Teddy Roosevelt b. Woodrow Wilson ii. guideline of business increasingly severe 3. Individuals begin to understand the shades of malice of a free enterprise economy I. nobody yet enormous business would benefit 4. old styles of thing are before long taken over by another reasoning I. all individuals are significant ii. economy which was principally coordinated towards the couple of riches was presently being coordinated towards the lion's share, not the minority b. business in General 1. associations lawful I. AFL 2. per capita salary rose from $450 to $567 3. indeed, even presidents see changed with the appointment of Roosevelt I. President was steward of the individuals ii. Hepburn Act a. directed RR b. moved to free enterprise 4. Degenerate business strategies transformed I. Unadulterated Food and Drug Act a. to control the deceitful strategies of the large organizations and to help the states of life. 5. notable individuals are progressively worried about the neediness of the nation I. presidents a. Taft b. Wilson ii. some rich iii. authors 6. approaches changed towards rich being terrifically imperative to an increasingly cognizant moralistic perspective on the individuals being significant All in all I accept that the financial strategies during 1790 to 1870 were in actuality set up to help private interests of the couple of well off in the U.S. in light of the ever common developing riches in people, for example, Rockefeller and Carnegie. Imposing business models and protections developed without restriction in this timespan. Things key to the people groups needs were dismissed, for example, associations and value guidelines Whereas in the 1890 to 1929 arrangements and perspectives were moved to an increasingly focal spotlight on the open interests and restraining infrastructures were beginning to be toppled by trust busters and laws and guidelines set against them, for example, the Sherman Anti-trust act and the Interstate Commerce Act which were first made successful with president Roosevelt.

Friday, July 24, 2020

Matlab vs Octave Which One is Better Language and Why

Matlab vs Octave Which One is Better Language and Why In this blog, we are going to clear all your doubts between Matlab vs Octave. Here we go:- Meaning of Matlab Summary Meaning of MatlabUses of MatlabMeaning of OctaveUses of OctaveMatlab vs OctaveDefinitionProgrammedInterfaceRAMCostUsageUsing the Empty FileOperatorsFinal words for Matlab vs Octave MATLAB is a numerical analysis environment as well as a fourth-generation computer programming language. It was developed in 1970 by Cleve Moler, who used to be the administrator of the computer science department at the University of New Mexico. Cleve Moler always wanted to provide his students with a better method to learn linear algebra as well as matrix calculation without having the use of FORTRAN (a traditional language for computing). Uses of Matlab With the use of Matlab, you can: Analyze dataCreate models as well as ApplicationsDeveloping the use of AlgorithmMatrix Manipulation Meaning of Octave Octave is considered as a high-level interpreted programming language that is used for numerical computations. It is also an operationally critical threat, asset as well as vulnerability evaluation. Octave was originated at Carnegie Mellon University in 2001 for the Department of Defense in the United States of America. It is a set of techniques that we use for risk assessment in the area of Information Security. Uses of Octave The uses of Octave is as follows It provides a command-line interface for solving linear non-linear issues.For performing various numerical experimentsUsed for matrix computation alsoIt is used for algebraic differential equations.It is available in 19 languages. Matlab vs Octave Matlab and Octave are similar in many fields because they both are a high-level programming language. That is used in the field of computerization such as matrix calculation as well as in algorithms. Apart from this, the difference between Matlab vs Octave is as follows Definition Matlab is considered as a matrix laboratory which is known as a language used for technical computing. While Octave is a programming language that is popular for numerical programming. Programmed Matlab was written in C, C++, as well as Java. Whereas Octave was written in C, C++ as well as FORTRAN language. Interface Matlab has a better interface in comparison to Octave. RAM Matlab uses more RAM in comparison to Octave. Cost Matlab is not free, so it incurs a cost, whereas Octave is free. Usage Matlab provides an extensive set of tools to perform numerous tasks, whereas Octave depends on the syntax to perform any task. Using the Empty File While using Matlab, you cannot load any empty file, but it can be loaded in Octave. Operators Matlab doesn’t have the support of auto-increment as well as assigning operating. On the other hand, Octave is having proper support for auto-increment as well as assignment operators like i++. So, we have discussed the differences between Matlab and Octave as well as the similarity between Matlab and Octave in many ways. likewise, they both are helpful in high programming computing languages. That we used for matrix calculations as well as for other numerical factors.   Final words for Matlab vs Octave The whole study makes it clear that Octave is better than Matlab. The reason for it because Octave is free to use as well as its functions are also compatible with Matlab. It also assists some other high-programming language in making the functionality faster. We have the statics experts/specialists who can help you in assignment work for Matlab vs. Octave at some minor charges. Please give us a call in case of any problem regarding Matlab vs Octave study. Our company is providing expert service in this area. And they are sharing their knowledge in solving your issues.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Analysis of two poems; Prayer Before Birth and Easter Monday

Analysis of two poems; Prayer Before Birth and Easter Monday In this essay I will be analysing two poems. Both poems reflect upon the theme of war. I will be analysing them through their meanings, forms and show how the poets use language to express their ideas and feelings. I have decided to look at the poems Prayer Before Birth by Louis MacNeice and Easter Monday by Eleanor Farjeon. Louis MacNeice was born in 1907, he died in 1963. His mother died when he was young and her death got to him deeply. He studied at Oxford and was one of a group of poets here who became famous. He was intensely affected by the political events of the 1930’s and also by the Second World War. This poem is about an unborn child praying that it†¦show more content†¦What he prays for is to be an individual human being in a world where people respect each other and show human kindness. If the world can’t be like that ‘otherwise kill me’. Prayer Before Birth is a poem of eight verses written in a very unusual form with a contrasting number of lines in each verse from two to ten which creates a varied rhythmic affect, this is a prayer and it to has ritualistic quality with the phrase ‘I am not yet born’ beginning in each verse apart from the last. He uses many language techniques to put across his feelings. Similes are one of them; â€Å"like water†, the use of this is that it creates an image. He also uses repetition this is used to make a point. Eleanor Farjeon was born in 1881, she died in 1965. She wrote for children and wrote poetry for adults. Many of her poetry for adults are sonnets. She went through the Second World War and this is what she talks about in many of her poems. She met another poet with whom she fell in love. His name was Edward Thomas and he was killed in action at war in 1917. This is whom this poem is about. She was a friend of both Thomas and his wife Helen and the wife new and accepted the relationship of Thomas and Eleanor. The poem is a poem in which she expresses great love and a great sense of loss, but she does it in a very quiet,Show MoreRelatedLogical Reasoning189930 Words   |  760 Pagesreasonable one? Yes, because it is based on high-quality reasoning. Is it the best decision—the one an expert would have made in your place? You don’t know this, but yes, the experts do say that stream water will be safe if you boil it for a minute or two. Giardia is caused by protozoa which can’t live for long at high temperature. Other micro-organisms can survive this heating, but they usually won’t cause any human illness. The reason people use water-purification tablets instead of boiling is for

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

The Psychology of Dreams Free Essays

Why we dream: an analysis of contemporary research and theory on the function of dreaming Krista L. Hulm Essay Topic Why do we dream? Discuss with reference to psychological theories and research. Abstract Within classical psychoanalytic psychology, Freud’s (1900) conception of dreams is the most prominent dream theory among modern Western culture (Fosshage, 1983). We will write a custom essay sample on The Psychology of Dreams or any similar topic only for you Order Now Freud theorised that dreams serve a dual, compromise function. He suggested that unconscious, instinctual drive energy pushes for discharge, moving toward the expression of a consciously unacceptable impulse. The reduction in conscious restraints characteristic of sleep allows a symbolic, disguised dream expression of the repressed wish. The overt (manifest) content of the dream represents a compromise between the instinctual forces (latent content) striving for expression, on one hand, and the repressive forces of consciousness on the other (Freud, 1900). Freud assumed that the energy pushing for action would awaken the sleeper if not for the dream which, through symbolic discharge, allows a return to sleep. Therefore the dream is seen as serving the biological function of preserving sleep, with the psychological function of discharging an unacceptable wish that might otherwise burst destructively into waking life (Dallet, 1973). Various aspects of Freud’s dream theory have undergone review from the point of view of contemporary dream research (Breger, 1967; Foulkes, 1964). It is generally agreed that with respect to dream function in particular, the sleep preservation view is invalid and the underlying model on which the wish-fulfilment theory rests requires extensive revision. A study on REM sleep deprivation and its effects on depression found that when dream sleep was experimentally repressed in depressed patients, they were found to be more outgoing, energetic, more likely to engage with others and generally less unhappy (Cartwright, 1993). This may be due to dreams of depressed people having the characteristic of being more self-blaming. These findings contradict with Freud’s theory: if dreams are a safe expression of infantile wishes, why does this function fail to help the depressed? Despite the many problems inherent in Freud’s theoretical formulation of dream function, his far-reaching work has provided a basis for many of the contemporary theories discussed below. Contemporary research on dreams using brain-imaging studies contradict the view that content emerges from random signals (Morewedge Norton, 2009). The hippocampus, which is critical to the acquisition of some types of memories, and the amygdala, which is important for emotional memories, are both seen to be active during REM sleep in brain-imaging studies (Nielson Strenstrom, 2005). This understanding of the physiological aspects of dreams supports the idea that one of the functions of sleep itself is to draw together recent experiences with one’s goals, problems and desires (Paller Voss, 2004). Fossage’s (2007) organisational model of dreams stemmed from such understandings. The model proposes that the core process and function of dreaming is to organise data. More specifically, dream mentation, like waking mentation, develops, maintains, and restores psychological organisation and regulates affect in keeping with shifting motivational priorities. Research shows that babies spend 50% of their sleep time in REM sleep, adults 25% and older people 15% (Breger, 1977). From the idea that REM sleep quantitatively decreases throughout the lifespan, a number of theorists (Breger, 1967; Reiser, 1990) suggest that dreaming fosters structuralisation of the nervous system through the establishment of neural memory networks or maps and babies spend more time in REM in order to establish maps and corresponding categories of organisation. This suggestion supports the organisational model of dreaming. Furthermore, the organisational model of dreaming includes a revision of psychoanalytic theory to explain the content of dreams concluding, in short, that dreams more directly reveal – through affects metaphors and themes – the dreamer’s immediate concerns (Fosshage, 2007). References Bulkeley, K. (1993). Dreaming is play. Psychoanalytic Psychology 10(4), 501-514. Retrieved September 8, 2009, from PsychARTICLES database. Cartwright, R. (2000). How and why the brain makes dreams: A report card on current research on dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, pp. 914-916. Fosshage, J. L. (1983). The psychological function of dreams: A revised psychoanalytic perspective. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 6, 641-669. Fosshage, J. L. (2007). The organizing functions of dreaming: Pivotal issues in understanding and working with dreams. International forum of psychoanalysis, 16, 4, 213-221. Retrieved 14 August 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. Revonsuo, A. (2000). The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23, pp. 877-901. How to cite The Psychology of Dreams, Papers

Monday, April 27, 2020

The Common and Civil Law System

There are two legislative traditions that are very widespread in many countries; in particular one can speak about the common and civil law systems. This paper is aimed at discussing the similarities and differences between these approaches.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Common and Civil Law System specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Furthermore, one should show how these differences can affect the work of many companies, for instance, American firms that operate at an international level. On the whole, it is possible to argue that the difference between these systems can create significant challenges for many businesses. First of all, one should remember common law system is based on the premise that courts have a right to develop rules or principles that regulate some aspects of human activities. This issue is particularly relevant if one speaks about such aspects as contracts or tort litigation (Cross 181). Close attention should be paid to the so-called precedents or the decisions took by judges in the past (Schubert 88). These professionals have to rely on precedents when they need to address similar cases or disputes. Nevertheless, these people can also adopt new rules if they see that existing legislation is not sufficient for resolving a particular problem. This is one of the main peculiarities that should be kept in mind. In contrast, civil law system is based on the collected and ordered set of regulations and rules that were adopted by the government (Cross 181). The main issue is that courts are only allowed to interpret existing regulations. In other words, they are forced to operate within certain limits. Nevertheless, they do not usually have the opportunity to introduce new rules. This is one of the main differences that one can identify. These discrepancies can affect both individuals and organizations when they have to live or operate in a new legal environment. Ne vertheless, one should not assume that these approaches have nothing in common. For example, in each of these systems criminal activities are evaluated according to the statutes that cannot be altered by a judge (Cross 181). Furthermore, even in common law traditions, judges have to follow certain principles while interpreting existing precedents or identifying new ones (Antoine 44).Advertising Looking for assessment on common law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Apart from that, the decision of the supreme courts in civil law countries can sometimes have binding power. This is one of the issues that should be taken into consideration by organizations and individuals. The companies that are based in the United States can encounter several challenges while operating at an international level. These organizations are accustomed to common law tradition, and sometimes, it is difficult for these firms to work in a different legal e nvironment. This is one of the main issues that be taken into account by business administrators. For example, one can mention such a company as Apple that was forced to make its online store compatible with mp3 players manufactured by their competitors (Norwegian Consumer Council. 1). Provided that this company had been operating only in the United States, it would have been easier for them uphold their rights. Yet, Norway is a country with civil law tradition and the judges working in this country have to adhere to certain codified regulations. This is one of the examples that one can provide. Furthermore, one can mention about the difficulties faced by Google when it began its operations in China. This corporation was forced to comply with existing laws regarding free speech and censorship. These restrictions could have violated the main values of this company. This is one of the reasons why this corporation decided to move to Hong Kong in which common law system is adopted (Mill er 183). In this legal environment, this organization can better protect itself from the intrusion of the government. Overall, such difficulties are faced by other American firms. These cases suggest common law system can actually create an unfair advantage for some organizations, especially if one is speaking about local producers. This argument is particularly relevant to the case of Apple since this organization was forced to give away its competitive advantage to some of its key rivals.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Common and Civil Law System specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Nevertheless, while evaluating common and civil law traditions, one should not overlook the political culture of a country. For instance, a civil law system can be rather effective in fully democratic countries. Nevertheless, this model can function very poorly when it is used in a totalitarian or autocratic state. This is th e main argument that should be taken into consideration. These cases indicate that common and civil law systems differ in several ways. One should focus on the opportunities that are available to judges. In the common law tradition, they are enabled to act as legislators who can introduce new rules by setting precedents. In contrast, civil law tradition implies that the decisions of these professionals should be based on existing statutes. They have to operate within certain limits. This difference can profoundly affect the work of American companies that are accustomed to common law legal tradition. However, the differences between these traditions can be better described by looking at the political system of various countries. Works Cited Antoine, Rose-Marie. Commonwealth Caribbean Law and Legal Systems, London: Routledge, 2008. Print. Cross, Frank. West’s Legal Environment of Business: Text and Cases: Ethical,  Regulatory, International, and E-commerce Issues, New York: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print. Miller, Roger. Business Law, New York: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Norwegian Consumer Council 2012. Complaint against iTunes Music Store. PDF File. 24 Feb. 2012. http://web.archive.org/web/20060613185025/http://forbrukerportalen.no/filearchive/Complaint%20against%20iTunes%20Music%20Store.pdfAdvertising Looking for assessment on common law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Schubert, Frank. Introduction to Law and the Legal System, Boston: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. This assessment on The Common and Civil Law System was written and submitted by user Camilo Graves to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Handguns Kill essays

Handguns Kill essays Imagine enjoying a movie at Cinema 10, eating a meal at Taco Bell, or even sitting in class at school while people all around you are carrying loaded guns! Although this may seem unbelievable, it is possible because the second amendment of the United States Constitution gives citizens the right to possess and carry guns. It is understandable that Americans would want to possess guns such as shotguns and rifles for the popular sport of hunting. However, it is ridiculous that our government would allow people to carry handguns. Handgun possession should be strictly limited, because they are made solely to kill people, they have increased the murder rate in the U.S., and they have even allowed children to easily kill other children. The first reason handguns should be outlawed for ordinary citizens are because their main purpose is simply to kill other human beings. Why would our country allow us to have the right to own an object that is deadly? Our government seems to want to protect us. For example, seatbelt laws and motorcycle helmet laws were created to protect our lives. The EPA enforces pollution laws to keep us safe and healthy. The FDA inspects food and tests drugs to make sure American citizens are not harmed by nasty food and dangerous drugs. Yet, our government allows just about anybody to own and walk around with guns. It does not appear our government really cares about our safety. If it did, handguns would be outlawed for the general public, because their only purpose is to kill people. Second, we should ban the possession of handguns, because the homicide and robbery have such a high crime rate. We always listen and watch the news where a robbery or homicide involved gunfire or a police officer being wounded or killed. Obviously, there was a gun involved. This contributes to our high crime rate, and is another reason handguns should be banned. The third and maybe biggest reason that citiz ...

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

There are No Failed Books 3 Ways to Save a Trunk Novel - Freewrite Store

There are No Failed Books 3 Ways to Save a Trunk Novel - Freewrite Store Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle.       When Truman Capote died in 1984, he hadn’t published a major work since the absolute classic In Cold Blood in 1965. He’d produced material, yes; mainly short stories and some screenplays. Some of that work had been highly regarded, but nothing on the scale and ambition of In Cold Blood or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Over the course of those two decades, Capote had transformed from a predominantly literary figure into a general celebrity, a man known for his parties, his circle of famous friends, his wit, and his television appearances more than his writing. But Capote hadn’t been idle. In fact, in January 1966 he signed a contract with Random House for a new novel, receiving a $25,000 advance (nearly $200,000 in 2017 money). The book proposal was ambitious: A modern reworking of Proust’s immense In Search of Lost Time. Capote worked on the book (titled Answered Prayers) for the next twenty years, occasionally publishing chapters from it, and renegotiating his contract twice (getting a further $750,000 in 1969 and a promise of $1 million if he ever finished the book in 1980, money he never saw). He once remarked about the book â€Å"either I'm going to kill  it, or it's going to kill me,† and history shows who won that struggle. The unfinished draft of the novel was published posthumously. There are many possible reasons why Capote couldn’t finish this novel. Maybe his celebrity was too enticing and he lost his drive to create. Or it might have been the reaction early chapters received: Much of the book was a thinly veiled depiction of his high society friends and their very embarrassing behavior, which cost him those friends- something that Capote reportedly took very hard. Or maybe it was just one of those books that all authors begin and then lug around with them for years, even decades- sometimes their whole lives. We call them Trunk Novels- novels that start off with so much promise, so much excitement, and then proceed to consume hundreds of thousands of words and huge tracts of time without ever coalescing into something resembling coherency. Every author has at least one. Most of us have several.       Too Good To Fail The problem with a Trunk Novel is there’s something there. A premise or an experiment, an energy, a challenge- something that brings you back to it again and again even though you can never get it to work. You revise, you scrap and start over, you recast it in different genres, you try to put it away and forget about it, but you can’t. And even if you are eventually able to put the book aside, should you? After all, you put a lot of good work into it. A lot of time, ideas, and solid writing. Instead of abandoning Trunk Novels, rethink them- here are three strategies for getting them out of your trunk and into publishable shape without losing any more of your sanity or precious time. Method 1: The Mashup If you’ve got more than one Trunk Novel cluttering up your hard drive with its imperfect sadness, one ambitious but potentially brilliant strategy is to combine them. This requires a certain amount of overlap in terms of genre and style, of course (though it doesn’t have to be a perfect match, as many genres combine wonderfully well- like romance and horror) and will probably need quite a bit of fix-up revision, but it can work. (Photo by  Erwan Hesry  on  Unsplash) The reason why it works is simple: Many Trunk Novels have great stuff in them- and it’s often complementary stuff. One novel I was working on for years had a solid plot, a good framework of events and motives, but it lacked interesting characters and lush description. A second book, separated from the first by several years, had a cast of characters I loved spending time with, but meandered through a plot that barely qualified. Taking the two and combining them resulted in a strong novel that popped off the page. I haven’t sold that novel yet, but my agent is enthusiastic. Method 2: Call It Sometimes you can get caught up in the supposed â€Å"rules† of professional writing. One of those rules concerns the marketability of a novel, and specifies that in order to have any chance your novel has to hit a certain word count (80,000 words is usually the quoted number, though you’ll hear variations on that). And thus, were a million Trunk Novels born because writers are reluctant to admit that what they’ve actually written is a novella or a short story. Writers sometimes desperately try to turn works into novels because they think novellas are impossible to sell, and short stories aren’t worth it in terms of money or attention. But novellas are actually easier to sell these days than in the past, thanks to digital platforms that don’t really care about word counts, and short stories have been having a Moment as increasing numbers of them are being adapted into film and television- see Arrival, The Grey, and Total Recall- leading many agents to reevaluate the wisdom of writers spending time and effort on shorter works. (Photo by  Simson Petrol  on  Unsplash) So, if you have a novel that’s been sitting in the Trunk for a while, consider whether the problem isn’t the story or the writing, but it’s girth. Is it a novella or short story that you’ve been trying to bulk up to novel size? Try cutting it mercilessly down and see what you have. You might be surprised. Method 3: The Inversion Another way to save a Trunk Novel from oblivion is to run a critical eye over your assumptions about the book. That initial moment of inspiration we experience is often powerful- one of the best things about being creative is that rush of energy when you have â€Å"the idea.† That power also burns certain things into your brain, like who the main or POV character should be, or the tone the story needs, or the precise pacing of the plot events. Over time, these turn into assumptions- no matter how often you attack the book unsuccessfully, you never think about changing the bedrock of that initial inspiration. You become blind to the possibilities offered by other characters who might be promoted or explored, other stylistic choices, or other third acts that go off in crazy directions. (Photo by  Dardan Mu  on  Unsplash) The secret sauce in this approach isn’t so much that you were wrong about everything from the beginning, but in the thrill of the unknown. By the time you’re ready to admit that a book is a Trunk Novel, there’s a very good chance you’ve been over each scene, every line of dialog, and every plot twist many, many times. It’s familiar, and familiarity breeds contempt and blindness. You can’t see it any more. Changing something fundamental about the book forces you into unknown territory, bringing back some of that electric buzz of discovery and revealing new ways forward. With a book stuck in Trunk Mode, that can jump-start the creative process and get you over the finish line. Not every novel can be saved, and writing a bad book is just part of being a writer- but if you’ve got a novel that just won’t go quietly into that dusty drawer, consider trying one of these techniques to rescue it once and for all. So, how many Trunk Novels are you hauling around with you? Have you ever managed to make one work? Let us know if you did, and if so, how you did it!    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including theAvery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and theUstari Cycleseries of urban fantasy novels. His short story â€Å"Ringing the Changes† was selected for inclusion inBest American Mystery Stories 2006,his story â€Å"Sift, Almost Invisible, Through† appeared in the anthologyCrimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story â€Å"Three Cups of Tea† appeared in the anthologyHanzai Japan. He also writes about books forBarnes and Noble andAbout.com and about the craft of writing forWriter’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writingWriting Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Saturday, February 15, 2020

The driving forces in the changing role of accountants Literature review

The driving forces in the changing role of accountants - Literature review Example new business models and shifts in business-oriented demographics.In total, these forces of change are pushing or driving new societal values, expectations and needs and is entrusting more accountabilities on accountants to respond to these changes. In short, these changes are changing every feature of our globe in general and thrusting new duties on accountants in particular. Due to changes in the business sector due to various factors as enumerated below, there is an increasing recognition in business community for the need to develop a thorough understanding of these changes and other upcoming drivers of change and to equip themselves for a wide scale of probable future scenarios. Hence, it is significant and vital for the accounting profession to recognise the major factors and forces that are likely to shape the future. This will facilitate them to face sprouting shocks and to capitalise by acquiring new talents and skills. The study of drivers of change is important to the accountaning profession and for business executives so as to make them to prepare for the challenges from an indecisive tomorrow. This research study will investigate the promising drivers of change that could have the severe effect on accountancy profession and for the business over the ensuing decades. This study has referred various previous empirical studies on the subject to prove its research hypothesis, i.e. the important drivers for change in the role of accountants in the ensuing decade. This research study makes an attempt to offer a balanced picture on the effect of changing roles of the accounting professionals in the ensuing 5 to 10 years. The main research question will be â€Å"what are the driving forces in the changing roles of the accounting professionals in the coming decade and what the opportunity and confronts will it foster for the accounting professionals? This research study will mainly use secondary data like books, peer view journal articles, previous

Sunday, February 2, 2020

MGT302 - Org. Behavior and Teamwork SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MGT302 - Org. Behavior and Teamwork SLP - Essay Example The strategic processing styles combines to give four Strategic Patterns that are Changers, Performers, Perfectors and Conservators. Affect of Strategic Processing Styles and Strategic Pattern on Communication and Decision-making at Work The four strategic processing styles are of equal value but the two strategic styles that will give the optimal results are relational innovators and hypothetical analyzer. The relational innovator is capable of producing ideas and enjoys using unconventional methods. Hypothetical analyzer is able to resolve such problems which cannot be solved easily. The combination of these two strategic processing styles generates strategic pattern perfectors. Perfectors strategic pattern is the combination of planning and action. In perfectors strategic pattern the relational innovator has the capacity to produce new and innovative ideas and hypothetical analyzer is capacitive of analyze the idea, make changes to it or amend it and give rise to a idea that will certainly result in a profitable condition. The whole process of this pattern generates a circle of ideas and their examination which always produces new and innovative ideas and new businesses comprising these ideas.

Saturday, January 25, 2020

John Gardners Grendel as Hero? Essay -- Grendel Essays

John Gardner's Grendel as Hero? "'I cry, and hug myself, and laugh, letting out salt tears, he he! till I fall down gasping and sobbing."1 Â  With these words the reader is introduced to the "hero" of Gardner's Grendel, and the mood is set for the coming pages. How is one to interpret this ambiguous, melodramatic narrator, whose phrases mix seemingly heartfelt emotional outbursts with witty (if cynical) observations, and ideological musings with ironic commentaries? Perhaps this is what makes Grendel such an extremely engaging narrator. A confounding juxtaposition is established in the first pages, in which the reader must somehow reconcile a hideous, murdering monster, with an apparently philosophical, intelligent, wry and thoughtful being. It is clear from the outset, that if Grendel is to be the hero of this novel, then he will not be so in the conventional sense of the word. The Macquarie Dictionary defines a hero as, "a man of distinguished courage or performance, admired for his noble qualities."2 Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, possesses no readily apparent noble qualities, so how then is he to win over the reader? As the question suggests, Grendel has many elements of character that can nevertheless win over his audience, such as his humour, and his intelligence and self-consciousness. In addition to these personal qualities, there are several external factors which elicit sympathy in the reader, and tend to illuminate Grendel by a more favourable light. These include: his indoctrination by the dragon (who encouraged him to believe him that it was his natural role and duty to harass the Scyldings), and his imposed "immortality" (his view of which can be summarised in his comment, "So it goes with me day by day and ... ...tical Review of Long Fiction. Vol. III 4 vols. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1991, p 1273 _______. Critical Review of Short Fiction. Vol. III 4 vols.. Pasadena, California: Salem Press, 1991. Rebsamen, Frederick. Beowulf: A Verse Translation. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. End Notes 1 Gardner, John, Grendel, New York: Vintage, 1989, p. 6. 2 Delbridge, A., Bernard, J. R. L., Blair, D., Peters, P., Butler, S., Eds., The Macquarie Dictionary, Second Ed., Macquarie: Macquarie, 1995, p. 826. 3 Gardner, p. 8. 4 Ibid., p. 6. 5 Ibid., p. 14. 6 Ibid., p. 85. 7 Ibid., p. 46. 8 Ibid., p. 51. 9 Ibid., p. 52. 10 Ibid., p. 100. 11 Ibid., p. 74. 12 Ibid., pp. 72-3. 13 Ibid., p. 75. 14 Ibid., p. 9. 15 Ibid., p. 146. 16 Ibid., pp. 21-2. 17 Ibid., p. 24. 18 Ibid., p. 173. 19 Ibid., p. 92.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Education Insurance Awareness Essay

An Overview In 1965, Yarri proposed the use of life insurance to insure against lifetime uncertainty resulting for the mortality risk of individuals. Premature death of a family head can bring serious financial consequences for the surviving family members because the family head’s earnings are lost forever leaving unfulfilled financial obligations, such as dependents to support, children to educate, and a mortgage to repay. Life insurance allows individuals and families to share the risk of premature death with many others and to alleviate the financial loss from the premature death of the rimary wage earner (Garman & Forgue, 2006). The purchase of life insurance is one of the most important purchasing decisions for individuals and families (Anderson & Nevin, 1975) and it is a critical component of a long-term financial plan (Devaney & Keaton, 1994). 2). Introduction to Child Education Insurance Policy A child education policy is a life insurance product specially designed as a savings tool to provide an amount of money when a child reaches the age for entry into college normally 18 years old and above. The funds can be utilised to partly meet a child’s higher education expenses. Also, if purchaser opts for a payor benefit rider, an education policy provides the assurance that, in the event of an untimely demise of the parents or legal guardian, the child will have access to funds to help finance his or her education expenses. Under a child education policy, the child is the life assured, while the parent or legal guardian is the policy owner. 3). Types of child education policies available in life insurance market. There are two main types, i. . an endowment or investment-linked policy. The difference between the two lies in the structure as well as the nature of investments. 3. 1) Endowment policy is an endowment policy combines a savings component with protection coverage. Endowment policy may be either participating or non-participating. As the name implies, non-participating policy do not participate in the life insurance fund’s profits but all insurance benefits are fully guaranteed. On the other hand, for participating policy, a portion of insurance benefits are guaranteed. However, the ultimate amount of benefits at maturity is not guaranteed as these depend on the performance of the insurance company’s participating life insurance fund. 3. 2) Investment-linked policy is an investment-linked policy combines the elements of investment and protection based on your requirement as the policy owner. It offers flexibility as you are able to increase or top-up your monthly premium contribution as your income improves. If you wish to be more aggressive with the instruments of investment, an investment-linked policy will also allow you to choose the types of funds your money will be invested in. However, like any other similar investment, there are higher risks involved and there are no guarantees on the returns, which may be higher or lower than projected. 4). Research Background An increasing trend of education expenses to enter college or university nowadays, a lot of parents using financial sources such as Employee Providence Fund or rely on borrowing from Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Negara to afford the study expenses of their son after leaving secondary school for a higher level of study. As an alternative source of financial protection against high education expenses, parents can purchase an education insurance starting from their children young age. Compare with withdrawal of lump sum of money from EPF (Employee Providence Fund) or make borrowing from PTPTN (Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Negara), a parents just need to pay for a small amount of premium and parents as a payer can be covered by insurance in case death or total permanent disablement occurred by paying for an extra insurance rider in the particular education insurance policy. Therefore, this research carried out to examine the level of awareness among parents in Sibu Region towards education insurance provide by insurance companies in Malaysia. This thesis aims to examine both the type and amount of life insurance purchased by households. To this end, comprehensive models of households’ demand for life insurance were developed, which included demographic variables (age, education, employment status, health status, number of children, marital status, and race), economic and assets variables (income, homeownership, debts, as well as portfolio elements such as liquid assets, certificates of deposit, mutual funds, bonds, stocks, individual retirement accounts, annuities, other miscellaneous financial assets, and nonfinancial assets), and psychographic variables (attitude toward risk, attitude toward leaving a bequest, and one’s expected life expectancy). The effects of these factors on either term or cash value life insurance purchased by households were examined separately. Research Objective General objective To examine the parent’s awareness towards education insurance. Specific Objective 1). To investigate whether parents had purchase education insurance or not for their children at their young age. 2). To identify from which channel of information that made parents aware of education insurance. 3). To identify whether insurance industry playing an effective role in promoting education insurance in life insurance market. ). To examine parents interest towards education insurance products administered by insurance company in insurance market. 5). The main purpose of this study is to examine whether demographic factors influence the purchase of education insurance among parents in Sibu Region. Research question 1). Do you know there is education insurance product in insurance market? 2). Had you purchased any education insur ance from any insurance company for your children? 3). Had any insurance agent approach or introduce and give explanation to you regarding education insurance? 4). Are you willing to purchase any education insurance for your children? 5). what type sources of information you needed to enhance the knowledge regarding education insurance? Problem statement Financing child’s education is one of the major investments that any wise parent is prepared to undertake. A sound university education is not only among the basic requirements to establish a good career; it can also form the foundation of your child’s intellectual maturity for life. We all start learning since birth and the brief period of academic education in our lives represents another landmark in a life-long learning process. But given the high cost of education and the competition to enter well-known universities, it is necessary to have an investment plan to fund our children’s brief sting of three to four years in university. With the limited places available in local universities, many Malaysian students have wisely invested in university education abroad. Faced with the rising costs of overseas university education, how can parents save and invest to finance the tuition fees, let alone the living costs. The depegging of the ringgit from the U. S. dollar last year is a welcome move for many Malaysian parents because under the flexible exchange rate system, the ringgit is likely to appreciate over the long term. This will help Malaysians reduce the cost of overseas education in popular countries such as the U. K. , U. S. and Australia (Charles Goh, www. fimm. com. my/pdf/investor/articles/09). One of the biggest worries for parents nowadays is how to fund their children’s education, which does not come cheap. In addition, as with everything else, education expenses, is it in foreign and local colleges/universities, private primary and secondary schools are expected to trend upwards in future (Elaine Ang, http://thestar. com. my/ September 18, 2010). The trend is upwards as far as education costs are concerned. In predicting the future, we can only use assumptions such as cost and inflation factors in child education planning. The general increase for local studies is about 3% per year and foreign about 5% and this applies to a general business degree of three years (Mike Lee, CTLA Financial Planners Sdn Bhd managing director, 2010). An average increase of between 5% to 7% annually in education costs for studies locally and in countries such as Britain, United States, Australia, Canada and Singapore excluding foreign exchange rate fluctuations. Moreover, there are certain years where the increase can be in a lump sum instead of percentage depending on the circumstances. (Matthew Gan, E. T. Education Services Sdn Bhd managing director, 2010). Some of the common mistakes parents make when saving for their child’s education fund are starting too late, saving without investing and not considering foreign exchange fluctuations for those who aim to send their children overseas. It is important to determine what the education costs are in current value and identify a suitable savings and investment vehicle. Some parents don’t even have a clue how much education costs (Yap Ming Hui, Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd managing director, 2010). Save and invest your money as early as possible. Let your money grow with your child, school fees for primary and secondary education range from RM15,000 to RM17,000 per annum with an average 10% increase in fees every two years (Rina Thiagu-Kler, Marketing manager Sri KDU, 2010). Because of less study and difficulties to obtain data regarding education insurance demand in Sibu Region. A brief interview conducted with Mr. Ten Kim Loong, Unit Manager of Kumpulan Elite Ten from Etiqa insurance agency on 2nd December 2011 where he indicated that most of the insurance product demanded by household within Sibu region is medical card and personal accident policy, it is because the premium affordable by policyholder, moreover among the clients approached did not know what policy to purchase and how much sum insured should be enough for protection need†. A discussion session also conducted with Mohamad Faizuli Bin Abd Karim, a financial planner from Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd reveal that among the prospects that approached by him saying that they are not interested in any of insurance products and they worried the premium payment can become an extra expenses as per we noticed the living standard and price of basic necessity good are very high nowadays. The Breakdown of Schooling Expenditure As shown in Table 2, the average cost of schooling overall was found to be RM1,782 per student per year. The cost in rural areas which averaged RM1,590 was about 22 per cent lower than urban areas.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Poverty A Form of Slavery Essay - 3273 Words

Today they say that we are free, Only to be chained in poverty -- Bob Marley This paper will discuss poverty, the different types of poverty and their definitions and who is affected by each type of poverty. It will look at the some of the major reasons why poverty exists and what causes poverty, like such things as inequality, stratification and international debt. Some of the impacts of poverty will also be analyzed from a national and global perspective; things like education, literacy rate, and crime. This paper will demonstrate that poverty affects almost everyone in some form or another and exists because those with power and wealth want and need poverty to exist to force a dependence on the wealthy. A few of the main†¦show more content†¦When they see them on television it is usually on the news or a charitable advertisement and these individuals are usually fleeing from war or some natural disaster or famine and drought, normally these people look very tired and sickly. These images are an example of absolute poverty, people who have nothing but the shirts on their back and whose only worry is survival (Seabrook, 2007, p.35). Their main aim is to find food and water and flee from danger. There are several types of poverty, the most appalling form of poverty is absolute poverty; this type of poverty can be defined as the inability to secure the basic necessities for physical survival (Richmond and Saloojee, 2005, p.35).This is usually measured by comparing income to expenses used to buy goods and services. Organizations usually define absolute poverty in terms of people who live on less than $1.25 a day, international organizations such as the World Bank use these types of monetary figures to measure poverty (Murray, 2011, p.245). Other organizations and economists, politicians and humanitarians think that living on less than two dollars a day is the indicator for living in poverty. It is believed that one billion people live on less than one dollar a day and that three billion people live off of less than two dollars a day (Seabrook, 2007, p.47). Regardless of the amount that is considered to be living in poverty most organizations have this perspective that poverty is aboutShow MoreRelatedThe Slavery Of Slavery And The Colonization Of America941 Words   |  4 PagesProblem of Slavery Introduction The slavery is a relationship established between two individuals and involves the complete and absolute control of each other. Usually, this domain is established from the force, becoming the slave of an object or possession of the owner, so you end up losing not only their freedom but also their humanity and dignity being. 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Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Samuel Clemens The Father Of American Literature

American Literature is a literary genre that is one of the many branches formed from the much broader literary genre, English Literature. Stories such as The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, The Crucible, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer are all popular examples of American Literature. Many of the most well-known written works of American Literature can be funneled back to one person, Samuel Clemens. Many people might say, who is Samuel Clemens? However, if they are informed of his â€Å"pen† name, they may form connections. Clemens wrote under the â€Å"pen† name, Mark Twain. According to the Oxford University Press, it was in 1863 in which Samuel Clemens starting signing as Mark Twain. Clemens derived his name from â€Å"a river term meaning two fathoms†¦show more content†¦This novel is primarily about a boy, Tom, and his friend, Huck, who live in St. Petersburg along the Mississippi River. Their story is full of adventure such as witnessing a murder, catchin g a thief, and finding a large treasure. What makes this book unique, is the way in which Mark Twain incorporates the feeling of freedom and childhood into it. By doing this he reinforces what it means to be an American. Because this novel was one of the first to tell a reader about the life of an American, it was the reason Mark Twain is called â€Å"The father of American Literature†. Much of the uniqueness that is found in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is also found in its’ partner novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain is special in a way that he was able to incorporate the sense of freedom into a book while also addressing the topic of racism and slavery(Ziff-Oxford). Many of Twain’s literary works function as multi-purpose when it comes to addressing historical topics. According to the Minnesota English Standards, by the end of eleventh grade, students should have actively read multiple documents about historical events and their affects (Minnesota English). Because of the way in which Mark Twain revolves many of his works around historical events, he fulfills these standards and therefore, should be taught more in high schools, as a way to get more practice in these areas. Mark Twain has wrote a multitudeShow MoreRelatedEssay about Mark Twain1654 Words   |  7 PagesMark Twain Mark Twain is believed to be the father of all American literature. Twain was known for writing about issues of his time such as slavery, due to his style of honesty and truth he was known as one of the very first modernist writers. Mark Twain had many inspirations that motivated him to write his novels. The inspirations varied from events that he witnessed and experienced, people he met in his lifetime, other stories he read or heard about, and his environment. 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Clemens was born in Florida and then later on moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a Mississippi river port, when he was four years old. There he received a public school education. After his father died in 1847, Clemens was assisted to two Hannibal printersRead MoreMark Twain : Seeing America s Flaws1593 Words   |  7 Pagesof Huckleberry Finn. Samuel L. Clemens, as a young boy, grew up on the Mississippi and learned the ways of southern society. Clemens grew up to travel the world and write many successful and failed novels, along with many other types of literature. Receiving his education on the Mississippi, Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn which pointed out the flaws of America and became masterpieces in Amer ican Literature. Samuel L. Clemens grew up along the MississippiRead MoreAgainst The Assault Of Laughter Nothing Can Stand827 Words   |  4 Pages - Samuel Clemens Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, was born November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri, the sixth of seven children. An American writer, journalist, and humorist, he is remembered for the novels surrounding the world beside the Mississippi River, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and always legendary Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). Clemens was lauded the greatest American humorist of his age and William Faulkner called Twain the father of AmericanRead MoreEssay on A Brief Biography of Mark Twain1322 Words   |  6 PagesSamuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835. Clemons grew up in a town called Hannibal, Missouri. Here Sam Clemens saw an array of different type of people pass through his town. People such as: gamblers, entertainers, thieves, and even slave traders that influenced his childhood memories. We see traces of his rugged hometown deeply embedded with southern tradition. Clemens was known as a mischievous boy that smoked, led o f crew of pranksters, and often played hooky from school. AtRead MoreThe Man Known as Mark Twain1188 Words   |  5 PagesMark Twain The man known as Mark Twain was born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Missouri on April 30, 1835. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was welcomed into the world as the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. Little did they know their son (as Mark Twain) would be one of Americas most famous literary icons. Samuel got the name Mark Twain from the current of the river. He loved the rivers and everything about it. Mark Twains writing style was heavily influenced by the people and areaRead MoreWho Is Mark Twain? Essay1479 Words   |  6 PagesWashington of American Literature. His name was Mark Twain and he was Americas most famous literary icon, publishing 28 pieces. He was born on Nov. 30, 1835 as Samuel L. Clemens in the little town of Florida, Mo. He was the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens (Quirk). As a young child Clemens had poor health and stayed inside most of the time, causing all sorts of mischief. Spending most of his time with his mother he caught her sense of humor. Later in his life Clemens asked his motherRead MoreThe Pen Name Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens933 Words   |  4 PagesMark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, one of the most famous writers of American Literature. He was born on November 30, 1835, in the tiny Midwestern village of Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. As a four year old, his family moved to Hannibal and he began to become exposed to the social and financial problems of his era when. Hannibal was a small town near the Mississippi River where his father his uncle owned slaves. Twain created his own opinionsRead MoreA Brief Biography of Mark Twain668 Words   |  3 PagesNovember. 30, 1835 in the small town of Florida, MO. Mark’s birth name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. In 1839, the Clemens family moved 35 miles east to the town of Hannibal, in Mississippi. Mark kept to himself and in doors in his early years because of poor health and sickness. That was the case until he became years of age. He recovered from his illness and started playing outside with the rest of the children. Growing up his Father was a judge and worked a lot. He also attended private school. Sadly

Monday, December 23, 2019

My Business Project Is About Entrepreneurship - 2077 Words

Introduction: My business project is about entrepreneurship. It explains in depth what it is and gives many different aspects of it like: qualities, contribution to the economy, disadvantages and advantages, South African entrepreneurship and statistics, etc. The other part of my project is about a famous entrepreneur called Elon Musk - he is known as the ‘21st century Innovator’. I will illustrate his success story, all the products he’s designed and how he’s â€Å"shaping our future†. This project has taught me about the qualities that entrepreneurs possess. Definition of Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurship is officially defined as the â€Å"capacity and willingness to develop, organise and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit.† It is a method of starting a new business, designing products or services that will be sold and launched either in the form of a product or service to make a profit. Many people, including me, assume that entrepreneurship is just coming up with a great idea and starting a new business but it could be more than just that. It is a new way to solve problems and a different or more creative approach to change the way people live by making it better, more efficient and more technological. Qualities of a good entrepreneur: ïÆ' ¼ Perseverance: energy and need to overcome business problems. If something goes wrong, they will not give up but try harder to solve the problem. ïÆ' ¼ Self-confidence: accept the fact that someShow MoreRelatedA Research Study On Business Education1565 Words   |  7 Pages Running head: LEVERAGING RESEARCH TOENHANCE UNDERGRADUATE BUSINESS EDUCATION 1 Leveraging research to enhance undergraduate business education Luke Maass Northwest Missouri State University Authors note This paper was prepared for Student involvement in research activities in U.S. business schools used to be primarily offered to graduate students. 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Sunday, December 15, 2019

Sunshine Chapter 11 Free Essays

string(89) " response feels like it ought to be something like passing the salt or closing the door\." Silence fell. Some things hadn’t changed. â€Å"Bo is looking for me,† I said at last. We will write a custom essay sample on Sunshine Chapter 11 or any similar topic only for you Order Now â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"I’m sorry,† I said humbly, â€Å"I don’t know what to do. I†¦I†¦All I did was drive out to the lake, that night, and everything else†¦I’m sorry,† I said again, a little wildly, and only too aware of the irony: â€Å"I don’t want to die, you know?† â€Å"Yes,† he said again. This time I heard the pause as one of those â€Å"you’re not going to like this† pauses. â€Å"Bo is looking for me too,† he said. â€Å"When he finds me, he will be careful to destroy me. Last time was theatrics. This time he will take no chances.† Well, that was the most cheering news I’d heard all week. Even better than ghastly revelations about the possible truth of my genetic composition. No one really understands genetics any more than anyone really understands world economics, and what I’d been guessing might not be true. I could just worry about it for the rest of my life. If I was going to have a rest of my life. As guaranteed bad news, vampires are a much surer bet. Great. Spartan. Let’s have a party. â€Å"Oh,† I said carefully. I looked into what was probably a short, bleak future, and realized that one of the reasons I’d been glad to see that dark shape in the chair was that with him here, for the first time since I’d come home after those nights at the lake I’d felt maybe†¦not totally clueless and overwhelmed. Yes, he’d been the one shackled to the ballroom wall with me, but they’d been afraid of him. Twelve against one, and him chained to the wall, and they were afraid. The fact that they’d caught him could have been some kind of trick. It happened. Presumably among vampires too. And now he was saying that he was out of his depth too. That it was hopeless. I wanted some nice human equivocation and denial. No, no, it’ll be all right! The table knife was an ugly accident! And by the way you’re not going to morph into an axe murderer! Rescuing the odd vampire from destruction had already fulfilled my bad-gene quota of antisocial behavior. Please. â€Å"Why does he hate you so much?† I said. The silence went on for a while, but I could wait. What else was there to do? Walk outside and shout, â€Å"Here I am!†? I might be due for a short, squalid future, but as a basic principle I was going to hold on to what there was of it. He hadn’t refused to answer yet. â€Å"It’s a long story,† he said at last. â€Å"We are nearly the same age. There are different ways of being what we are. Mine is one way. His is another. Mine, it turns out, has certain advantages. If others perhaps thought the implications through, some things might be different. Bo does not wish anyone to think those implications through. Destroying me is a way to erase the evidence. Plus that he does not care for me to have advantages no longer available to him.† This was interesting, and under other circumstances would have made me curious. Constantine couldn’t be very old – by vampire standards – only young vampires can go out in strong moonlight, like tonight. Middle-aged ones can go out when the moon is young or old enough. Later middle-aged ones can only go outdoors when there is no moon. Really old ones can’t be outdoors under the open sky at all, with any possibility of the dimmest reflected sunlight touching them. That was one of the reasons older ones began running gangs. If they survived to be old they’d also developed other powers. â€Å"He has another urgent reason, now. If he does not destroy me, he will lose control of his gang. Bo likes ruling. It is also necessary to him that he rule – to do with those advantages I possess and he does not. And while as the leader of his gang he is much more powerful than I am, alone, I am the stronger.† â€Å"And you don’t run a gang,† I said. â€Å"No.† I thought of saying, So, what now, do we hold hands and jump? How long a fall can a vampire walk away from? How high do we have to climb first? A mere almost-human pretty reliably goes splat after about four stories, I think. I was beginning to feel sorry that he’d come. No. I’d rather jump out a window and get it over with fast than fall into Bo’s clutches again. I was merely resisting the idea that jumping was my best choice. â€Å"I have thought of it a good deal, these last weeks,† he was saying, â€Å"for I knew what happened at the lake would not be the end. Not with Bo. I also know that singly you and I have no chance.† I do wish you’d stop saying that, I thought. â€Å"But together,† he continued, â€Å"we may have a chance. It is not a good chance, but it is a chance. I do not like it. You cannot like it. I do not understand what it is that you do, and have done. I am not sure we will be able to work together, even if we attempt it. Even if we are each other’s only chance.† He was sitting in the darkness beyond the moonlight, and I could not see his face. I could – a little – see movement as he spoke; vampires also speak by moving their mouths. But this conversation was a little too like talking to a figment of your own imagination. Your darkest, spookiest, most bottom-of-your-unconscious-where-the-monsters-lurk imagination. Even the shadow in the chair was half-imaginary. No it wasn’t. There’s really no mistaking the presence of a vampire in the room. â€Å"Will you help me?† he said. It is very peculiar being asked a life-or-death question in a tone of voice that has no tone in it. Emotionally speaking the response feels like it ought to be something like passing the salt or closing the door. You read "Sunshine Chapter 11" in category "Essay examples" â€Å"Oh,† I said intelligently. â€Å"Ah – er. Well. Yes. Certainly. Since you put it so persuasively.† There was a pause, and then there was a brief noise that, mercifully also briefly, unhinged my spine. He had laughed. â€Å"Forgive my persuasiveness,† he said. â€Å"I would spare you if I could. I do not wish this any more than you do.† â€Å"No,† I said thoughtfully. â€Å"I don’t suppose you do.† If I’d been honest I suppose what I’d really wanted him to do was say, â€Å"Oh don’t worry about it. This is vampire business and I’ll take care of it.† Dream on. â€Å"So,† I said. I didn’t want to know, but I guessed I should make an effort. â€Å"What do we do now?† â€Å"We start,† he said, and paused. I recognized this as the middle of an unfinished sentence, and not one of his cryptic pronouncements, and waited. Then there was a funny breathing noise that I translated provisionally as a sigh. Vampires don’t breathe right, why should they sigh right? But maybe it means vampires can feel frustration. Noted. â€Å"We start by my trying to discover what assistance I can give you.† Somehow this didn’t sound like the usual movie-adventure sort of â€Å"I’ll keep you covered while you reload† assistance. â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"We must face Bo at night. Your abilities would not get us past the guards that protect his days.† I didn’t even consider asking what those guards might be. â€Å"Humans are at great disadvantage at night. I think I may be able to grant you certain dispensations.† Dispensations. I liked that. Vampire as fairy godmother. Or godfather. Pity he couldn’t dispense me from getting killed. â€Å"You mean like being able to see in the dark or something.† â€Å"Yes. I mean exactly that.† â€Å"Oh.† If I could see in the dark I would never again have to trip over the threshold of the bathroom door on the way to have a pee at midnight. If I lived long enough to need to. â€Å"I will have to touch you,† he said. Okay, I told myself. He’s not going to forget himself and eat me because he comes a few feet closer. I thought of the second night in the ballroom: Sit a little distance from the corner – yes, nearer me. Remember that three feet more or less makes no difference to me: you might as well. And he’d carried me something like forty-five miles. And only about the first forty-two of them had been in daylight. And somehow pointing out that I now was in bed and wearing nothing but a nightgown and would like to get up and put some clothes on first, please, was worse than not mentioning my inappropriate-for-receiving-visitors state of undress. So I didn’t mention it. â€Å"Okay,† I said. That fluid, inhuman motion again, as he stood up and stepped toward me. I’d forgotten that too – forgotten how strange it is. How ominous. Too fluid for anything human. For anything alive. He sat down near me on the bed. The bed dipped, as if from ordinary human weight. I pulled my feet up and turned toward him, but I did it carelessly, more conscious of him than of anything else – which is to say, more carelessly than I had learned to move over the last two months, carelessly so that the gash on my breast didn’t just seep a little, but cracked open along its full length, as if it were being cut into me for the first time. I couldn’t help it: it hurt: I gave a little gasp. And he hissed. It was a terrifying noise, and I had slammed myself back into the pillows and headboard before I had a chance to think anything at all, to think that I couldn’t get away from him even if I wanted to, to think that he had declared us allies. To think that there might be any other reason for a sound like that one but that he was a vampire and I was alive and streaming with fresh blood. â€Å"Stop,† he said in what passed for his normal voice. â€Å"I offer you no harm. Tell me about the blood on your breast.† He didn’t linger on the word â€Å"blood.† I muttered, â€Å"It won’t heal. It’s been like this for two months.† He wasn’t as good at waiting as I was. â€Å"Go on,† he said immediately. I’d stopped shrugging in the last two months too: you can’t shrug without pulling at the skin below your collarbones. â€Å"I don’t know. It doesn’t heal. It seems to close over and then splits again. The doctor put stitches in it a couple of times, gave me stuff to put on it. Nothing works. It just splits open again. It’s a nuisance but I have been kind of learning to live with it. Like I had a choice. This is – er – worse than usual. Sorry. It’s only a shallow gash. You may – er – remember.† â€Å"I remember,† he said. â€Å"Show me.† I managed not to say, What? It took me a minute to gather my dignity as well as my courage, and my hands were shaking a little when I raised them to unbutton the top two buttons of my nightgown, and peel the edges back so he could see the bony space below my collarbones and above the swell of my bosom, where the blood now ran down in a thin ragged curtain from the wicked curved mouth of the long ugly slash. I barely flinched when he reached out a hand and touched the blood with his finger and†¦tasted it. Then I closed my eyes. â€Å"I offer you no harm,† he said again, gently. â€Å"Sunshine. Open your eyes.† I opened them. â€Å"The wound is poisoned,† he said. â€Å"It weakens you. It is very dangerous.† â€Å"It was for you,† I said, dreamily. I felt like one of those oracle priestesses out of some old myth: seized by some spirit not her own, a spirit that then speaks from her mouth. â€Å"They wanted to poison you.† â€Å"Yes,† he said. I thought, I have been so tired, these last two months. I have got used to that too. I have told myself it is just part of – having had what happened, happen. You do not get over something like that quickly. I had told myself that was all it was. I had almost believed it. I had believed it. The cut didn’t heal because it didn’t heal. Poisoned. Weakening me. Killing me is what he meant. Note that vampires can also be tactful. All those hours in the sunlight, baking the thing, the hostile presence on my body. I’d known it was hostile, although I hadn’t admitted it. I hadn’t taken the next step of thinking â€Å"poisoned.† Sunlight was my element; and so I turned to sunlight. And sunlight was the only thing that did any good, and it didn’t do enough. Because the wound was poisoned. That was out of some story where there would be an oracle priestess somewhere: the poisoned wound that did not heal. I’d already been wondering how I was going to get through the winter, when I couldn’t lie outdoors and bake some hours every week. Been learning not to think about wondering how I was going to get through the winter. He was silent, waiting for me to finish thinking. I looked at him: glint of green eyes in the moonlight. Don’t look in their eyes, I thought. Tiredly. This would have been a nasty shock to him too, of course. Finding out his ally is a goner. I was too tired to look at him. I was too tired for almost anything. Sometimes it is better not to know. Sometimes when you do know you just fold up. â€Å"Sunshine. I know a little about poisons. This is not something your human doctors can distill an antidote for.† This was even better than his repeating that neither of us had any chance against Bo. By dying I was going to ruin his chances too. It’s funny: I was actually sorry about this. Maybe I was a little delirious. Maybe too much had been happening lately. Maybe I was just very, very short of sleep. â€Å"There is something that can be done. Can be tried.† Pause. â€Å"It is not easy.† Oh, big surprise. Something wasn’t going to be easy. I tried to rouse myself, to react. I failed. â€Å"But can you trust me?† More happy news. Not just something to be done, but a vampire something. Which doubtless meant it would have more blood in it. I don’t like blood. I mean, I like it fine, inside, circulating, carrying oxygen and calories to all your stay-at-home cells, but slimy seeping pink hamburger gives me the whim-whams. Can you trust me, he said. Not will you. Can you. Good question. I thought about it. It will not be easy. Yes, okay, that was a given. I didn’t have to think about that. Can I trust him? What have I got to lose? What if his something is something I can’t bear? There are all sorts of things I can’t bear. I’m not brave to begin with, I’m very, very tired, I’m spongy with post-traumatic what have you, and I very nearly can’t bear what I did last night with a table knife. And I may be a homicidal maniac. â€Å"Yes,† I said. â€Å"Yes. I think so.† He didn’t exhale a long breath, as a human might have done, but he went motionless instead. It was a different kind of motionlessness than not moving. Having said yes I felt better. Less tired. Evidently still delirious, however, because I bent toward him, touched the back of his hand. â€Å"Okay?† I said. A little silence. â€Å"Okay,† he said. I had the sudden irreverent notion that he’d never said â€Å"okay† before. Spend time with humans and have all kinds of unusual experiences. Laughter. Slang. â€Å"It will not be tomorrow night,† he said. â€Å"Perhaps the night after.† â€Å"Okay,† I said. â€Å"See you.† â€Å"Sleep well,† he said. â€Å"Oh, sure, absolutely,† I said, trying for irony, but he was already gone. I left the window full open. I wanted as much of the fresh night air in the room with me as possible. There was a tiny chiming from one of the window charms. It was a curiously serene and hopeful noise. I must have looked pretty rough that morning too. It occurred to me that everybody at the coffeehouse was treating me like an invalid while trying to pretend they weren’t treating me like an invalid. I wanted to tell them that they were right, I was an invalid, that mark on my breast that only Mel knew was still there was poisoned, and I was dying. I didn’t say any of this. I said I was still short of sleep. Paulie turned up an hour before time that morning saying he didn’t have anything better to do, but I was pretty sure Mom had called him and asked if he could come in early. I think Mom had figured out that the charms she was giving me were going somewhere like into the Wreck’s glove compartment, so she had begun stashing them around the bakery where maybe I wouldn’t find them but they could still do me some good. Since my unwelcome speculations about dark family secrets the other night in Jesse’s office I had begun to wonder what all Mom’s charms were for, exactly. She’s always been something of a charm freak; I’d put it down to eight years in my dad’s world. I found two new ones that morning: a little curled-up animal of some sort with its paws over its eyes and a red bead where its navel should have been, and a shiny white disc that rainbows ran across if you held it up against the light. I left them where I found them. Maybe I should let them try to defend against whatever they could. I had some fellow-feeling for the small curled-up creature with its hands over its face, even if the red alien parasite was lower down on it than it was on me. Charms are often noisy, which is another reason I don’t like them much, but you aren’t going to hear extraneous buzzing and burbling above the general din at Charlie’s. Especially on shifts when I had to spend some time in the company of a genially humming apprentice. Mel was working that afternoon but Aimil had the day off from the library. She wandered back into the bakery with a cup of coffee toward the end of my stint, said she’d just found out about an old-books-and-junk sale in Redtree, which was one of the little towns between us and the next big city to the south, she was going to go, and did I want to come along? I should probably have gone home and taken a nap, but I didn’t want to. So I said yes. A nice little outing for the doomed. Furthermore Aimil talked about library politics the whole way there and didn’t once mention nocturnal neighborhood excitements. So by the time we arrived at the village square in Redtree I was in the mood. Ordinarily I love this kind of thing without any effort. Someone who does coffeehouse baking for a living doesn’t have huge amounts of disposable income, but the point about books-and-junk sales is that you never know what you may find for hilariously cheap. There are fewer people since the Wars than there had been before, and less money (don’t ask me how this works: you’d think if there were fewer people there would be more money to go around), so there is a lot less motive for dealers to discover specialist markets for old, beat-up, weird, or obscure-looking and possibly Other-related stuff. Plus a lot of people don’t want to think about old, beat-up, weird, obscure-looking, and possibly Other-related stuff because it reminds them of the Wars, or what life had been like before the Wars, i.e., better. The result is that a lot of very interesting nonjunk gets heaved into the nearest box for the next garage sale. Furthermore, almost nobody wants to read the gormless old fiction about the Others which is my fave. I picked up a copy of Sordid-Enchantments on the title alone, and the fourth, and most icky and rare, volume of the Dark Blood series, which I was no longer sure I wanted to read – the heroine has a choice to die horribly or become a vampire horribly, and she chooses to die. If I’d realized how gross it was going to get after the first volume I wouldn’t have bothered – but I’m a completist, I had the first three, and hey. I was feeling pretty good. In spite of last night. Or in an even funnier way, because of it. It was like I had two days out of time. Everything was on hold until†¦either the vampire-something worked, or it didn’t. Jesse and Theo had been at a table under the awning when Aimil and I left Charlie’s, and I’d nodded and kept going. I hoped nothing had come up they wanted to talk to me about. Nothing was allowed to come up for the next two days. I was on vacation in my own mind, cinnamon rolls at four a.m. or not. It must have been Paulie’s influence, but I was positively humming a tune – an old folk song about keeping a vampire talking till sunrise: not one of your brighter vampires – while I burrowed through a big sagging cardboard box of junk. Chipped china teacups. Dented tin trays. Small splintery wooden boxes with lids that no longer closed. A bottle opener shaped like a dragon with an extremely undershot lower jaw and pink glass eyes. Pink. The Dragon Anti-Defamation Society should hear about this. At the bottom, when I touched it, it fizzled right through me, like I’d put my arm in a cappuccino machine. I knew it had to be some kind of ward – nonwarding charms are kind of stickier – but a live ward shouldn’t be in the bottom of a box of cheap junk at a garage sale. Maybe it had fallen out of one of the splintery boxes. I hesitated, then picked it up to get a better look. Gingerly. It had now got my attention, so presumably it wouldn’t feel the need to scramble my arm like an egg again. I didn’t recognize the style or the design. It was an oval, not quite the length of the palm of my hand, with a slightly raised edge, the whole of it thick and heavy, like an old coin, before the mints got mean and started stamping out pennies that sometimes bent if you dropped them edgewise on a hard floor. It was silver, I thought, or plate; it was so tarnished I couldn’t make out clearly what was on it, except that something was. Three somethings: one each on top, middle, and bottom, rather like an old Egyptian glyph. The only thing I could say for sure was that they weren’t any of the standard Other-preventive sigils I knew of, nor the all-purpose circle-star-and-cross one. The most interesting thing was that it was live. Very live. Wards aren’t necessarily as master-specific as most charms, and if they aren’t actively in use they can molder quietly for a long time and still be capable of being wakened and doing some warding; but even one that’s been tuned to you specifically shouldn’t leap avidly out at you and wag its tail like a dog wanting to go for a walk. I could have put it back. I could have taken it to someone in charge and said â€Å"You’ve made a mistake. This one still works.† But I didn’t. It seemed to like lying there in my hand. Don’t be ridiculous, I thought. It’s not responding to me personally. As a soldier in the dented-tin-tray army they shouldn’t be expecting real money for it, but that could only be because they hadn’t noticed it was live. It was still worth a try. I took the two books and the tarnished ward to the suspicious-looking character at the card table with the rusty money box, who snatched them out of my hands as if he knew I was trying something on. But he was so preoccupied with whether or not he should sell me Altar of Darkness (in which it takes the heroine four hundred pages to die), which was certainly worth more than the seventeen blinks for two, which is what the sign on the drooping book table said, that he barely registered my little glyph. I’d done piously outraged innocence when he started haranguing me about Altar and a few of his other customers scowled at him and muttered about fairness. I won that round. So when he looked at the glyph and said â€Å"fifty blinks† I sniffed so he would know that I knew he was a brigan d and a bandit, and let it pass. He knew more about books. Even a dead ward made out of silver plate was worth more. A blink is a dollar, and has been since after the Wars, when our economy went to pieces, and the average paycheck disappeared in the blink of an eye. What was more interesting was that he’d touched the glyph and hadn’t said â€Å"Wow! That was like putting my hand in a cappuccino machine!† Aimil had been watching my performance with a straight face. â€Å"Well done,† she said, when we got back to the car. â€Å"Dark Blood Four as two for seventeen blinks! Zora will be mad with jealousy. Now what is that little thing?† I was balancing my glyph on the top of the books, and I watched as she picked it up. That Mr. Rusty Money Box hadn’t registered anything was one thing; if Aimil didn’t register either it was something else. She didn’t say anything about a feeling like having her funny bone hit with a hammer. â€Å"Hmm. It’s quite – appealing, isn’t it? Even all blackened like this.† â€Å"Appealing†? Maybe it had decided that making people’s hair stand on end wasn’t such a good way of making friends and influencing people. â€Å"Can you figure out any of what’s on it?† She frowned, turning it this way and that in the light. â€Å"No clue. Maybe after you get it polished.† Dessert shift that night was notable only for the number of people who wanted cherry tarts. They were catching on. Rats. I didn’t really like little electrical gadgets – most of the other so-called home bakeries in town used kneading machines, for example, which I thought beneath contempt – but there was no way I was going to be making cherry tarts without one. I’d already said I would only make individual tarts and customers had to order them with the main course to give me enough lead time. And they were still catching on. I didn’t want cherry tarts to turn into another Death of Marat. When I was first installed in my new bakery and messing around with the heady implications of Charlie’s having built it for me, I’d been having fun with puddings that look like one thing and you stick a fork in them and they become something else. A Gothic sensibility in the bakery is not necessarily a good thing. I’d made this light fluffy-look ing number in a white oval dish with high sides and presented the first one with a flourish to a group of regulars who had volunteered to be experimented on. Aimil was the one with the knife, and she stuck it in and the raspberry-and-black-currant filling had exploded down the side and over the edge of the dish onto the counter. It was, I admit, a trifle dramatic. â€Å"Gods, Sunshine, what is this, the Death of Marat?† she said. Aimil reads too much. Everybody at Charlie’s that night wanted a taste, and the Death of Marat, the first of Sunshine’s soon-to-be-notorious, implausibly named epic creations, was born, although I think most of our clientele thought Marat was some kind of master vampire. (Aimil is good at names. She’s responsible for Tweedle Dumplings and Glutton’s Grail and Buttermost Limit too.) The problem is that for months after I was getting constant requests for the damn thing, and light, fluffy puddings with heavy fillings are a br ute to make. Our long-time regulars still ask for it occasionally, but I’m older and meaner now and say â€Å"no† better. I will make it if I like you enough. Maybe. Well, the cherry season doesn’t last long around here; I’d be back to apple pie before Billy’d had time to miss doing the peeling. (Unless I found some other source of cheap child labor I might have to get an electric peeler in another year.) It was true that Charlie’s did almost everything from scratch and that anything that one of us wasn’t good at didn’t get done at all, but it was also true that our loyal customers were compelled to be biddable. If I decided I didn’t feel like doing cherry tarts outside of fresh cherry season they could like it or eat at Fast Burgers ‘R’ Us. When I got home I fished last night’s sheets and nightgown out of the tub where they’d been soaking the bloodstains out (just like the Death of Marat without Marat), hauled them downstairs, and stuffed them in the washing machine. If Yolande had noticed the amount of laundry I’d been doing in the last two months she never said anything. How to cite Sunshine Chapter 11, Essay examples