A healthy and safe home based environment Essay

It is my responsibility as a professional childminder to do everything possible to keep all children safe at all times and prevent accidents, to do so: †¢I will ensure I keep appropriate supervision of children at all times. †¢I have in place a thorough risk assessment which I enforce and revise regularly. †¢I use only equipment with children that is age appropriate and in safe working order and complies with national safety standards. †¢I keep my home clean and organised and dispose of waste appropriately. †¢I do not keep pets. †¢Medicines and other hazardous materials are locked away out of reach of children. †¢In the event of an accident, illness or emergency I will follow my policy and procedures to ensure it is dealt with in an effective way. There are different levels of supervision depending on the age, ability of the child, the task/activity they are taking part in and the environment they are doing it in, for example a toddler exploring the garden and learning to walk will need much more hands on supervision than an eight year old sitting quietly with a colouring book. The three Levels are: †¢Constant supervision means watching a child at all times, probably close by, maybe helping a baby to stand or a toddler to climb up a slide. †¢Close supervision is when you are watching the child without being involved in what they are doing, however you are ready to step in and help when necessary, maybe if a toddler is eating a snack or playing at the playground. †¢General supervision is always being aware what the child is doing and checking on them at regular intervals, maybe when an older child is doing their homework or watching TV after school. When out and about with children it is really important to follow road safety rules. Babies and toddlers are safely strapped into a buggy but older children must walk sensibly beside me while we walk along a busy road or cross over, holding hands depending on their age and understanding. When in quieter safer surrounding I expect the children to always listen to my instructions and Never go out of sight. I will always have written permission from parents  before taking them out and I will always let parents know where we plan to go. I only have toys and children’s equipment with a recognised safety symbol on them, such as the Kite Mark, the CE Mark or the Lion Mark. I check all equipment for hazards regularly to make sure they are not damaged or broken. All toys and equipment are used only with children of an appropriate age. Children are supervised at all times and are shown how to use toys safely. Current guidance on health and safety and risk assessment of the home based work setting is available from RoSPA (Royal Society for the prevention of Accidents) website at www.rospa.com where you can find a whole section on home safety including specific advice on preventing accidents among children. The Health and Safety Executive website www.hse.gov.uk contains general guidance about health and safety and risk assessment but is less specific to childcare. There is lots of support available for childminders. There are childminding networks all over the country are rich sources of information and support. If you are a member of PACEY, they will be a source of guidance and support. You could read through the Welfare requirements of EYFS or find information in your local library.

Problems in the Computer Assembly Division Essay

1.A clear statement of the problem As the assembly unit supervisor of a small computer manufacturing firm located in the southeast, I am in charge of a five- person operation responsible for assembling personal computers. My production goals include assembling 80 personal computers per day and ensuring 95% of these computers pass the operational inspection of the quality assurance unit. Over the past several weeks I have noticed that my team is not completing enough computers, and the average fell down to only 62 computers a day. Also, 15% of the computers assembled have been returned, as they are failing to meet the quality assurance standards. Furthermore, there is an issue with the supply parts, which I was told come in defective. There are also very serious problems associated with my subordinates. Bill and Morgan are taking advantage of time, coming to work late and taking longer lunch hours than permitted. There is also a substantial drop in the communication among the group members, as Morgan, Julie and Bill ex clude Fred and Sherry from their conversations. Lastly, workers feel favoritism toward Julie and Morgan, and Sherry announced that she wants to leave because of all the infighting in the assembly unit. It all comes down to the problem relating to the performance and the morale of my work unit. 2. Stakeholders a.you: in charge of a 5 person operation, goal of 80PC with 95% good b.Fred: assembles all hard drives, retired army sergeant, 16 years experience in electronics, 6 years assembling hard drives, claims to not be getting reliable parts from supplies so repairs parts self instead of waiting, has been keeping to himself c.Bill: assembles CD ROMs and floppy disks, new out of school, first full time job, 20 years old, in assemble unit for 1 year, takes longer than permitted lunch breaks but claims to stay later, talks only to Julie and Morgan d.Sherry: assembles mother boards, single mom of 2, completing bachelor’s degree in 3 months, has been with company for 4 years, has threatened to leave. She is an outstanding employee e.Julie: final assembly, 6 month experience, 22 years old, sister in law of owner, thinks Fred is doing a slow and shoddy job, talks to Morgan during first 2 hours, seems bored, singled out by owner with a 5% pay increase, talks only to Bill and Morgan f.Morgan: 5 years experience, only attended company’s operational inspection course, 6 months working in your unit, performs final inspections, comes late but claims to stay late, given days off to attend high school reunion, talks only to Bill and Julie g.Owner: concerned with morale and performance of work unit, man of action, wants specific plan 4.What if to solutions a.If we rotate the jobs, team members will be forced to learn something new, thus decreasing boredom. However, some employees may not have the proper training to do so. b.if we have Fred train Bill and Bill train Fred, then both will experience new jobs, while being forced to actually communicate with each other c. if we make Julie in charge of both the final assembly and inspection, then she will have more to do and not get bored. However, she might lack the education needed to fulfill two jobs, and thus might be sending out bad parts d.If we make sure people start on time and take proper lunch breaks, then people will be not be forced to rush through work. However, this may cause boredom because people will feel the pace is too slow.

Code of ethics on Work Essay

A. Develop an applicable standards and procedures section that includes four elements of acceptable or unacceptable behavior found in a code of ethics. Acceptable Standards 1.Integrity- We will always do what we say and say what we do. We must always be consistent, credible and act with integrity. Employee’s actions should maintain high integrity in all activity related to this organization. 2.Diversity- Our culture is based on mutual respect and we value the differences that each employee brings to their position. Employees will treat others with respect and should build an environment of mutual respect. Employee differences and disagreements should always be handled peacefully and professionally. Employees will respect cultural and racial differences and work support an environment where all employees are respected for their contributions. 3.Open Communication- If you have questions, concerns or complaints, you are encouraged to talk to your manager. We value you as an employee and want to ensure that each employee’s working environment is pleasant, productive and that your feedback is heard and acted upon. Should you prefer to speak to someone other than your manager, you can contact your Ombudsman at any time. 4.Accountability- Employees will take accountability for their actions and contributions to the business and should hold each other accountable for maintaining ethical behavior that is in line with our code of ethics. B. Develop a section that identifies at least three specific elements for an ethics training program. Ethics Training Program 1.Departmental Training- We require all departments to provide regular training to ensure understanding and awareness of corporate standards related to ethical decision making. Training should be focused on employee awareness of ethical standards and understanding and use of resources for  employees. These departmental training sessions will be manager or peer led sessions and will be done on a quarterly basis. 2.Annual Company Wide Training- We will require annual ethics training and certification for all employees. The training is required to be completed annually and will be mandatory to all employees. Manager bonus programs will be dependent on department/team participation. 3.Managerial Training- Managers will be required to be certified annually to show understanding and alignment with our existing ethics programs and any ongoing changes to the program. C. Develop a section that explains the processes for each of the following: 1. Monitoring employee misconduct 2. Auditing employee misconduct 3. Reporting employee misconduct Employee Misconduct Managers will be required to monitor employee conduct in several ways, including regular interaction, performance reviews and evaluation of quarterly surveys. Regular interaction with the team will ensure that managers are engaged in the over-sight of their department and able to interact and coach employees before issues escalate. Quarterly survey results will be used monitor employee conduct and behavior. These surveys will help to identify possible team issues and allow employees to share anonymous feedback on a regular basis. Surveys also give the employees the ability provide feedback on the department, manager or any issues that may be taking place as well as to leverage or engage human resources. Performance reviews will be used to coach through behavioral issues, including ethical issues as well as to monitor the professional growth, contribution and alignment with corporate and ethical goals. Executives will oversee the managers and will work to identify issues/conflict in their department through quarterly skip level interviews, anonymous reporting options, and access to cross segment feedback on individuals. Both Managers and Executives will be supported by corporate HR which will also have visibility and oversight into the employee feedback shared through various anonymous feedback sources. The Human resource  department should constantly look for early signs of ethical conflict with corporate standards with the goal of supporting a healthy environment. Both the HR department and the executive team shall have cross segment visibility and oversight into employee behavior with the goal of identifying risks to the corporate culture and standards. Auditing Employee Conduct Employee conduct will be audited via several means including but not limited to surveys, coaching, web training, employee performance reviews and anonymous reporting options. This will ensure corporate visibility and oversight into the adherence of employees to our ethical standards. These mechanisms will have a weighted score attached to the result as follows: †¢Quarterly Survey’s 15% †¢Managerial Coaching 30% †¢Web Training 15% †¢Employee performance review 30% †¢Anonymous reporting results 10% Web training and surveys will be tailored to gather specific data based on corporate priorities at the time of these actions. Managerial coaching sessions, employee performance reviews, and anonymous reporting will be used to audit employee support and adherence to our ethics program. Audit scoring will be on a 1 to10 point scale. The Human Resource department will compile the results and produce an enterprise wide report which shall be released quarterly. Departments that do not meet the standard of 90% or higher will need to create a plan of action. Managers, directors, and a representative of human resource will create a plan of action along with a timeline for remediation and this will be managed by the HR department. In addition, an outside auditor must review the ethics program annually to confirm that ethical standards are being followed and maintained as expected. Reporting Employee Misconduct All employees will have access to a corporate website, toll free phone number and an ombudsman that employees should use to report misconduct or  violations of the corporate ethics policy. In addition, managers may use all other corporate communication tools such as email, instant messenger or phone conversations to gain visibility to and to report misconduct. D. Develop a section that explains your plan to do the following: 1. Evaluate the effectiveness of the ethics program after implementation. 2. Provide suggestions to improve the ethics program after implementation. Ongoing Evaluation of our Ethics program During our annual third party audit, the auditing company will review the overall effectiveness of our ethics program to show annual performance trending from the previous year as well as a comparison to industry results. Upon completion of the third party evaluation, we will use the information to identify strengths and opportunities in our corporate ethics program which will be used to build the following years plan metrics and priorities. Ongoing Improvement of our Ethics Program We are a pay for performance organization and as such, Executive bonus plans will be tied to successful achievement of our corporate, ethical standards. Ten to thirty percent of Executive bonus plans will be paid at a multiplier of (2X) as long as the third party assessment shows 90% or greater achievement of corporate ethics targets. In addition, we will provide company wide, quarterly reports to share our performance with the employees and we will adjust key manager incentives to ensure alignment of departmental ethics goals to company goals.

Supply Chain Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Supply Chain Management - Essay Example ative that the operation manager emphasize a clear outline of the firm’s logistic plan to ensure that the products reach the set destination in time and in right condition. It is evident form the discussion that supply chain management also entails how the company acquires and gets its input factors supplied (Wincel,2004). In this respect, the work explores the central role of supply chain policy and plan as far as success of the firm and efficiency is concerned. The clear concept and application outlay in the discussion offers an informative approach that is useful to any person or firm that considers supply chain as key in its operation. The operation management process is noted as starting from input factor supply and final consumer accessing the products (Kotler, P., & Keller,2012). The series of activities are evidently concentrated on warehouse where the goods are kept before transport. Application of IT in supply chain management is discussed with focus on its relevance in this competitive era of globalization. Supply chain management is an umbrella idea that is considered critical in the efficiency and overall performance of a firm in the

You have chosen to return to college to finish your degree. Describe Essay

You have chosen to return to college to finish your degree. Describe reasons why you made this decision and persuade a friend to do the same - Essay Example In the first decade of the 21st century the United States lost 5.8 million manufacturing jobs (Americanmanufacturing, 2011). The jobs available in the US marketplace have shifted into the knowledge and service economy. In order to compete in the new job marketplace it is imperative to obtain a formal education at an accredited college or university. Without a college degree the only jobs that are available are minimum wage jobs and even those are becoming scarcer and companies are diluting those jobs by offering part-time instead of full-time employment. The unemployment rate in the United States has gone up during the last few years. The unemployment in the United States in July 2011 was 9.1% (Bls, 2011). Due to the fact that more people are unemployed the level of competition was gone up and people that have better credentials are getting the jobs in the marketplace. The most important educational credential employers seek in new recruits is a college education. I have realized that the only way for me to get a good job is to go back to school to earn a degree. A college education increases a person’s chances to get a job and the job obtained will have higher wages. A person with a bachelor’s degree will earn an extra $0.9 million over their lifetime in comparison to a high school graduate; while people with a master’s degree will earn $1.3 more than a high school diploma and $0.4 million more than a bachelor’s degree (Longley, 2011). The past constraints that sometimes hurt the ability of adults to obtain a college education no longer apply. For instance a working adult sometimes had the excuse that he could not go back to college because of employment obligations. Time used to be a variable that hurt a lot of working adults. Due to advances in technology there are solutions available for working adults. Online universities such as the

Labor Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Labor Issue - Essay Example The overall psyche of United States administrations is developed to cut off their budgets at all levels including federal, state, and local levels. One of the major actions that the administrations generally take being a quick step to cut the expenditures is the slashing of the jobs. This measure simply ends up in getting rid of the â€Å"excess fat† from the existing jobs. However, this step brings in more depression and disappointments especially among those who are the direct victims of such actions. The end results of laying offs can prove to be rather severe especially in those areas where there is no room for any dismissal, in fact, more personnel are required to fill the potentially vacant jobs. Laying offs may provide some temporary benefits to the administrations in short rum but in long run it can sabotage morale of the fired employees by and large. In United States, there are many important departments, which operate their functions under local level administrations. These departments play a significant role in the normal day-to-day operations at the local city level. Policing department and firefighting service departments are some of those departments, which perform their operations under the direct supervision of the local administration. As mentioned above, currently US government at all levels is quite reluctant to boost its economic activities and due to this fact, all the administrations taking all the necessary steps to keep the expenditure level at its minimum. The fiscal budget of Detroit City is aimed at reducing the expenditure by some $250 million with the job cut of around 2,600 employees working in the local departments (FireRescue1, 2012). As far as the firefighting department of Detroit City is concerned, the administration has aimed to cut around $160 million, which is around 13% of the budget. In the same way, the City Mayor of

Art analysis paper Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Art analysis paper - Case Study Example It is a brisk, magnificent, enchanting, puzzling, uplifted painting, appealing for my inner emotions, my grief and sorrow and my mind. I have also another allusion. The front pillar reminds me of Christmas and the New Year. The space around it is empty. That means that the modern families experience too much problems, because of their work overload and forgetting about their family traditions. This central pillar is an allegory for a lonesome business woman, who is beautiful and decorated and buys what she wants, but there is nobody around her except huge neon lights, splashes of colors and a lonesome road. I am found of such type of paintings. They make me think about those things, which are of the secondary importance for me in my daily life or I do not have too much time or desire to think about these issues. Such concepts as modernity, womanhood, loneliness, individuality occur to me once I look at the painting. I am sure that this is an allegory for the perverted ideals of the modernity, where carrying packages is better than children, holding your hands†¦Where there is no Christmas tree, but jus monstrous artificially amusing neon lights along the freeway leading from nowhere to

Combating Sex-trafficking in the United States Term Paper

Combating Sex-trafficking in the United States - Term Paper Example In today's modern, civilized society, a world where human rights are given such considerable emphasis and so many laws, acts and bills have been passed to protect those rights, it seems that slavery would be a forgotten and lost concept. Sadly however this is not true. Slavery in every sense of its meaning is still alive, whether it be in the form of exploiting humans for forced labor, or more prevalently, as members of a world wide illegal sex trade and trafficking industry. Statistics from the International Labor Office show that there are 12.3 million victims of forced labor and commercial sex trafficking trade throughout the world at any given time. Shocking as those figures are, what is more shocking is that many of these human sex slaves are employed in fully legal trade rings, such as legalized prostitution or pornography. This happens not in one country or two, but in countries all over the world, the United States included. Are the laws that legalize prostitution and pornogr aphy contributing towards the promotion and encouragement of sex trafficking and commercialized sex trade? Furthermore, if there are laws that encourage these industries, where do these victims find their sanctuary? These are the questions this paper aims to investigate and to argue that the only way sex trafficking victims can be kept away from the industry, even if the industry itself is not shut down, is through effective communication between the ICE, the local police and social workers. Human trafficking is a practice prevalent all across the world. There might be differences in the way the humans are marketed or transported but ultimately it all follows the same process. The victim is lured into the trader's ring under false pretenses or promises of a bright future in another country, through lawful, legal employment. Once the victim agrees and the process of transporting them begins, their legal documents are taken from them and they start to be blackmailed, with threats of d eportation, arrest, violence or safety. Helpless, the victims have to follow the orders of their captors which often translate to joining either the forced labor trade or the sex trade. The female and children victims of human-trafficking mostly end up in brothels, some of which are legal, which clearly indicates that legalized prostitution and sex-trafficking are linked (Kara, 2008). Why is then that nothing is being done to separate those who are voluntarily in the industry and those who are forced into it? The prime reason for that is probably a lack of understanding and communication. Authorities feel that most sex workers that work in legal brothels or pornography have a way to earn a living without having the necessary qualifications to work in other jobs. Another reason this illegal trade employs these victims is that it is one of the most profitable criminal activities, generating an estimated $9.5 billion each year. Because they want the industry to expand, they hire these victims illegally, making it the third most profitable destination for them, with first and second being drugs and weapons trafficking respectively but according to observers, within ten years, human trafficking will surpass drugs and weapons trafficking to become the most profitable criminal activity in the world. As said in Kara's book, '†¦the most effective measures to eradicate the global sex trafficking industry are those that reduce the aggregate demand for sex slaves and consumers through an attack on the industry's immense profitability.' Trafficking even occurs within the

Denver Art Museum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Denver Art Museum - Essay Example In the year 1918 the name was finally changed to Denver art museum and several galleries were moved to the museum. In the year 1954 the first wing called the Morgon Wing was built. The museum offers well over 1000 pieces of African art and in addition to this there are several exquisite pieces of Asian art too. This museum is run by Non-profit organization, this is separate from the state of Denver, it is primarily run on the sales tax collected and it also gets donations. These two things form the base of its existence. "Founded in 1893, this seven-story museum has two distinct buildings. The main 1972 building, designed by Gio Ponti, is wrapped by a thin 28-sided wall faced with 1 million sparkling tiles. The second, a jagged, avant-garde addition, designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, opened in fall 2006, doubling the size of the museum and giving Denver a unique architectural highlight in the process." (Denver Art Museum) There are special tours that the museum offers; From Tuesday to Saturday the visitors can have a good look at the collection in the museum. There are various gifts shops also in the museum.

Who gets the kids Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who gets the kids - Essay Example larly forward-thinking State in its consideration of joint custody because as it is noted in â€Å"Joint Custody Blues† the traditional trend of mothers being granted full custody of children following a divorce is being sidelined by contemporary â€Å"egalitarian† views of the family home (Paul 3,7). In a legal joint custody situation, both parents will share in the decisions made about their children in terms of school, bedtime, dating guidelines, etc.; in a physical joint custody situation both parents will actually share the children themselves in that two homes will be provided for them (Paul 3). In either scenario, â€Å"raising kids with joint custody means you have to stay in constant communication with a person you either a) hate, or b) still love and are therefore crushed, or c) both hate and love† (Corcoran, cited in Paul 6). When divorced parents are constantly fighting with each other, be it over parenting strategies or any other matter, children are more likely to be depressed and averse to working with others in school or other groups (Paul 10). To deal with this, some therapists suggest what is called Parallel Parenting; this means that both parents will essentially set up their own households, complete with their own rules, and not interfere with each othe r. There is minimum contact between both parents and the children understand the difference between living at mom’s house and living at dad’s house (Ibid. 11). Court’s will always decide custody based â€Å"in accordance with the best interest of the child† (Law on Child Custody 1), and this will involve taking a close look at the financial situation, health issues, siblings, new romantic relationships formed by either parent and whether there is any history of violence (Ibid. 3). If abuse has occurred between a parent and a child or the other parent, this will take top priority in the eyes of the Court (Ibid. 4). Basically it is the role of parents to â€Å"make the divorce succeed†

Expectations manipulate the reader Essay Example for Free

Expectations manipulate the reader Essay How does Dickens Presentation of Pips threatened childhood in chapters 1-8 of great Expectations manipulate the reader? Great expectations is a book written by Charles Dickens, and was first published in 1861. Charles Dickens was a Victorian writer and also a social commentator during the time. The novel Great Expectations commentates on lower class life in the Victorian era. The book is mainly based on social criticism. The novel is about a boy called Pip who has a cruel start to life, living with his mean sister and her husband. With many people indifferent to Pips life, Pip starts with low expectations wanting to go to prison. Afterwards his life changes when he is described as a common labouring boy, eager to change this he also changes his expectations in life and from wanting to go to prison, or becoming a blacksmith he wants to become a gentleman and have a high status. Throughout the novel we are manipulated into feeling sorry for Pip. The events in his life, the people he meets and the way he is treated from childhood till he is grown up. Pip is an orphan at the beginning of the story, this and the factors such as that his parents are dead make us feel sorry for him. He also lives with his sister who is a harsh and beastly woman and treats him horridly. We are first introduced to Pip whilst he is a child. While in the graveyard he meets an escaped convict who treats him harshly. One of the ways that Dickens manipulates us during this is showing how unprotected and weak Pip is. After each question he tilted me over a little more, so as to give me a greater sense of helplessness and danger (chapter 1) this quote shows how feeble Pip is. We are later manipulated even more by the way his sister treats him. Contempt and hatred are just some of the ways that could be used to describe her attitude towards him. Hence he is a lonely, weak boy who has no parents. Mrs Joe applied Tickler to its further investigation. She concluded by throwing me I often served as a connubial missile. She beats Pip and acts as if he is nothing but a mere slave to her and must do as he is told or she willHow does Dickens successfully link Magwitchs appearance in Chapter one with his return in Chapter Thirty-nine in Great Expectations? Great Expectations is set in the 1800s, for gentlemen of that time, life was rich and full of beautiful houses and places. Because they didnt have to work they spent their days chatting, going to dinners and just having fun. But for the working class, they had to always be thinking of ways to make money and always working to secure their next meal. This novel was serialised, which meant that the story was published part by part and so, many groups of people would gather together to read the story. They could then tell each other what they thought was going to happen in the next couple of chapters. To make the audience want to read the next couple of chapters, Dickens had to end each chapter with a cliff hanger. The central protagonist in this novel is Pip. In the first chapter we learn that Pips parents are dead and so he lives with his sister and her husband. We also learn that he had 5 other brothers and sisters who have also died as their five mini gravestones or rocks are beside Pips parents grave. He frequently visits his parents grave even though he has no memory of ever seeing them. He paints a picture in his mind of his mum and dad. In this chapter we get to meet Abel Magwitch who will become a central figure in Pips life. Dickens successfully uses pathetic fallacy in both Chapter One and Chapter Thirty-nine to create a negative tension. In Chapter One, he describes the weather with negative adjectives such as sting, torn, and growled. These all give negative connotations to the reader to create the bad tension in the weather. He also uses the onomatopoeia like shivers and shuddering to show how the weather is affecting people. He also uses the word shuddering again in Chapter Thirty-nine providing an obvious link in the weather. Dickens uses the adjective angry more then once to show that whatever is going to happen wont be good. In Chapter Thirty-nine, Dickens hints at negative events by using the simile, like discharges of a cannon which also ties into Chapter One because it is signalling that an escaped convict could be entering the story again because a cannon would sound whenever a convict had escaped. Dickens describes the weather as stormy and wet, stormy and wet which uses repetition to push across how bad the weather is. He also says, mud, mud, mud which is a list of three, which is a very convincing technique to help set the scene for Magwitchs return.

A case study on the acute leukemia of lilly a cancer fighter Essay Example for Free

A case study on the acute leukemia of lilly a cancer fighter Essay Six months after her 30th birthday, Lilly was diagnosed with acute Leukemia. She and her husband, Jake, have no children together. She has been relatively healthy most of her life, despite suffering from minor medical mishaps. Lilly’s socioeconomic factor is that she is a middle class, a Caucasian woman who was a top ranking salesperson for a cosmetic company. While the case study has no mentioned specific issues, Lilly has hinted past confrontations with her parents. Lilly has been evasive about all aspects of her life that occurred before she came to the clinic. The social worker intern mentioned that Lilly gave up a baby in her early 20’s. Despite the closeness with the social worker intern through the physical and emotional upheavals, her defenses surrounding her past would not budge.   Through the case study, the social worker realized that Lilly’s mental health deteriorated when she lost her ability to speak due to sores in her mouth. The social worker believed that because Lily was a sales representative, losing her ability to speak negatively affected her sense of self-worth. To have that taken away from her, as the intern suggested, is an attack on her ego functioning and can deplete her mental stability in fighting this illness. However, the salient aspects that the intern failed to address is the correlation of emotional distress and the fighting spirit on the survival time for people combating life-threatening illnesses like cancer. Due to Lilly’s socioeconomic background and support of her parents, she was able to pay for her treatments and sustain economic stability despite her health deterioration. After the reading the case, I have several questions: was different modalities of treatments other than ego psychology that could have helped her?   Would expose her parents to relaxation training or stress management have helped alleviate some of Lilly’s anxieties? Why would Lilly keep her past so hidden, and more specifically, why wouldn’t she discuss giving her baby away for adoption?   Would there be different ways of conducting interviews with her in times when she was more relaxed? The narrator of this article articulates the typical issues that any cancer patient faces: death, dying, health, family dynamics, physical changes in appearance, and resentment towards others and projection. The intern discussed common experiences from other patients to help normalize what Lilly was going through. For example, when Lilly said she felt like she was hallucinating, the intern informed her that this was common when receiving a morphine drip. The intern seems very helpless at times. She mentions in her transcript that she feels sad and even guilty for being healthy when talking to sick patient. I feel like this social worker is risking the overwhelming need to figure everything out for Lilly, such as digging up the past and figuring out ways to repair her relationships. Her health decline, Lilly’s emotional functioning is not an optimal state and I feel that Lilly just wanted focus on the future. However, I find myself intrigued at what Lilly has to say in coming t o terms with what has happened to her life and what choices she could’ve done differently. I believe there might be something in her past that Lilly is afraid to confront. I don’t believe Lilly felt marginalization due to her race, class or economic background. I believe the mere fact that this social worker intern is alive, healthy and autonomous could create tension in the relationship. For example, Lilly wants to be home with Jake and her cat, but she is forced to stay in the hospital while this social worker intern has the luxury to go back home and rest in her bed, free from the medical tubes, the chemo, and loss of bodily function. I am a first generation Ecuadorean-American who is also a cancer survivor. I come from a lower-middle-class economic background and my parents did not even finish grade school. They do not know how to communicate in English. I hold privilege in the fact that I am 14 years in remission with cancer that I struggled with combating for 1- ½ years. The implications of my sociocultural location in my identity as a first-generation cancer survivor with the lack of resources can help me understand the implications that it might have in my treatment with this client. Due to my class, race and economic background, I am marginalized from Lilly. On the other hand, she is from a middle class, held an influential position and had supportive parents that knew the language.   These differentials can cause a clash of cultures. On one hand, I am marginalized because I didn’t have the same opportunity in my treatment and care as Lilly did. Some of which were unethical such as translating my whole treatment process to my parents from Spanish to English and telling my parents as an 8-year-old, â€Å"I have cancer†. Yet, I am still here and cancer-free. My identity as a first-generation cancer survivor with the lack of resources could have implications in my treatment with this client. I am aware of my role as a social work intern to not influence economic privileges in the assessment. My case writing would have to focus on her mental health and provide a support system with which I am familiar with as well. My hope is despite our many differences, I would have been a support system for her because the communal understanding of the initial feeling after prognosis, the physical changes, the sickness after chemotherapy, the reactions to medications, the dynamic changes in parents due to being â€Å"sick† and having the utter realization of oblivion is   something that is out of your control. With the dynamic of being cancer-free and dealing with a cancer patient, I am afraid of holding the privilege over Lilly because I have beaten cancer and so far, it hasn’t come back. Although it is not a socio-cultural aspect, it is part of my identity. The word â€Å"cancer survivor† will always play a role in how I interact with people as well as being Latina, born from illegal immigrants of South America. With this fact in mind, I think to have someone that was 14 years in remission would’ve given Lilly a glimmer of hope in those moments when the alienation the person feels when they experience cancer and how little they have in common with their healthier loved ones. The cultural differences such as being Hispanic and White could play a role in how we interact with one another. It is a cultural thing to become â€Å"too caring† for someone that is sick. I witnessed it with how my family has taken care of me and I have witnessed it in my time at the Domestic Violence Crisis Center. I realized that it could’ve been something that Lilly needed but it would’ve triggered a complexity in the relationship with transference and countertransference that would’ve been something to be addressed to my supervisor. I feel that I would’ve grown attached and cared for her too much as I would’ve seen a version of myself in her in a nurturing way.   However, I think having someone understand on a more intimate level of the medical terminology and the cancer treatment process would’ve made a world of a difference on the alienation she felt at times between her family and friends. I feel at the stage of the treatment Lilly’s anxiety when she was in the ICU and facing her fears about the irrevocable reality that she might not get better. The fact that she survived those two weeks was a miracle, yet she didn’t see it as a triumph but a truth that this is going to be her reality from now on. This experience of death, dying and the inevitable decline in death is the juxtaposition to my story of recovery and health. I would experience great sadness and anxiety if she were to die in my stay as a social worker intern and would have to have self-awareness with my identity as a â€Å"cancer survivor† and not a â€Å"cancer-statistic†.   Nevertheless, my cultural way to nurture the sick, care for the helpless and communication can be helpful in this situation. I believe that our social locations of class, race and economic boundaries are diminished when we are both bonded by same harsh reality. The truth is, when it comes to cancer, it doesn’t judge of identities or race. I do believe class and economic factors place a role in treatment. However, handling my case with Lilly, I would acknowledge our differences yet manage to find similarities in our situations. We are both women, who even though at different ages, have a self-esteem issue when it comes to losing our hair. Women identify feminity with their hair and even as an 8-year-old; being bald was a harsh reality of my illness. I resonated with Lilly when she felt disgusted when she looked at the mirror and her baldness. I understand the feeling. Although I did not have the luxury of having my parents pay for my insurance, I did have a support system at the time and it helped with the treatment process. I feel like our differences are profound: I was an 8-year-old, Ecuadorean, lower-income, first-generation cancer fighter and Lilly was a 30-year-old, middle-class, American, cancer fighter. The differences are striking when we tell our stories yet the treatment process is still the same across all boards. The conversations that would have would be reassurance, installation of hope and not just by words but by actually being â€Å"living proof† that there is a chance. Lilly talked about that 50% chance of fighting the disease with the bone marrow transplant.   I had a similar prognosis after my first chemotherapy. Our conversation would have been so profound. I would have given her hope by just being there.

Overview Of Colgate Palmolive Company

Overview Of Colgate Palmolive Company Colgate Palmolive, a company where its headquarters is in New York operates in the business of care within the consumer goods industry. In an Annual Report released by Colgate Palmolive Company (2010), it is reported that the company is a $ 15.6 billion global company serving people in more than 200 countries and territories with consumer products that makes life healthier and more enjoyable. The core businesses of this company are Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition. Among some of the worlds most recognized household brands produced by Colgate Palmolive Company are Colgate, Mennen, Palmolive, Ajax, Softsoap, and Hills Pet Nutrition. Colgates business strategy is to Win on the Ground by focusing on its three core strategies: Driving Growth, Funding the Growth and Making Colgate the Best Place to Work. Its corporate values of Caring, Global Teamwork and Continuous Improvement acts as the foundation for its business strategy and are reflected in the way the company conducts its business worldwide (Colgate World of Care, n.d.). Colgate Palmolive Corporate Structure Led by its current Chief Executive Officer and President, Mr. Ian Cook, Colgate Palmolive Company is staffed with a team of talented and dedicated employees. The companys corporate structure has been assumed to be shown in Appendix 1. Streaming in to the Global Information Technology (GIT) organization itself, this organization is divided into three main sub functions which are Global Development, Enterprise Center and Shared Services Organization. The Shared Services Organization is further divided into four main divisions which are Global, Americas, Euro Americas and Asia Pacific. Colgate Palmolive Malaysia, founded in 1957 where the company office and plant is located in Petaling Jaya is supported by Asia Pacific division which is better known as Asia Pacific Shared Organization (APSSO). APSSO serves approximately 3500 employees in terms of Information Technology and its infrastructure in over 35 manufacturing sites throughout the Greater Asia and South Pacific division. Colgate-Palmolive Business Strategy and Relationship with Business Entity The main mission of Global Information Technology which is also cascaded down to APSSO is to operate on the same system, providing the same information to ensure the same performance and processes throughout the Colgate Palmolive Companys global operations worldwide. To achieve this mission, APSSO focuses on a 5 years strategy plan which is driven by a grid like Casita. This grid is derived from a stringent process which priorities the projects according to the GITs mandates of Performance, Reliability and Regulatory, Utilization, GIT Grid Strategic Portfolio and Global Projects. The Global Information Technology partners five global external entities to ensure the success of its businesses. Colgate partners one of the worlds most renowned enterprise software developers, SAP. Aside from SAP, Colgate partners IBM and Lenovo for providing the company computer hardware, Verizon for networking and telecommunications, CISCO for LAN equipments, Wipro for consulting and resource management as well as Comvault for data management and storage. The details of Colgate Palmolive infrastructure will be discussed in Part 2: IT infrastructure: Issues and Challenges. Colgate Palmolive specifically in Malaysia does not partner any government entities for its IT infrastructure. The homepage URL of the Colgate Palmolive Company is http://www.colgate.com. Part 2: IT Infrastructure: Issues Challenges 2.1 Colgates IT Infrastructure Information technology infrastructure today is composed of seven major components (Laudon Laudon, page 203) and Colgate is not exceptional in investing in a comprehensive array of hardware software to help with its daily operations. The below is a list of IT infrastructure that Colgate is currently having: 1) Computer Hardware Platforms. Colgates permanent employees are given laptops while temporary employees are provided with desktops. a) Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad 410: Intel i5-520M, Intel QM57 Exp, 14.1 XGA, Intel HD Graphics, 160GB 7200rpm, 4GB (2x2GB), N6200 11a/b/g/n (22), 6 Cell. b) Desktop: Lenovo ThinkCentre M58p: Intel ® Core 2 Duo Processor E8400, 2GB, 160GB 7200RPM S-ATA HDD, PCI/PCIe SFF (23),Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500,DVD Rble, Intel Gigabit Ethernet. 2) Operating Systems: Colgate is currently using Windows XP Professional but they are planning to rollout Windows 7 Professional in the 4th quarter of 2011. 3) Enterprise Software: Colgate uses SAP R/3 Enterprise for virtually all its departmental business units. 4) Networking/Telecommunication: Colgate enlists Cisco Systems and Verizon Communications respectively as its business partners for their networking and telecommunications needs. 5) Consulting System Integration Services: Colgate recruits Wipro Technologies to assist with new technology building as well as managing new projects. 6) Data Management Storage: Colgate counts Commvault as its business partner to manage its data management and storage. 7) Internet Platform: Colgate uses Microsoft.net to support its website. It uses the 2.2 Issues and Challenges in the management of IT infrastructure Even though Colgate has a relatively stable IT infrastructure in place, there are bound to be issues and challenges that the organisation faces in the management of its IT infrastructure. One of the most prominent challenges would be to keep abreast with the technology advancement. As Moores Law suggests, the number of transistors on a chip roughly doubles every two years. (Moores Law, whitepaper from Intel). Colgate has a strict workflow when it comes to implementing new hardware, which includes going through the many layers of manual approvals from the upper management, most of them scattered throughout the globe. By the time IT department is ready to implement the new hardware, newer version would have already been introduced to the market. Security is also a major challenge for the IT department in Colgate. As with any multinational corporation, Colgate takes pride in their products secret formula, new product launches and confidential employees information. Hackers and PC infections are a big risk to the company. This is due to the many software that Colgate uses. Although each laptop and computers are linked together via the Colgate network, these software are independently installed into the computer, and this making it difficult for the IT department to monitor the health of each hardware. Another challenge is to manage Colgates business partners such as Cisco, Verizon, Wipro and Commvault. As the business partners are vital to Colgates success in managing IT, they have to be exposed to Colgates culture and its ways of managing business. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all would be to manage the internal cost. The IT department is given a budget of 1.5% of net sales for software hardware acquisition, installation, training, support and maintenance. This budget also includes downtime as well as space and energy needed to keep the technology running. IT has to play its role in maintaining Colgate to be the leading consumer products company in the world. The above IT infrastructure has be to integrated seamlessly in the running of daily business activities, and this would require the IT department to be the ultimate business partner to Colgate worldwide. Part 3: Cloud Computing and its business benefits and costs 3.1 Overview of cloud computing Cloud computing is defined as a model of computing where firms and individuals obtain computing power and software applications over the Internet, rather than purchasing their own hardware and software (Loudon Loudon 2010, p. 196). The five essential characteristics of cloud computing are assumed in Figure 1 (Mell Grance 2011) On-Demand Self Service The on-demand self-service characteristic of cloud computing allows employee to use cloud computing without human interference with the cloud provider. Employees can login in the network by keying in a unique password given to them. Broad Network Access Ubiquitous network access is available to employees via cloud computing. The network can be access by all employees through a standard mechanism. Employee would only need to key in their password and once the system authenticates it, employee can access to all resources available in the network. Resource Pooling Resource pooling allows employees to access cloud computing without having to bind to location where they are. All employees within the Colgate world would be able to access the same database and same network from even their homes. This is also a step taken to encouraged employees to strike work life balance in their workplace. Rapid Elasticity Cloud computing promises elasticity where resources can be scaled both up and down as required. This will allow standardization and for Global Information Technology to achieve its mission of operating on the same system, have the same information for all its employees, which in turn ensures the same performance and processes throughout the Colgate world. Measured Service The number of employees accessing the service is measured and monitored to ensure that the cloud is able to optimize its service and to sustain the agreed service level for all employees. Figure 1: The five essential characteristics of cloud computing There are three main types of cloud computing which are public clouds, private clouds and hybrid clouds. Public clouds are usually operated by a third party company where more than one party or customer can be mixed together and can access the servers or storage system at once. Private clouds are usually on demand infrastructure owned by a single customer who controls the applications run On the other hand, hybrid clouds are the combination of both public and private cloud models which usually offers high sustainable on-demand and externally provisioned scale however adds complexity to the distribution of applications throughout the different networks (Isse 2010, pg 18). 3.2 Current trends in cloud computing In a cloud computing survey done in 17 countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific by Kelton Research in 2009, the results shows that technology is used to cut cost in 54% of the companies surveyed. One of the technologies discussed was cloud computing which allows companies to quickly react to market conditions and competitors. By having cloud computing, companies can use this ability to immediately tap computing power and software which in turn help company focus on its core business. 99% of its respondent also claimed that they are discussing or implementing public and private cloud computing solutions. 3.3 Benefits of cloud computing Information Weeks Thomas Claborn reported (Calburn, 2008) on a presentation by Thomas E. Hogan, senior vice president at Hewlett-Pakard, at the 2008 Cloud Summit Conference: Some 87 billion emails are drafted per day around the globe, the digital universe doubles every 18 months, and the number of network-attached storage devices double every two years, he said. Yet, some 80 percent to 85 percent of IT budgets goes to operational maintenance. ..Cloud computing promises to help IT organisations dial back maintenance cost so they can spend on creating business values. To ensure sustainability and competitiveness of Colgates business, cloud computing can be an option to reduce cost, maintenance complexity and ease of management. Among some other of the benefits of cloud computing are discussed as below. Availability of standardized data Cloud computing plays a vital role in ensuring that Global Information Technology achieves its goal to providing the same information at the same speed to Colgates entire employee. This allows managers to make decision based on the same set of data irregardless of where they are located. It also ensures data integrity and allows more decision collaboration between countries as they have access to all sets of data. Business Agility Cloud computing allows managers to have access to data anywhere at any time. The benefit of cloud computing not being device and location dependence allows managers to make faster decisions to gain competitive advantage by responding rapidly and reducing time to market. IT efficiency Cloud computing increases the efficiency and allows ease of management of information technology. For instance when they is a need for a system upgrade, cloud computing allows managers to push the updates at the backend through the server and all employees will receive the auto run update at the same time. This reduces time of IT personnel to individually install updates on each computer, ensures that all computers has been upgraded simultaneously and increases efficiency as updates need not be bonded by boundaries and time zone. Implementation of one system for all concept The implementation of cloud computing allows standardization in term of systems processes and speed. This will reduce the maintenance cost, ensures data security and provides every employee an equal opportunity to obtain data to make quality decisions. For example, an employee in India will be using the same system as an employee in Russia. This facilitates knowledge sharing among employees and also transfers of talent throughout the Colgate world. It allows our global customer (ie: Tesco, Carrefour) to make business decisions on a global basis based on the availability of standardized data and the way of doing business with Colgate. 3.4 Cost of implementation of cloud computing It is crucial to determine the return of invest and total costs of ownership to senior management before being able to influence them to make decisions on whether or not an organisation should invest in the system/infrastructure. The total costs of ownership looks into nine areas which are: Hardware acquisition The cost for purchasing of computing power might be higher at the initial stage when setting cloud computing however the return of investment in the long run might justify the initial investment. Software acquisition The licensing for software used within Colgate might decrease if the company decides to subscribe to Software as a Service (SaaS) applications such as Salesforce.com. SaaS applications allow users to pay as they use. This decreases cost of purchasing licensing for the whole package of software but employees only use partial applications within the package. Installation Installation cost remain constant with or without cloud computing. Colgate advocates providing the same infrastructure and computing power in terms of both hardware and software for all its employees. Training Trainings for implementation of cloud computing can be done via three methods. Firstly, the company can deploy collaboration tools to allow virtual training. Secondly, training can be deliver via an online knowledge portal (ElementK) which the company has subscribed to and lastly via classroom trainings for more technical personnel. The cost of training (in terms of travel) can be minimized by having power users within subsidiaries of Colgate to train employees of their own division. Support The implementation of cloud computing allows a standardized support of IT employee for every employee. By having a standardized system and processes, IT employees now need not have different sets of manual to provide differing system support. Maintenance Cloud computing eases the maintenance of systems and upgrading of both hardware and software. By implementing cloud computing, all upgrades can now be push from the backend of servers to each computer. Infrastructure Investment in specialized equipment and network at the initial stage is required. However the yield in the long run surpasses the cost of initial investment made. It also allows business to replough back the cost used to maintain IT systems to the core of its businesses after the implementation of cloud computing. Downtime The downtime of servers that support cloud computing can be managed internally. Although downtime cannot be eliminated, it can be minimized to ensure minimal disruption to the business. Downtime can be planned and communicated to employees at earlier so that employees can plan their work accordingly. Space and energy Part 4: Recommendations of cloud computing adoption/adaption Based on the issues and challenges that have been discussed in Part 2, it is vital that Colgate adopts a technology that will enable the company to move forward in the era of information technology. However, due to sensitive and confidential information that Colgate has to protect, they are not able to outsource to external providers such as Salesforce.com. Hence, it is recommended that Colgate invests in a private cloud which only employees of the organization can access, with the option of having their business partners obtaining a certain amount of information from the cloud. With the use of the cloud, the IT department will no longer need to go through the manual layers of approvals needed to implement new technologies. By creating an approval system that links to the email system, approvers will need to simply login into the cloud to sanction the requests, regardless of time zone and location once they receive email notifications. This will further simplify the approval process and the IT department will be able to rollout new technologies, thus enabling Colgate to be, if not in the forefront, at least keeping up with the latest technology compared to their competitors. Colgates IT departments objective is to have the same systems, same information, same processes and the same performance everywhere across the Colgate world. With the implementation of a cloud, a series of commonly used software can be stored in the cloud. Employees laptops and desktops will merely be terminals to access the cloud. Hence, using the method of single sign-on username and password, this would allow the IT department to have further security measures as well as enabling them to monitor the health status of each of the terminals. Business partners can be given limited access to the cloud, thus exposing them to Colgates workflow, processes and cultures. This in turn would assist them to understand how Colgate manages its business and how they are able to contribute more efficiently towards Colgates success. Cost has always been a challenge to most organisations. A resourceful firm can fully make use of a budget of 1.5% of net sales to stay ahead of competitors by investing in a cloud. As mentioned in Part 2, Colgate currently has independent software installed in each computer. By implementing a cloud, instead of having the IT personnel physically installing the software in each computer, which may take a few weeks, depending on the location of Colgate offices, they simply need to load or upgrade the software into the cloud, enabling employees to use the latest software within days, if not hours. On top of that, the cost of travelling for IT personnel to install these software will be very minimal. In line with business needs, the speed of change will be beneficial not only to Colgate, but also to their employees as they will be exposed to newer technologies/software in order to be more efficient in their daily tasks, thus reducing time needed for business to wait for processed information from the employees. Currently Colgate in every location around the globe has their own set of servers and data storage system within each subsidiary. With the implementation of a cloud, Colgate will only need to have these hardware investment and maintenance in one particular site only. IT departments can be much leaner, more efficient and more focused in their areas of expertise. Colgate has always been prudent in investing in any type of technology. The local IT department refers to a grid that lists the yearly initiatives that they will need to implement in every subsidiary. This grid consists of requests and is essentially an approved wish list from each business unit on implementing certain technologies within the department. Colgates business strategy to balance both technology and the demand from employees on the ground is important to achieve strategic goals. The yearly resource of 1.5% of net sales has always been the budget that the IT department has to adhere to. Given this allocation, the IT department has to be judicious in spending, balancing the business needs, keeping the current technology abreast with the market as well as being ahead of competitors.

Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Mogul Tale Essay -- Mughal Tale

Elizabeth Inchbald’s A Mogul Tale The year 1784 found an earnest young female playwright, Elizabeth Inchbald, sitting down to pen what would become her â€Å"first success as a writer† humbly titled A Mogul Tale.1[1]. The story involves what appears to be an outlandish plot, since it is a farce which revolves around a party of London ballooners who accidentally land in the seraglio of a great mogul2[2]. But applied research finds that Mrs. Inchbald had indeed done her homework, for the dynasty of the Mughals (as modernity has changed the spelling) really did exist. In researching the great Mughal Dynasty in India, one finds that Inchbald’s work appears to be less fantastic, and even more plausible as an event that could have, indeed, happened, although the thought that a primitive Eighteenth Century balloon would have probably not been able to fly the distance that Inchbald’s work suggests. The Mughal Dynasty was a line of Muslim emperors who reigned in India from 1526 to 1858.3[3] The line began with Babur as the first great Mughal emperor. He was a descendant of the Turkish conqueror Timur on his father's side and of the Mongol (in Persian, mughal) conqueror Genghis Khan on his mother's side.4[4] Babur came to power with the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat.5[5] During his reign as the Mughal, Babur extended his empire to Punjab and Bihar.6[6] Babur served as the Mughal for only four brief years, but he left his imprint on the whole of his empire for years to come. His reign came to an end in 1530 with his death, at which time he was succeeded by his son Humayun. Humayun reigned for only ten years before being defeated by Sher Shah, an Afghan who ruled north India for fifteen years in ... ...Web: (http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/tajmahal/mughal.html) 4[4] Lashkari. 5[5] Deepali, Naren. The Mughal Dynasty [online]. 2003- [cited 18 November 2003]. Available on World Wide Web: (http://www.geocities.com/narenp/history/history/mughal.htm) 6[6] Deepali. 7[7] Lashkari. 8[8] Lashkari. 9[9] Lashkari. 10[10] Deepali. 11[11] Lashkari. 12[12] Deepali. 13[13] Lashkari. 14[14] Lashkari. 15[15] Deepali. 16[16] â€Å"Aurangzeb Alamgir’s Reign.† The Story of Pakistan [online]. 2003- [cited 17 November 2003]. Available on World Wide Web: (http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A019) 17[17] Lashkari. 18[18] Deepali. 19[19] Lashkari. 20[20] Holt, P.M. â€Å"The Mughals.† A Dictionary of Eighteenth Century World History. Black, Jeremy and Roy Porter, eds. 1994. Oxford: Basil Blackwell Ltd. 21[21] â€Å"Aurangzeb Alamgir’s Reign.† 22[22] Deepali.

Death of a Salesman: The Emptiness of the American Dream :: Death of a Salesman

Any way that you state it, an American dream is a never-ending cycle of idealism. In other words, the yearning to be better than the best and to achieve perfect governmental harmony throughout society. Think about it though, if this were a possibility, wouldn’t it have already occurred? The first character seen directly acknowledging the emptiness of the American dream was the overlooked Loman brother, Happy. Happy, although suffering from â€Å"younger-brother syndrome† and lack of fatherly attention, proved to be the only successful family member of all the Lomans. Still, any amount of success would never be enough for him. The American dream would never be enough to make Happy â€Å"happy†. All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die. And suppose I get to be merchandise manager? He’s a good friend of mine, and he just built a terrific estate on Long Island. And he lived there about two months and sold it, and now he’s building another one. He can’t enjoy it once it’s finished. And I know that’s just what I would do. I don’t know what the hell I’m workin’ for. Sometimes I sit in my apartment- all alone. And I think of the rent I’m paying. And it’s crazy. But then, it’s what I always wanted. My own apartment, a car, and plenty of women. And still, goddammit, I’m lonely. It is rather ironic that the American dream that Willy strives for everyday is the very same dream Happy pushes away. Willy believes the key to life and achieving the American dream is being well liked. However, his beliefs were faulty as well as trite, as we all saw when Bernard, who wasn’t very â€Å"well liked,† achieved the American dream. â€Å"Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him†¦Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.†(Willy P. 33) This is Willy and one of his more pompous conversations with Biff on regards to Bernard. As usual, Willy’s prediction was far off from the truth. Bernard grew up and got married, had 2 boys, and had his last appearance leaving to go argue a case in front of the Supreme Court.

Existentialism :: essays research papers

Existentialism Existentialism is a concept that became popular during the second World War in France, and just after it. French playrights have often used the stage to express their views, and these views came to surface even during a Nazi occupation. Bernard Shaw got his play "Saint Joan" past the German censors because it appeared to be very Anti-British. French audiences however immediately understood the real meaning of the play, and replaced the British with the Germans. Those sorts of "hidden meanings" were common throughout the period so that plays would be able to pass censorship. Existentialism proposes that man is full of anxiety and despare with no meaning in his life, just simply existing, until he made decisive choice about his own future. That is the way to achieve dignity as a human being. Existentialists felt that adopting a social or political cause was one way of giving purpose to a life. Sartre is well known for the "Theatre engage" or Theatre 'commited', which is supposedly commited to social and/or political action. On of the major playwrights during this period was Jean-Paul Sartre. Sartre had been imprisoned in Germany in 1940 but managed to escape, and become one of the leaders of the Existential movement. Other popular playwrights were Albert Camus, and Jean Anouilh. Just like Anouilh, Camus accidentally became the spokesman for the French Underground when he wrote his famous essay, "Le Mythe de Sisyphe" or "The Myth of Sisyphus". Sisyphus was the man condemned by the gods to roll a rock to the top of a mountain, only to have it roll back down again. For Camus, this related heavily to everyday life, and he saw Sisyphus an "absurd" hero, with a pointless existance. Camus felt that it was necessary to wonder what the meaning of life was, and that the human being longed for some sense of clarity in the world, since "if the world were clear, art would not exist". "The Myth of Sisyphus" became a prototype for existentialism in the theatre, and eventually The Theatre of the Absurd. Right after the Second World War, Paris became the theatre capital of the west, and popularized a new form of surrealistic theatre called "Theatre of the Absurd". Many historians contribute the sudden popularity of absurdism in France to the gruesome revelations of gas chambers and war atrocities coming out of Germany after the war. The main idea of The Theatre of the Absurd was to point out man's helplessness and pointless existance in a world without purpose. As Richard Coe described it "It is the freedom of the slave to crawl east along the

Home Recipe for Food Tech/Cooking Students †Fresh and Fried Spring Rolls Essay

Ingredients – makes 16 large spring rolls: 1 cup thinly sliced carrot 1 cup shredded Chinese cabbage 1 cup spring onions thinly sliced 1 cup mushrooms diced 1 1/2 cups thin rice noodles 16 sheets of defrosted spring roll pastry ( for fried spring rolls) 16 sheets of rice paper (for fresh spring rolls) 450g chicken mince (if making fried spring rolls) Method: Fried Spring Rolls: 1.Boil enough water to submerge the noodles and place both the water and noodles in a bowl to break them up and soften them. Let them soak for about 2-3 minutes. Remove with a colander. 2. Chop up all vegetables finely and mix together a long with the chicken and noodles in a large bowl. 3.Line up the spring roll pastry diagonally to you and put the mixture of veggies on the corner closest to you. 4.Roll the pastry up until you reach halfway. Fold in the corners and continue to roll. 5.Once you roll it until you have a little flap of pastry sticking out, wet it with a few drops of water to seal it to the rest of the roll. 6.Cook the spring rolls in the vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown and crunchy. 7.Remove from oil and drain excess off via paper towel. 8.Serve the fried spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce for dipping. Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls: 1.Place the noodles in warm water to soften them like you did with the noodles in step 1 of the fried spring rolls. Remove with a colander. 2.Place the rice paper in warm water after removing the noodles. 3.Follow steps 2-5 of the fried spring rolls recipe with the exception on using no chicken and substituting the pastry for the softened rice paper. 4.Serve with soy sauce.

Psychological study: “Geenie the Wild Child!” Essay

The development of language comes naturally for most people; as they grow from an infant to a child. Noam Chomsky believes that languages are genetically pre-programmed by a language acquisition device in the brain. The deep structure of language and words is not learned. Yet the surface structures, such as phonetic sounds are learned. A few children do not master the basic foundation of language like in Genie’s case. Genie (and her mom) was victims of abuse and neglect inflicted upon them by Genie’s father. In November, 1970, Genie’s [a.k.a. â€Å"The Wild Child†] horrible plight was documented and this is my personal assessment of it†¦ I would think that Genie can one day master English (or another language) because of one specific reason: Genie’s brain, as slow and below average for a 13 year old as it was, did show some progression. Genie did have a 20-word vocabulary. She could correctly identify colors, she knew her mom and could say things like, â€Å"walk, door and No more.† However, this was not the case. After over 6 years of being observed, poked and researched by scientist, Genie never did master the English language. Also, Genie had a most bizarre and unfortunate life starting at the very moment she was born. In the beginning she was constrained and not given any attention. When she was discovered by the world, she was bombarded with attention from many researchers. From the multitude of research done on her, one bit of information that held true to Lenneberg’s theory is the inability to produce speech after puberty even when exposed to it. However, in the end the researchers became insensitive and overlooked Genie’s own well-being for scientific research.

Angels Demons Chapter 13-15

13 Langdon stared in bewilderment at the study before him. â€Å"What is this place?† Despite the welcome blast of warm air on his face, he stepped through the door with trepidation. Kohler said nothing as he followed Langdon inside. Langdon scanned the room, not having the slightest idea what to make of it. It contained the most peculiar mix of artifacts he had ever seen. On the far wall, dominating the decor, was an enormous wooden crucifix, which Langdon placed as fourteenth-century Spanish. Above the cruciform, suspended from the ceiling, was a metallic mobile of the orbiting planets. To the left was an oil painting of the Virgin Mary, and beside that was a laminated periodic table of elements. On the side wall, two additional brass cruciforms flanked a poster of Albert Einstein, his famous quote reading: God Does Not Play Dice With the Universe Langdon moved into the room, looking around in astonishment. A leather-bound Bible sat on Vetra's desk beside a plastic Bohr model of an atom and a miniature replica of Michelangelo's Moses. Talk about eclectic, Langdon thought. The warmth felt good, but something about the decor sent a new set of chills through his body. He felt like he was witnessing the clash of two philosophical titans†¦ an unsettling blur of opposing forces. He scanned the titles on the bookshelf: The God Particle The Tao of Physics God: The Evidence One of the bookends was etched with a quote: True science discovers God waiting behind every door. Pope Pius XII â€Å"Leonardo was a Catholic priest,† Kohler said. Langdon turned. â€Å"A priest? I thought you said he was a physicist.† â€Å"He was both. Men of science and religion are not unprecedented in history. Leonardo was one of them. He considered physics ‘God's natural law.' He claimed God's handwriting was visible in the natural order all around us. Through science he hoped to prove God's existence to the doubting masses. He considered himself a theo-physicist.† Theo-physicist? Langdon thought it sounded impossibly oxymoronic. â€Å"The field of particle physics,† Kohler said, â€Å"has made some shocking discoveries lately – discoveries quite spiritual in implication. Leonardo was responsible for many of them.† Langdon studied CERN's director, still trying to process the bizarre surroundings. â€Å"Spirituality and physics?† Langdon had spent his career studying religious history, and if there was one recurring theme, it was that science and religion had been oil and water since day one†¦ archenemies†¦ unmixable. â€Å"Vetra was on the cutting edge of particle physics,† Kohler said. â€Å"He was starting to fuse science and religion†¦ showing that they complement each other in most unanticipated ways. He called the field New Physics.† Kohler pulled a book from the shelf and handed it to Langdon. Langdon studied the cover. God, Miracles, and the New Physics – by Leonardo Vetra. â€Å"The field is small,† Kohler said, â€Å"but it's bringing fresh answers to some old questions – questions about the origin of the universe and the forces that bind us all. Leonardo believed his research had the potential to convert millions to a more spiritual life. Last year he categorically proved the existence of an energy force that unites us all. He actually demonstrated that we are all physically connected†¦ that the molecules in your body are intertwined with the molecules in mine†¦ that there is a single force moving within all of us.† Langdon felt disconcerted. And the power of God shall unite us all. â€Å"Mr. Vetra actually found a way to demonstrate that particles are connected?† â€Å"Conclusive evidence. A recent Scientific American article hailed New Physics as a surer path to God than religion itself.† The comment hit home. Langdon suddenly found himself thinking of the antireligious Illuminati. Reluctantly, he forced himself to permit a momentary intellectual foray into the impossible. If the Illuminati were indeed still active, would they have killed Leonardo to stop him from bringing his religious message to the masses? Langdon shook off the thought. Absurd! The Illuminati are ancient history! All academics know that! â€Å"Vetra had plenty of enemies in the scientific world,† Kohler went on. â€Å"Many scientific purists despised him. Even here at CERN. They felt that using analytical physics to support religious principles was a treason against science.† â€Å"But aren't scientists today a bit less defensive about the church?† Kohler grunted in disgust. â€Å"Why should we be? The church may not be burning scientists at the stake anymore, but if you think they've released their reign over science, ask yourself why half the schools in your country are not allowed to teach evolution. Ask yourself why the U.S. Christian Coalition is the most influential lobby against scientific progress in the world. The battle between science and religion is still raging, Mr. Langdon. It has moved from the battlefields to the boardrooms, but it is still raging.† Langdon realized Kohler was right. Just last week the Harvard School of Divinity had marched on the Biology Building, protesting the genetic engineering taking place in the graduate program. The chairman of the Bio Department, famed ornithologist Richard Aaronian, defended his curriculum by hanging a huge banner from his office window. The banner depicted the Christian â€Å"fish† modified with four little feet – a tribute, Aaronian claimed, to the African lungfishes' evolution onto dry land. Beneath the fish, instead of the word â€Å"Jesus,† was the proclamation â€Å"Darwin!† A sharp beeping sound cut the air, and Langdon looked up. Kohler reached down into the array of electronics on his wheelchair. He slipped a beeper out of its holder and read the incoming message. â€Å"Good. That is Leonardo's daughter. Ms. Vetra is arriving at the helipad right now. We will meet her there. I think it best she not come up here and see her father this way.† Langdon agreed. It would be a shock no child deserved. â€Å"I will ask Ms. Vetra to explain the project she and her father have been working on†¦ perhaps shedding light on why he was murdered.† â€Å"You think Vetra's work is why he was killed?† â€Å"Quite possibly. Leonardo told me he was working on something groundbreaking. That is all he said. He had become very secretive about the project. He had a private lab and demanded seclusion, which I gladly afforded him on account of his brilliance. His work had been consuming huge amounts of electric power lately, but I refrained from questioning him.† Kohler rotated toward the study door. â€Å"There is, however, one more thing you need to know before we leave this flat.† Langdon was not sure he wanted to hear it. â€Å"An item was stolen from Vetra by his murderer.† â€Å"An item?† â€Å"Follow me.† The director propelled his wheelchair back into the fog-filled living room. Langdon followed, not knowing what to expect. Kohler maneuvered to within inches of Vetra's body and stopped. He ushered Langdon to join him. Reluctantly, Langdon came close, bile rising in his throat at the smell of the victim's frozen urine. â€Å"Look at his face,† Kohler said. Look at his face? Langdon frowned. I thought you said something was stolen. Hesitantly, Langdon knelt down. He tried to see Vetra's face, but the head was twisted 180 degrees backward, his face pressed into the carpet. Struggling against his handicap Kohler reached down and carefully twisted Vetra's frozen head. Cracking loudly, the corpse's face rotated into view, contorted in agony. Kohler held it there a moment. â€Å"Sweet Jesus!† Langdon cried, stumbling back in horror. Vetra's face was covered in blood. A single hazel eye stared lifelessly back at him. The other socket was tattered and empty. â€Å"They stole his eye?† 14 Langdon stepped out of Building C into the open air, grateful to be outside Vetra's flat. The sun helped dissolve the image of the empty eye socket emblazoned into his mind. â€Å"This way, please,† Kohler said, veering up a steep path. The electric wheelchair seemed to accelerate effortlessly. â€Å"Ms. Vetra will be arriving any moment.† Langdon hurried to keep up. â€Å"So,† Kohler asked. â€Å"Do you still doubt the Illuminati's involvement?† Langdon had no idea what to think anymore. Vetra's religious affiliations were definitely troubling, and yet Langdon could not bring himself to abandon every shred of academic evidence he had ever researched. Besides, there was the eye†¦ â€Å"I still maintain,† Langdon said, more forcefully than he intended. â€Å"that the Illuminati are not responsible for this murder. The missing eye is proof.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Random mutilation,† Langdon explained, â€Å"is very†¦ un – Illuminati. Cult specialists see desultory defacement from inexperienced fringe sects – zealots who commit random acts of terrorism – but the Illuminati have always been more deliberate.† â€Å"Deliberate? Surgically removing someone's eyeball is not deliberate?† â€Å"It sends no clear message. It serves no higher purpose.† Kohler's wheelchair stopped short at the top of the hill. He turned. â€Å"Mr. Langdon, believe me, that missing eye does indeed serve a higher purpose†¦ a much higher purpose.† As the two men crossed the grassy rise, the beating of helicopter blades became audible to the west. A chopper appeared, arching across the open valley toward them. It banked sharply, then slowed to a hover over a helipad painted on the grass. Langdon watched, detached, his mind churning circles like the blades, wondering if a full night's sleep would make his current disorientation any clearer. Somehow, he doubted it. As the skids touched down, a pilot jumped out and started unloading gear. There was a lot of it – duffels, vinyl wet bags, scuba tanks, and crates of what appeared to be high-tech diving equipment. Langdon was confused. â€Å"Is that Ms. Vetra's gear?† he yelled to Kohler over the roar of the engines. Kohler nodded and yelled back, â€Å"She was doing biological research in the Balearic Sea.† â€Å"I thought you said she was a physicist!† â€Å"She is. She's a Bio Entanglement Physicist. She studies the interconnectivity of life systems. Her work ties closely with her father's work in particle physics. Recently she disproved one of Einstein's fundamental theories by using atomically synchronized cameras to observe a school of tuna fish.† Langdon searched his host's face for any glint of humor. Einstein and tuna fish? He was starting to wonder if the X-33 space plane had mistakenly dropped him off on the wrong planet. A moment later, Vittoria Vetra emerged from the fuselage. Robert Langdon realized today was going to be a day of endless surprises. Descending from the chopper in her khaki shorts and white sleeveless top, Vittoria Vetra looked nothing like the bookish physicist he had expected. Lithe and graceful, she was tall with chestnut skin and long black hair that swirled in the backwind of the rotors. Her face was unmistakably Italian – not overly beautiful, but possessing full, earthy features that even at twenty yards seemed to exude a raw sensuality. As the air currents buffeted her body, her clothes clung, accentuating her slender torso and small breasts. â€Å"Ms. Vetra is a woman of tremendous personal strength,† Kohler said, seeming to sense Langdon's captivation. â€Å"She spends months at a time working in dangerous ecological systems. She is a strict vegetarian and CERN's resident guru of Hatha yoga.† Hatha yoga? Langdon mused. The ancient Buddhist art of meditative stretching seemed an odd proficiency for the physicist daughter of a Catholic priest. Langdon watched Vittoria approach. She had obviously been crying, her deep sable eyes filled with emotions Langdon could not place. Still, she moved toward them with fire and command. Her limbs were strong and toned, radiating the healthy luminescence of Mediterranean flesh that had enjoyed long hours in the sun. â€Å"Vittoria,† Kohler said as she approached. â€Å"My deepest condolences. It's a terrible loss for science†¦ for all of us here at CERN.† Vittoria nodded gratefully. When she spoke, her voice was smooth – a throaty, accented English. â€Å"Do you know who is responsible yet?† â€Å"We're still working on it.† She turned to Langdon, holding out a slender hand. â€Å"My name is Vittoria Vetra. You're from Interpol, I assume?† Langdon took her hand, momentarily spellbound by the depth of her watery gaze. â€Å"Robert Langdon.† He was unsure what else to say. â€Å"Mr. Langdon is not with the authorities,† Kohler explained. â€Å"He is a specialist from the U.S. He's here to help us locate who is responsible for this situation.† Vittoria looked uncertain. â€Å"And the police?† Kohler exhaled but said nothing. â€Å"Where is his body?† she demanded. â€Å"Being attended to.† The white lie surprised Langdon. â€Å"I want to see him,† Vittoria said. â€Å"Vittoria,† Kohler urged, â€Å"your father was brutally murdered. You would be better to remember him as he was.† Vittoria began to speak but was interrupted. â€Å"Hey, Vittoria!† voices called from the distance. â€Å"Welcome home!† She turned. A group of scientists passing near the helipad waved happily. â€Å"Disprove any more of Einstein's theories?† one shouted. Another added, â€Å"Your dad must be proud!† Vittoria gave the men an awkward wave as they passed. Then she turned to Kohler, her face now clouded with confusion. â€Å"Nobody knows yet?† â€Å"I decided discretion was paramount.† â€Å"You haven't told the staff my father was murdered?† Her mystified tone was now laced with anger. Kohler's tone hardened instantly. â€Å"Perhaps you forget, Ms. Vetra, as soon as I report your father's murder, there will be an investigation of CERN. Including a thorough examination of his lab. I have always tried to respect your father's privacy. Your father has told me only two things about your current project. One, that it has the potential to bring CERN millions of francs in licensing contracts in the next decade. And two, that it is not ready for public disclosure because it is still hazardous technology. Considering these two facts, I would prefer strangers not poke around inside his lab and either steal his work or kill themselves in the process and hold CERN liable. Do I make myself clear?† Vittoria stared, saying nothing. Langdon sensed in her a reluctant respect and acceptance of Kohler's logic. â€Å"Before we report anything to the authorities,† Kohler said, â€Å"I need to know what you two were working on. I need you to take us to your lab.† â€Å"The lab is irrelevant,† Vittoria said. â€Å"Nobody knew what my father and I were doing. The experiment could not possibly have anything to do with my father's murder.† Kohler exhaled a raspy, ailing breath. â€Å"Evidence suggests otherwise.† â€Å"Evidence? What evidence?† Langdon was wondering the same thing. Kohler was dabbing his mouth again. â€Å"You'll just have to trust me.† It was clear, from Vittoria's smoldering gaze, that she did not. 15 Langdon strode silently behind Vittoria and Kohler as they moved back into the main atrium where Langdon's bizarre visit had begun. Vittoria's legs drove in fluid efficiency – like an Olympic diver – a potency, Langdon figured, no doubt born from the flexibility and control of yoga. He could hear her breathing slowly and deliberately, as if somehow trying to filter her grief. Langdon wanted to say something to her, offer his sympathy. He too had once felt the abrupt hollowness of unexpectedly losing a parent. He remembered the funeral mostly, rainy and gray. Two days after his twelfth birthday. The house was filled with gray-suited men from the office, men who squeezed his hand too hard when they shook it. They were all mumbling words like cardiac and stress. His mother joked through teary eyes that she'd always been able to follow the stock market simply by holding her husband's hand†¦ his pulse her own private ticker tape. Once, when his father was alive, Langdon had heard his mom begging his father to â€Å"stop and smell the roses.† That year, Langdon bought his father a tiny blown-glass rose for Christmas. It was the most beautiful thing Langdon had ever seen†¦ the way the sun caught it, throwing a rainbow of colors on the wall. â€Å"It's lovely,† his father had said when he opened it, kissing Robert on the forehead. â€Å"Let's find a safe spot for it.† Then his father had carefully placed the rose on a high dusty shelf in the darkest corner of the living room. A few days later, Langdon got a stool, retrieved the rose, and took it back to the store. His father never noticed it was gone. The ping of an elevator pulled Langdon back to the present. Vittoria and Kohler were in front of him, boarding the lift. Langdon hesitated outside the open doors. â€Å"Is something wrong?† Kohler asked, sounding more impatient than concerned. â€Å"Not at all,† Langdon said, forcing himself toward the cramped carriage. He only used elevators when absolutely necessary. He preferred the more open spaces of stairwells. â€Å"Dr. Vetra's lab is subterranean,† Kohler said. Wonderful, Langdon thought as he stepped across the cleft, feeling an icy wind churn up from the depths of the shaft. The doors closed, and the car began to descend. â€Å"Six stories,† Kohler said blankly, like an analytical engine. Langdon pictured the darkness of the empty shaft below them. He tried to block it out by staring at the numbered display of changing floors. Oddly, the elevator showed only two stops. Ground Level and LHC. â€Å"What's LHC stand for?† Langdon asked, trying not to sound nervous. â€Å"Large Hadron Collider,† Kohler said. â€Å"A particle accelerator.† Particle accelerator? Langdon was vaguely familiar with the term. He had first heard it over dinner with some colleagues at Dunster House in Cambridge. A physicist friend of theirs, Bob Brownell, had arrived for dinner one night in a rage. â€Å"The bastards canceled it!† Brownell cursed. â€Å"Canceled what?† they all asked. â€Å"The SSC!† â€Å"The what?† â€Å"The Superconducting Super Collider!† Someone shrugged. â€Å"I didn't know Harvard was building one.† â€Å"Not Harvard!† he exclaimed. â€Å"The U.S.! It was going to be the world's most powerful particle accelerator! One of the most important scientific projects of the century! Two billion dollars into it and the Senate sacks the project! Damn Bible-Belt lobbyists!† When Brownell finally calmed down, he explained that a particle accelerator was a large, circular tube through which subatomic particles were accelerated. Magnets in the tube turned on and off in rapid succession to â€Å"push† particles around and around until they reached tremendous velocities. Fully accelerated particles circled the tube at over 180,000 miles per second. â€Å"But that's almost the speed of light,† one of the professors exclaimed. â€Å"Damn right,† Brownell said. He went on to say that by accelerating two particles in opposite directions around the tube and then colliding them, scientists could shatter the particles into their constituent parts and get a glimpse of nature's most fundamental components. â€Å"Particle accelerators,† Brownell declared, â€Å"are critical to the future of science. Colliding particles is the key to understanding the building blocks of the universe.† Harvard's Poet in Residence, a quiet man named Charles Pratt, did not look impressed. â€Å"It sounds to me,† he said, â€Å"like a rather Neanderthal approach to science†¦ akin to smashing clocks together to discern their internal workings.† Brownell dropped his fork and stormed out of the room. So CERN has a particle accelerator? Langdon thought, as the elevator dropped. A circular tube for smashing particles. He wondered why they had buried it underground. When the elevator thumped to a stop, Langdon was relieved to feel terra firma beneath his feet. But when the doors slid open, his relief evaporated. Robert Langdon found himself standing once again in a totally alien world. The passageway stretched out indefinitely in both directions, left and right. It was a smooth cement tunnel, wide enough to allow passage of an eighteen wheeler. Brightly lit where they stood, the corridor turned pitch black farther down. A damp wind rustled out of the darkness – an unsettling reminder that they were now deep in the earth. Langdon could almost sense the weight of the dirt and stone now hanging above his head. For an instant he was nine years old†¦ the darkness forcing him back†¦ back to the five hours of crushing blackness that haunted him still. Clenching his fists, he fought it off. Vittoria remained hushed as she exited the elevator and strode off without hesitation into the darkness without them. Overhead the flourescents flickered on to light her path. The effect was unsettling, Langdon thought, as if the tunnel were alive†¦ anticipating her every move. Langdon and Kohler followed, trailing a distance behind. The lights extinguished automatically behind them. â€Å"This particle accelerator,† Langdon said quietly. â€Å"It's down this tunnel someplace?† â€Å"That's it there.† Kohler motioned to his left where a polished, chrome tube ran along the tunnel's inner wall. Langdon eyed the tube, confused. â€Å"That's the accelerator?† The device looked nothing like he had imagined. It was perfectly straight, about three feet in diameter, and extended horizontally the visible length of the tunnel before disappearing into the darkness. Looks more like a high-tech sewer, Langdon thought. â€Å"I thought particle accelerators were circular.† â€Å"This accelerator is a circle,† Kohler said. â€Å"It appears straight, but that is an optical illusion. The circumference of this tunnel is so large that the curve is imperceptible – like that of the earth.† Langdon was flabbergasted. This is a circle? â€Å"But†¦ it must be enormous!† â€Å"The LHC is the largest machine in the world.† Langdon did a double take. He remembered the CERN driver saying something about a huge machine buried in the earth. But – â€Å"It is over eight kilometers in diameter†¦ and twenty-seven kilometers long.† Langdon's head whipped around. â€Å"Twenty-seven kilometers?† He stared at the director and then turned and looked into the darkened tunnel before him. â€Å"This tunnel is twenty-seven kilometers long? That's†¦ that's over sixteen miles!† Kohler nodded. â€Å"Bored in a perfect circle. It extends all the way into France before curving back here to this spot. Fully accelerated particles will circle the tube more than ten thousand times in a single second before they collide.† Langdon's legs felt rubbery as he stared down the gaping tunnel. â€Å"You're telling me that CERN dug out millions of tons of earth just to smash tiny particles?† Kohler shrugged. â€Å"Sometimes to find truth, one must move mountains.†

Zoe’s Tale PART II Chapter Fifteen

The next several months were very tiring. Early mornings: physical conditioning. â€Å"You are soft,† Hickory said to me and Gretchen the first day. â€Å"Despicable lies,† I said. â€Å"Very well,† Hickory said, and pointed to the tree line of the forest, at least a klick away. â€Å"Please run to the forest as quickly as you can. Then run back. Do not stop until you return.† We ran. By the time I got back, it felt like my lungs were trying to force themselves up my trachea, the better to smack me around for abusing them. Both Gretchen and I collapsed into the grass gasping. â€Å"You are soft,† Hickory repeated. I didn't argue, and not just because at the moment I was totally incapable of speaking. â€Å"We are done for today. Tomorrow we will truly begin with your physical conditioning. We will start slowly.† It and Dickory walked away, leaving Gretchen and me to imagine ways we were going to murder Hickory and Dickory, once we could actually force oxygen back into our bodies. Mornings: school, like every other kid and teen not actively working in a field. Limited books and supplies meant sharing with others. I shared my textbooks with Gretchen, Enzo, and Magdy. This worked fine when we were all speaking to each other, less so when some of us were not. â€Å"Will you two please focus?† Magdy said, waving his hands in front of the two of us. We were supposed to be doing calculus. â€Å"Stop it,† Gretchen said. She had her head down on our table. It had been a hard workout that morning. â€Å"God, I miss coffee,† she said, looking up at me. â€Å"It would be nice to get to this problem sometime today,† Magdy said. â€Å"Oh, what do you care,† Gretchen said. â€Å"It's not like any of us are going to college anyway.† â€Å"We still have to do it,† Enzo said. â€Å"You do it, then,† Gretchen said. She leaned over and pushed the book toward the two of them. â€Å"It's not me or Zoe who has to learn this stuff. We already know it. You two are always waiting for us to do the work, and then just nodding like you actually know what we're doing.† â€Å"That's not true,† Magdy said. â€Å"Really? Fine,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Prove it. Impress me.† â€Å"I think someone's morning exertions are making her a little grumpy,† Magdy said, mockingly. â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† I said. â€Å"It means that since the two of you started whatever it is you're doing, you've been pretty useless here,† Magdy said. â€Å"Despite what Gretchen the Grump is hinting at, it's the two of us who have been carrying the two of you lately, and you know it.† â€Å"You're carrying us in math?† Gretchen said. â€Å"I don't think so.† â€Å"Everything else, sweetness,† Magdy said. â€Å"Unless you think Enzo pulling together that report on the early Colonial Union days last week doesn't count.† â€Å"That's not ‘we,' that's Enzo,† Gretchen said. â€Å"And thank you, Enzo. Happy, Magdy? Good. Now let's all shut up about this.† Gretchen put her head back down on the table. Enzo and Magdy looked at each other. â€Å"Here, give me the book,† I said, reaching for it. â€Å"I'll do this problem.† Enzo slid the book over to me, not quite meeting my gaze. Afternoons: training. â€Å"So, how is the training going?† Enzo asked me one early evening, catching me as I limped home from the day's workout. â€Å"Do you mean, can I kill you yet?† I asked. â€Å"Well, no,† Enzo said. â€Å"Although now that you mention it I'm curious. Can you?† â€Å"It depends,† I said, â€Å"on what it is you're asking me to kill you with.† There was an uncomfortable silence after that. â€Å"That was a joke,† I said. â€Å"Are you sure?† Enzo said. â€Å"We didn't even get around to how to kill things today,† I said, changing the subject. â€Å"We spent the day learning how to move quietly. You know. To avoid capture.† â€Å"Or to sneak up on something,† Enzo said. I sighed. â€Å"Yes, okay, Enzo. To sneak up on things. To kill them. Because I like to kill. Kill and kill again, that's me. Little Zoe Stab Stab.† I sped up my walking speed. Enzo caught up with me. â€Å"Sorry,† he said. â€Å"That wasn't fair of me.† â€Å"Really,† I said. â€Å"It's just a topic of conversation, you know,† Enzo said. â€Å"What you and Gretchen are doing.† I stopped walking. â€Å"What kind of conversation?† I asked. â€Å"Well, think about it,† Enzo said. â€Å"You and Gretchen are spending your afternoons preparing for the apocalypse. What do you think people are talking about?† â€Å"It's not like that,† I said. â€Å"I know,† Enzo said, reaching out and touching my arm, which reminded me we spent less time touching each other lately. â€Å"I've told people that, too. Doesn't keep people from talking, though. That and the fact that it's you and Gretchen.† â€Å"So?† I said. â€Å"You're the daughter of the colony leaders, she's the daughter of the guy everyone knows is next in line on the colony council,† Enzo said. â€Å"It looks like you're getting special treatment. If it was just you, people would get it. People know you've got that weird thing you have with the Obin – â€Å" â€Å"It's not weird,† I said. Enzo looked at me blankly. â€Å"Yeah, okay,† I said. â€Å"People know you've got that thing with the Obin, so they wouldn't think about it if it was just you,† Enzo said. â€Å"But the two of you is making people nervous. People wonder if you guys know something we don't.† â€Å"That's ridiculous,† I said. â€Å"Gretchen is my best friend. That's why I asked her. Should I have asked someone else?† â€Å"You could have,† Enzo said. â€Å"Like who?† I said. â€Å"Like me,† Enzo said. â€Å"You know, your boyfriend.† â€Å"Yeah, because people wouldn't talk about that,† I said. â€Å"Maybe they would and maybe they wouldn't,† Enzo said. â€Å"But at least I'd get to see you every once in a while.† I didn't have any good answer to that. So I just gave Enzo a kiss. â€Å"Look, I'm not trying to make you feel bad or guilty or whatever,† Enzo said, when I was done. â€Å"But I would like to see more of you.† â€Å"That statement can be interpreted in many different ways,† I said. â€Å"Let's start with the innocent ones,† Enzo said. â€Å"But we can go from there if you want.† â€Å"And anyway, you see me every day,† rewinding the conversation just a little. â€Å"And we always spend time together at the hootenannies.† â€Å"I don't count doing schoolwork together as time together,† Enzo said. â€Å"And as much fun as it is to admire how you trained Hickory to imitate a sitar solo – â€Å" â€Å"That's Dickory,† I said. â€Å"Hickory does the drum sounds.† Enzo gently put a finger to my lips. â€Å"As much fun as it is,† he repeated. â€Å"I'd rather have some time for just you and me.† He kissed me, which was pretty effective punctuation. â€Å"How about now?† I said, after the kiss. â€Å"Can't,† Enzo said. â€Å"On my way home to babysit Maria and Katherina so my parents can have dinner with friends.† â€Å"Waaah,† I said. â€Å"Kiss me, tell me you want to spend time together, leave me hanging. Nice.† â€Å"But I have tomorrow afternoon free,† Enzo said. â€Å"Maybe then. After you're done with your stabbing practice.† â€Å"We already did stabbing,† I said. â€Å"Now we're on to strangulation.† Silence. â€Å"Joke,† I said. â€Å"I only have your word for that,† Enzo said. â€Å"Cute.† I kissed him again. â€Å"See you tomorrow.† The next day training went long. I skipped dinner to head to Enzo's parents' homestead. His mother said he'd waited around, and then headed over to Magdy's. We didn't talk to each other much the next day during school. Evenings: study. â€Å"We have reached an agreement with Jerry Bennett to allow you to use the information center in the evenings twice a week,† Hickory said. I suddenly felt sorry for Jerry Bennett, who I had heard was more than a little terrified of Hickory and Dickory, and probably would have agreed to anything they asked just so long as they left him alone. I made a mental note to invite Bennett to the next hootenanny. There's nothing to make an Obin look less threatening than to see one in front of a crowd, bobbing its neck back and forth and making like a tabla drum. Hickory continued. â€Å"While you are there, you will study the Colonial Union files of other sentient species.† â€Å"Why do you want us to learn about them?† Gretchen asked. â€Å"To know how to fight them,† Hickory said. â€Å"And how to kill them.† â€Å"There are hundreds of species in the Conclave,† I said. â€Å"Are we supposed to learn about each of them? That's going to take more than two nights a week.† â€Å"We will be focusing on species who are not members of the Conclave,† Hickory said. Gretchen and I looked at each other. â€Å"But they're not the ones planning to kill us,† Gretchen said. â€Å"There are many trying to kill you,† Hickory said. â€Å"And some may be more motivated than others. For example, the Rraey. They recently lost a war with the Enesha, who took control of most of their colonies before they were themselves defeated by the Obin. The Rraey are no longer a direct threat to any established race or colony. But if they were to find you here, there is no doubt what they would do.† I shuddered. Gretchen noticed. â€Å"You okay?† she asked. â€Å"I'm fine,† I said, too quickly. â€Å"I've met the Rraey before.† Gretchen looked at me strangely but didn't say anything after that. â€Å"We have a list for you,† Hickory said. â€Å"Jerry Bennett has already prepared the files you have access to for each species. Take special note of the physiology of each race. This will be important in our instruction.† â€Å"To learn how to fight them,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Hickory said. â€Å"And to learn how to kill them.† Three weeks into our studies I pulled up a race who were not on our list. â€Å"Wow, they're scary-looking,† Gretchen said, looking over my shoulder after she noticed I had been reading for a while. â€Å"They're Consu,† I said. â€Å"They're scary, period.† I handed my PDA over to Gretchen. â€Å"They're the most advanced race we know about. They make us look like we're banging rocks together. And they're the ones who made the Obin what they are today.† â€Å"Genetically engineered them?† Gretchen asked. I nodded. â€Å"Well, maybe next time they can code for personality. What are you looking at them for?† â€Å"I'm just curious,† I said. â€Å"Hickory and Dickory have talked to me about them before. They're the closet thing the Obin have to a higher power.† â€Å"Their gods,† Gretchen said. I shrugged. â€Å"More like a kid with an ant farm,† I said. â€Å"An ant farm and a magnifying glass.† â€Å"Sounds lovely,† Gretchen said, and handed back the PDA. â€Å"Hope I never get to meet them. Unless they're on my side.† â€Å"They're not on a side,† I said. â€Å"They're above.† â€Å"Above is a side,† Gretchen said. â€Å"Not our side,† I said, and switched the PDA back to what I was supposed to be reading. Late evening: everything else. â€Å"Well, this is a surprise,† I said to Enzo, who was sitting on my doorstep as I came back from another thrilling night at the information center. â€Å"I haven't seen you too much recently.† â€Å"You haven't seen much of anybody recently,† Enzo said, standing up to greet me. â€Å"It's just you and Gretchen. And you've been avoiding me since we broke up the study group.† â€Å"I'm not avoiding you,† I said. â€Å"You haven't been going out of your way to look for me,† Enzo said. Well, he had me there. â€Å"I don't blame you for it,† I said, changing the subject a little. â€Å"It's not your fault Magdy threw that fit of his.† After several weeks of increased sniping, things between Magdy and Gretchen finally reached toxic levels; the two of them had a shouting match in class and Magdy ended up saying some fairly not forgivable things and then stomping off, Enzo trailing behind. And that was the end of our little band. â€Å"Yeah, it's all Magdy's fault,† Enzo said. â€Å"Gretchen's poking at him until he snapped didn't have anything to do with it at all.† Already this conversation had gone twice to places I didn't want it to go, and the rational part of my brain was just telling me to let it go and change the subject. But then there was the not quite rational part, which was suddenly getting really annoyed. â€Å"So are you hanging out on my doorstep just to dump on my best friend, or is there some other reason you dropped by?† Enzo opened his mouth to say something, and then just shook his head. â€Å"Forget it,† he said, and started to walk off. I blocked his path. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"You came here for a reason. Tell me what it is.† â€Å"Why don't I see you anymore?† Enzo said. â€Å"Is that what you came here to ask me?† I said. â€Å"No,† Enzo said. â€Å"It's not what I came here to say. But it's what I'm asking you now. It's been two weeks since Magdy and Gretchen did their thing, Zoe. It was between the two of them, but I've hardly seen you since then. If you're not actually avoiding me, you're faking it really well.† â€Å"If it was between Gretchen and Magdy, why did you leave when he did?† I said. â€Å"He's my friend,† Enzo said. â€Å"Someone had to calm him down. You know how he gets. You know I'm his heat sink. What kind of question is that?† â€Å"I'm just saying it's not just between Magdy and Gretchen,† I said. â€Å"It's between all of us. You and me and Gretchen and Magdy. When was the last time you did anything without Magdy?† â€Å"I don't remember him being there when we spend time together,† Enzo said. â€Å"You know what I mean,† I said. â€Å"You're always following him, keeping him from getting hit by someone or breaking his neck or doing something stupid.† â€Å"I'm not his puppy,† Enzo said, and for that minute he actually got a little angry. Which was new. I ignored it. â€Å"You're his friend,† I said. â€Å"His best friend. And Gretchen is mine. And right now our best friends can't stand the sight of each other. And that leaks into us, Enzo. Let me ask you, right now, how do you feel about Gretchen? You don't like her very much, do you?† â€Å"We've had better days,† Enzo said. â€Å"Right. Because she and your best friend are at it. I feel the same way about Magdy. I guarantee you he feels the same way about me. And Gretchen isn't feeling very friendly to you. I want to spend time with you, Enzo, but most of the time, both of us are a package deal. We come with our best friends attached. And I don't want the drama right now.† â€Å"Because it's easier just not to bother,† Enzo said. â€Å"Because I'm tired, Enzo,† I said, spitting out the words. â€Å"Okay? I'm tired. Every morning I wake up and I have to run or do strength exercises or something that tires me out right after I've gotten out of bed. I'm tired before the rest of you are even awake. Then school. Then an entire afternoon of getting physically beat up in order to learn how to defend myself, on the chance some aliens want to come down here and kill us all. Then I spend my evenings reading up on every single race out there, not because it's interesting, but just in case I need to murder one of them, I'll know where its soft spots are. I hardly have time to think about anything else, Enzo. I am tired. â€Å"Do you think all of this is fun for me? Do you think it's fun for me not to see you? To spend all my time learning to hurt and kill things? Do you think it's fun for me that every single day I get my nose rubbed in the fact there's a whole universe out there just waiting to murder us? When was the last time you thought about it? When was the last time Magdy thought about it? I think about it every day, Enzo. My time is spent doing nothing but. So don't tell me that it's just easier for me not to bother with the drama. You have no idea. I'm sorry. But you don't.† Enzo stared at me for a minute, and then reached over to wipe my cheeks. â€Å"You could tell me, you know,† he said. I laughed a small laugh. â€Å"I don't have time,† I said. That got a smile from Enzo. â€Å"And anyway, I don't want you to worry.† â€Å"It's a little late for that,† Enzo said. â€Å"I'm sorry,† I said. â€Å"It's all right,† he said. â€Å"I miss it, you know,† I said, wiping my own face. â€Å"Spending time with you. Even when it meant spending time with Magdy. I miss having the time to really talk to you. I miss watching you fail at dodgeball. I miss you sending me poems. I miss all of it. I'm sorry that we've gotten mad at each other lately, and that we didn't do something to fix it. I'm sorry and I miss you, Enzo.† â€Å"Thank you,† Enzo said. â€Å"You're welcome,† I said. We stood there for a minute, looking at each other. â€Å"You came here to break up with me, didn't you,† I said, finally. â€Å"Yeah,† said Enzo. â€Å"Yeah, I did. Sorry.† â€Å"Don't be,† I said. â€Å"I haven't been a very good girlfriend.† â€Å"Yes you have,† Enzo said. â€Å"When you've had the time.† Another shaky laugh from me. â€Å"Well, that's the problem, isn't it,† I said. â€Å"Yes,† Enzo said, and I know he was sorry he felt he had to say it. And just like that my first relationship was over, and I went to bed, and I didn't sleep. And then I got up when the sun came up and walked out to our exercise area, and started everything again. Exercise. School. Training. Study. A very tiring time. And this is how my days went, most days, for months, until we had been at Roanoke for almost an entire year. And then things started happening. Fast.