Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant - 898 Words

It is the material world that has created Madame Loisel and it is the material world that destroys her. Her desire for expensive objects and the circles where they are found generated by the capitalistic system she lives in rather than by any character flaw, lead her to make a foolish request of a friend. When she loses the diamond necklace, she too is lost. Her relationship with her friend, as well as any hope for a return to the glittering world of the reception, is shattered. She is destroyed not by spiritual failure but by an economic system that has created a superstructure that will not allow her a better life. She is trapped by material circumstances, and the final revelation about the false jewels deepens her sense of alienation and powerlessness. In Guy de Maupassants short story The Necklace, we are given a clear picture of a society that has unequally distributed its goods or even the means to achieve them. Madame Loisel has no commodity or skills to sell, only her youth and beauty to be used to attract a husband. Without access to those circles where she can find a man with wealth and charm, she is doomed to stay in a powerless situation with no way to approach the elegant lifestyle that she desires. The material circumstances of her society have relegated her to a dreary existence from which she can find no exit. Her husband is so conditioned to accept the situation that he does not understand her hunger to be a part of a more glamorous and elegant world.Show MoreRelatedThe Necklace By Guy De Maupassant863 Words   |  4 PagesThe short story â€Å"The Necklace† written by Guy De Maupassant, tells the story of a married couple who live an average lifestyle together in France—when one day everything in their lives changes due to a simple decision. The author aims to show the reader the power of decision making when faced to decide between needs, wants, honesty and untruthfulness and how every decision we choose to make affect our lives in ways we never thought possible. In the first few lines of the story, the narrator introducesRead MoreThe Necklace by Guy de Maupassant1034 Words   |  5 Pagesregret which Guy de Maupassant depicts throughout â€Å"The Necklace.† Guy de Maupassant, a French writer, born in 1850, was considered one of France’s greatest short-story writers. His writings were mostly influenced by the divorce of his parents when he was thirteen years old and by great writers such as Shakespeare, Schopenhauer, and Flauber. His parent’s divorce caused his stories to depict unhappiness of matrimony, deceit, miscommunication, and a profound misunderstanding (Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893)Read MoreThe Necklace by Guy De Maupassant1367 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"Being Honest is Always Best† Telling the truth will always prevent future conflicts. Author Guy De Maupassant who lived from 1850 to 1893 proves in the story of â€Å"The Necklace,† that no matter how bad a situation is, speaking with the truth is always best. Now, this author does not prove this theme directly. Instead, throughout various situations in the story the main characters are faced with a long-term conflict because decisions were not made with honesty. Mathilde and Loisel who is her husbandRead MoreThe Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant791 Words   |  4 Pagescharacterized by other people. In â€Å"The Necklace† Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they searc h out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she noRead MoreThe Necklace, By Guy De Maupassant966 Words   |  4 PagesIn Guy De Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace,† Mathilde is a 19th century French woman who desires a wealthier lifestyle than she can acquire. She is completely indulged in the material possessions of life and is focused on the items she does not have rather than what she owns. It seems her happiness is entirely dependent on wealth and status. She neglects her husband and is never content with what he can offer. Eventually, Mathilde’s struggles of envy, selfishness, and materialism drive her to poverty.Read MoreThe Necklace By Guy De Maupassant934 Words   |  4 Pagesduring this time period was Guy de Maupassant, who wrote one of the most influential short stories of this century. â€Å"The Necklace†, written by Guy de Maupassant, illustrates elements of fiction such as the symbolism of the necklace be cause of Mme. Loisel’s desire to be rich, irony due to the twist ending, and a powerful theme. Firstly, the necklace Mme. Loisel borrows and her perspective symbolizes the desire she has towards being wealthy and important in society. Maupassant describes effectively theRead MoreThe Necklace By Guy De Maupassant1381 Words   |  6 Pagesstories are â€Å"The Necklace† by Guy de Maupassant and â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† by James Thurber. â€Å"The Necklace† was about a materialistic woman who faced consequences because of her envious personality and â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† was about a man who experienced daydreams randomly throughout the day. Although both short stories used literary elements, Guy de Maupassant utilized them for readers to understand and enjoy the story more than James Thurber. â€Å"The Necklace† was a short storyRead MoreThe Necklace By Guy De Maupassant1093 Words   |  5 PagesThroughout the short story titled â€Å"The Necklace† by Guy de Maupassant, it is clear that the main themes being stressed are pride versus greed, and that things are not quite what they appear. Each of these things are represented throughout the story in some way, whether it be using animated language or symbolism. It is also clear that background information clearly aided the development of the themes Maupassant incorporated throughout the passage. It is seen throughout the story that the main characterRead MoreThe Necklace, By Guy De Maupassant999 Words   |  4 PagesIn Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace,† readers experience Mathilde Loisel’s life-changing event. Coming from nobility, de Maupassant tells the story of luxurious desire through the eyes of the middle class woman Mathilde. Mathilde constantly dreams of living the life of the upper class, and this prohibits her from acting in reality. Mathilde’s internal struggle for a sense of social royalty shows readers how quickly selfish pride destroys a person’s life. Throughout the course of â€Å"The NecklaceRead MoreThe Necklace By Guy De Maupassant1019 Words   |  5 PagesIn the short story of â€Å"The Necklace†, the author Guy de Maupassant is a creative and intriguing tale which reveals a person s dreams of a luxurious lifestyle with countless materialistic possessions. He has skillfully developed the story into a mystery which reveals itself at the end. The main point in the story is that materialism can distort your view of happiness and fulfillment. It is wrong to be materialistic to the extent that you disregard what you already have and lose everything. Mathilde

Monday, December 16, 2019

Short Term and Long Term Financing Free Essays

Short Term Finance What is Short Term Financing? Short term financing is basically refers to additional money for a business which requires for running its business for short terms which is usually a period of one year. There are some sources of short term finance which are as following:- Overdraft Overdraft bank basically means a facility that the bank provides to its customers where the customer is given permission to draw money from the banks in surplus of their balance in their heir bank accounts. When taking overdraft from the bank, the account must be zero to get extras extension of money and the interest rate will be very high and we have to pay back the bank in a very short period of time. We will write a custom essay sample on Short Term and Long Term Financing or any similar topic only for you Order Now Trade Credit Trade credit refers to buying products and servicers of a business which needs in the course of its business on credit, depending on the trade practices prevalent in a particular industry, the nature of the business relationship between the supplier and the company may give a different time period to pay the products and services they buy from different suppliers. Exactly as companies get their credit from their suppliers, they must also give credit to their customers. The customers are given 50 to 60 days to pay up the bills. After 60 days, interest will be applied on the customers. If the customers are unable to pay, the will be asked for installment plan. Bank Loans Bank Loan means loans which are given to banks which need to repaid their installment over a fixed period of time which may be short or long term period. Even though it is called bank loans, these loans can be move forward by banks or other financial institution. Usually loans like this are generally given for a certain reason such as purchases of capital equipment. Advantages/ Disadvantages of Short Term Finance Short term financing is a method to raise funds which involves financial responsibility that is needed to be repaid within a year or less. Short term financing is flexible and a fast way for companies to obtain working capital for their daily operations. The main disadvantage is that a company may be too dependent on short term funds and threatened to high banking fees and interest rate. This will may affect the profit margins. Speed Short-term loans can be achieved much fast and easier compared to long-term financing. Lenders will not make through an examination of the company’s account for short-term lending compared to the case they do for long-term loans. Medium size companies do not have large amount of cash and are vulnerable to sudden financial shocks such as non-payment by a key debtor. Flexibility Small companies usually have seasonal variations in the cash and need access to capital over that period. Overdraft protection is one of the form of short term finance where the bank agrees to pay the company’s cash withdrawals, checks, and electronic debits to a certain limit. The lender will charge a fee for this facility on any balance outstanding. The cost of short term finance may be lesser compared to the long term finance where the cost may be higher. Drawback to this type of short-term finance flexibility is that the bank can withdraw the overdraft protection in a short notice. Risk Market circumstances, such as retreat, may cost the small businesses into borrowing a large amount on a short term basis. Short term finance can be a risk factor for the borrower A short term loan can be renewed by the lender on a certain terms than the original contract. This does not only cause the businesses to face a high cost of capital, it may not be able to service the amount of debt collected. This will put the company in a weak position where it could cause the company to be bankrupt. Management Lenders who extend their short term financing does not involve themselves in the business decisions about capital investment. Long-term finance is associate by the number of provisions, such as caps on the salaries of the companies principals or limits on other financial arrangements, which will restrict the business actions. Long-term Finance What is long-term finance? Long term finance is basically holding an asset for a long period of time. Providing the type of security and a long-term asset can be hold as short as 1 year or as long as 25 years or more. Long-term finance also means funding which are obtained for a time frame exceeding the duration of one year. When business borrows money from a bank using long term finance methods, it will be expecting the loan to be paid back more than one year. Example, making payments on a 20 year mortgage. Long -term finance are usually for expansion of new markets, purchases of assets such as machinery, land and buildings and business growth through the acquisition of other businesses or properties. Its types of long term finance are as following :- Venture capital Venture capital is becoming an increasingly important source of finance for growing companies. Venture capitalists are generally very wealthy groups of companies or individuals which specifically set up for investment in developing companies. Venture capitalists are usually on the look out for companies with have potential. They are ready to offer money to help businesses to grow, in return the venture capitalist get some ownership of the company as well as share in the profits made. Venture capitalists usually are prepared to take projects which have a high risk and which some banks might not wan to get involve in. The advantage of this might be heavier because the possibility of the businesses losing some of their independence in making a decision. Example of venture capitalists who are also called as private equity firms are Hermes Private Equity Debentures If a company wants to borrow a big amount of money for a long but fixed period of time, it can borrow from the general public by issuing loan certificates called Debentures. The total amount borrowed is divided into units of fixed amount. These are debentures are usually offered to the public to subscribe in the same manner as it is done in the case of shares. A debenture is issued under a seal of the company. It is written for acknowledgement of money borrowed. It also specifies the terms the terms and conditions such as security offered, rate of interest and time repayment. There few types of debentures which are as following :- 1. Redeemable debentures and irredeemable debentures Redeemable debentures These are debentures which are repayable on a pre-arranged date or any time depending to their maturity provided the company wish and gives a notice to that effect. Irredeemable Debentures These irredeemable debentures are also called perpetual debentures. A company is not bounded to repay the amount during the period of time given. If the issuing company fails to pay the interest, it has to reclaim such debentures 2. Convertible Debentures and Non-convertible Debentures Convertible Debentures The holders of these convertible debentures are given the options to convert their convertible debentures into equity shares and ratios as decided by the company. Non-Convertible Debentures These non-convertible debentures cannot be converted into shares Mortgage Mortgage is a loan specifically for the purchase of a property. Usually businesses do not buy property through a mortgage. Mortgages are usually used as a security for a loan. This tend to happen with smaller businesses. Example, A sole trader running a florist shop might want to shift to a larger premise. They will find a shop with a price of $100,000. To give this sort of money, the bank will want to have some sort of security as a guarantee that if the borrower cannot pay back the money to the bank, the bank will be able to get back their money. The borrower can use their own property as a security for the loan, it is called taking out a second mortgage. If the business is not able to pay back the bank the loan then the bank has the right to take the house and sell it to recover their money. Using mortgage this way is a good way of rising finance for small businesses but it also carries a big risk. Advantages/ Disadvantages of Long-term finance Stability If we have a long term financing, that means we have a stability and no need to search for financing often compared to short term financing. This also means that it will be easier to project our cash flows and earnings as we will know our expenses every month. Short term financing does not offer these advantages, because we have to constantly renegotiate the terms of our agreement. Cost of Capital Having a long term financing gives us a better idea of the long term cost of capital. By this way we will have a better understanding on which projects are worth pursuing or not. IF we don’t have long term financing in place, our cost of capital may change all our negotiation of our terms. This will lead us to more confusion in figuring out what kind of profitability we are looking for in a project. Differences between short term and long-term finance Duration Most of the short-term financing occur over short period of one year, even though some of the sources can last up to three years or more. However long-term financing is like home mortgage which usually have a longer period of time up to 30 years. Interest Short-term financing is repaid over a short period of time, the interest cost to borrow the money will be smaller. However, long-term sources such as Bank loans which have high interest rate due to the amount of time taken to repay the capital. Types Short-term and long-term sources of financing differ in instrument type. Example of short-term sources includes leases, short-term commercial loans, account payable and bank overdraft coverage. However example of long-term sources includes retained earnings, finance leases, venture capitals and company shares Which one is more preferable to choose short term or long-term finance? Conclusion, it would be generally be better to choose short-term loan over a long term finance if the school Halls Creek High school budget allows it. This will increase the monthly payments as much as possible to take advantage of the lower interest rate. The combination of bigger the monthly payment and smaller interest rate will allow the school to have a bigger payment on the outstanding balance. This will help the school to pay less interest on the loan taken and end their mortgage sooner. . How to cite Short Term and Long Term Financing, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Life After Retirement Essay Example For Students

Life After Retirement Essay LIFE IN RETIREMENT A PAPER PRESENTED BY GBOLAHAN I. OYEGOKE (PRINCE) B. Sc. (Ed. )Econs. , MBA (Mktng. ) ABR, ACTI, ACA HEAD OF PRACTICE Gbolahan Oyegoke Co Chartered Accountants AT THE POST RETIREMENT SEMINAR ORGANISED BY T. A. AMUSSAH SONS LIMITED (CONTRACTOR TO CHEVRON NIGERIA LIMITED) DECEMBER 6, 2006 PREAMBLE Retirement simply refers to the fact of stopping work because you have reached particular age or set criteria. Such criteria may be health, performance at work, conduct, options, takeover etc. Retirement can be delightful or devastating†¦ a dream come true or a dreadful nightmare. It depends on how one prepares for it. In Nigeria, the private sectors have a relatively better reputation for taking seriously their obligations to retiring and disengaging employees through the prompt payments of severance benefits and gratuities. Happily and commendably, the uncertainties, poor-record keeping, frustration and trauma which are common feature of pensions and terminal gratuity payments in the public service continues to be very minimal in the private sector. However, after putting 40 – 45 years of ones productive age in service of one company or the other, a research finding revealed the following: |Situation/Position at 65 years and above |Rating | |Very rich |1% | |Financially independent |4% | |Struggling to survive |5% | |Died in Service |36% | |Dependent |54% | |Total |100% | This trend could be traced to failure or deficiency in human capital development of many organizations. Corporate organizations often spend huge sum of money on capacity building that will benefit their business while neglecting the need for empowerment for â€Å"life after retirement† of their employees. In other words, corporate organization does not prepare their employees for retirement, from commencement or date of employment. Until very recently, post-retirement education was considered as personal issue of the retiring individual. There is a need for change towards this attitude as retirement or disengagement (forced or voluntary) is REAL. CHARACTERISTICS OF EMPLOYMENT You are always in financial need and this makes you depend on and look forward to your salary. †¢ You are under constant threat and fear of losing your job or being desolate. †¢ Prior to your retirement, you would have invested the most profitable prime time of your life in employment for a â₠¬Å"take home†. †¢ Often, you are in a company of over 90% of other employees returning to the work they hate to go to, and to see faces they are not too comfortable to put up with. †¢ You are compelled to live in a vicinity and neighbourhood you wouldn’t have chose to live in as your employment location has always determined where you live – if you will not be late to work. Your employer determines your leisure time and how to spend it. As a necessity, they must approve your leave/vacation time. They determine when you leave home, when you get back home, when you wake up and when you go to bed. In some cases, they determine when you procreate. †¢ Employment hardly makes your rich and your employer is not responsible for making you rich anyway. †¢ What you get paid as retirement benefits hardly cover your living expenses at old age. Most of the time, we allow our employers to plan (when and how) for our retirement. †¢ Most importantly, you r capacity to earn declines over time. You get to a certain age, you will be consider unemployable (experience, or lack of it). It is important that we remind ourselves that this seminar is organized for retiring employees who may not have had the benefit of pre-retirement enlightenment. We shall therefore concentrate on what is required of them to remain happy and comfortable, even while in retirement. In our clan and environment, there is always fear of retirement. To an average Nigerian, whether in self or paid employment, retirement connotes failure; it brings torment; it is consider shameful; it is often seeing as failure; many view it as weakness, especially if it is the decision of a self-employed person; many consider it as punishment; others sees it as bad luck; it simply remind us of loss of power and influence. We often get agitated and often raise questions on: †¢ What will I do after retirement? Where will I live in retirement? †¢ I do not have retirement plan, so how do I survive in retirement? †¢ Though I have a retirement plan, what if it fails? While the views above are fallaci es, the fear, the questions and many other issues often lead to criminal act such as fraud, stealing, falsification of age etc. THE DONT’S OF RETIREMENT Several private sectors retired and disengaged employees who were well and promptly catered for on retirement have ignorantly and recklessly slipped into the poverty circle within a very short period of their severance. This may be avoided if we attempt to desist from any of the following acts: a)Desire for new wife/(wives) The Progressive Era EssayYou must also resolve any differences that may exist between you and your extended or large family. Verily, verily I say unto thee, be friends to everyone in your family, you will need them now than ever and they need you. Boredom and loneliness breath depression and this may lead to stress, stroke etc. b)Be at peace with your GOD You certainly have less time to live than you have stayed on mother earth. Now that you are drawing nearer to your God, it is important that you resolve issues with your God. Forgive God for whatever, you consider unfair to you and forgive yourself of any short-coming in your life. Forgive your fellow human being for their â€Å"sin†. Pay attention to your religious tenets. c)Be Active Choose a retirement activity you really enjoy. It can be a part-time job, working as a volunteer, a hobby, or even a sport. Make that activity the focus of your life. It is wonderful to be able to spend time doing something you really like. Exercise regularly. It is good for the body and also for the mind. Exercise helps reduce tension and anxiety, and provides a sense of physical well-being. Eat healthfully. At age one to forty, we eat for taste and at forty and above, we are to eat for our health. Stayed tuned into the world around you. It is important to stay mentally alert. Newspapers, books, magazines, and television shows can keep you up to date on the issues of the day. Do maintain your physical and mental independence. For as long as your health and finances allow, try to handle your own affairs, do things for yourself, and live by your own schedule. Never be pushed by the expectation of others. Draw from your inner strength when personal or family trouble arises. You spent a life time learning the strategies of survival. Use your knowledge to help others. Do keep your sense of humour. Make small mental lists of jokes you can tell to friends. â€Å"Laughter is the best medicine†. Laugh, the world will laugh with you. Grump, and you will grump alone. d)Prepare your WILL Speak to a trusted lawyer and seek his advice on WILL. Preparation of will nsures that you set your house properly the way you want it to be when you might have gone to rest with your creator. It helps you to protect your household against themselves. Enjoy your birthday! Growing old is not a right, it is a privilege. Take good care of yourself for you may live more than you e xpect. INVESTMENT IN RETIREMENT The gratuity of any retiring individual has several competing necessities, needs and frivolous requests which we consider important now and in the nearest future. It is an established fact that our reasons for keeping cash and the volume kept can be broadly classified as: †¢ Transactional: we keep cash to meet up with our day-to-day needs (not want). Precautionary: we also keep cash to meet up with emergency needs that we do not envisage. †¢ Speculative: cash can also be kept to meet with â€Å"opportunities† that has returns which we consider satisfactory. In this light and as retiring persons, my humble counsel would be as follows: 1. Ensure you put in fixed deposit account, a sum that is not less than =N=2million or 33. 33% (whichever is higher) of your gratuity at a rate not less than 9%. This will assure you of minimum income of =N=15,000. 00 per month. 2. About 33. 33% may be set aside for investment in shares. You will need to secure the service of a stockbroker with integrity to manage your investment. 3. The balance of your gratuity may be apportioned to unit trust fund, investment in your spouse’s business, investment in your hobby (if you are sure it is capable of yielding good returns), investment in your current business, if any etc. At any point that you require to make investment decision it is important that you seek the advice of professionals. Ensure to document and legalize your transaction, no matter the partner you are dealing with. I pray that you will live longer than your expectation in prosperity and good health. God will grant you mercy and favour in your future endavour. Thank your for your time and audience while I beseech you to â€Å"keep thinking†.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Is Machu Picchu Being Managed Sustainably free essay sample

Mach Fichu was discovered in 1911 by Hiram Birmingham after he was lead up there by a Peruvian guide. The invading Spanish never discovered Mach Fichu, which helped preserve and keep the site isolated for many centuries. However, today Mach Fichu is far from isolated with hundreds of thousands of people visiting the ruins every year. Naturally, this puts pressure on the ancient city, but what pressures is Mach Fichu put under? In 2001, Mach Fichu became a wonder of the modern world, sharply increasing visitor numbers.In 1 980 there were roughly 1 50,000 suitors yet in 2009 there were approximately 850,000 visitors (see figure B). Up to 2,000 people visit the ruins every single day, with the vast majority being foreign visitors. The number of visitors reached a historic high in 2008, with 858,211 people visiting Mach Fichu. These high numbers of visitors put a strain on local resources. Tourists feet are slowly eroding away the ancient site and the Inca Trail, as well as cutting down timber for fuel. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Machu Picchu Being Managed Sustainably or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This loss of trees increases erosion by rain and often leads to landslides in the area. The high tourist numbers can also be a good thing. Its providing jobs for any local people, but the jobs are not usually well paid. With the increase of people in the area, local property values and the prices of goods increase. Local people cant afford to pay the entrance fee and enjoy one of their countrys greatest treasures! In fact, money made from tourism does not usually stay in Peru, but goes to the countries where the tourist companies are based.As Mach Fichu gained popularity, helicopters began to bring in tourists, which pollutes the area and disturbs the peaceful qualities of the site. As Mach Fichu has been put under pressure, there is the growing issue f being environmentally friendly and dealing with waste. More and more sewage is being pumped into the Aruba River and litter is often dropped in the valley below. I think that although the site is beautiful, people definitely deserve to see it, and that tourism does provide jobs, Mach Fichu is currently being put under too much pressure.An issue surrounding Mach Fichu is sustainable development. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs Of the present without compromising the ability Of future generations to meet their own need s. According to KIDS (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2014). What this means is that the site needs to be developed in such a way that it meets the current needs but allows for future generations to meet their own needs. For example, imagine a village near a forest, where people go to get timber.Fifthly cut down 3 trees a week, but dont plant any, there will be none left for the future generations. However, if they plant 2 new saplings for every single tree they cut down and limit the amount of trees they can cut down in a week, there will be trees there for future generations. This way the current generation can get what hey need, but also dont stop the future generation from getting what they need. So this raises the question, is Mach Fichu actually being managed sustainable? I think that Mach Fichu is not being managed sustainable. Concerns have been raised about the environment due to logging, commercial plant collection, logging, poor waste management, poaching, introduced species and water pollution from not only urban waste but from chemicals in the Aruba River, as well as pressures from broader development in this region. However, it is important to remember that the action is in a high altitude with an extreme environment and terrain, as well as bad weather conditions, making it more prone to natural disasters which could make things more difficult. However, there is a very high potential to restore degraded areas.All these concerns require new, long-term solutions in order for the site to be managed sustainable. Currently, Mach Fichu is being abused by the sheer number of tourists entering the site annually. If this rise in tourists increases and solutions for concerns raised arent created then Mach Fichu will not be the same for future generations, and may not e there for them to enjoy. UNESCO (United N ations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) threatened to take away Mach Fichus place on the World Heritage Sites list; however it still remains on the list. UNESCO has identified many problems with Mach Fichu and is also raising concerns with the site. In the future, helicopters could be banned to help reduce pollution in the area and help preserve the quiet nature of the site. The issue of waste could be fixed, helping to preserve the Aruba River and reduce water pollution. Prices for both goods and properties could be fixed to a certain, elastic price to try and help the local people.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

19 Famous Quotes for Inspirational Marriage Wishes

19 Famous Quotes for Inspirational Marriage Wishes The vows and rings are exchanged, and the new couple makes their newlywed walk back up the aisle. If you look carefully at their faces, you may see joy mixed with apprehension. What wedding wishes and wisdom can you offer them? Its too late now to warn them away from the marital institution. Its time for wishing them well. Here are famous quotes on love and marriage that you can use to wish them a new life of togetherness and happiness: Anne Bradstreet If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee. Nathaniel Hawthorne What a happy and holy fashion it is that those who love one another should rest on the same pillow. John Lennon To the world, you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world. Martin Luther There is no more lovely, friendly, and charming relationship, communion, or company than a good marriage. Rumi Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along. Sam Keen You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Joseph Campbell When you make a sacrifice in marriage, you’re sacrificing not to each other but to unity in a relationship. Sophocles One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love. George Sand There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. Lao Tzu Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength while loving someone deeply gives you courage. Amy Bloom Marriage is not a ritual or an end. It is a long, intricate, intimate dance together, and nothing matters more than your own sense of balance and choice of partner. Mahatma Gandhi Where there is love there is life. Vita Sackville-West There is nothing more lovely in life than the union of two people whose love for one another has grown through the years, from the small acorn of passion into a great rooted tree. Victor Hugo The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved. Leo Tolstoy What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. Mignon McLaughlin A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person. George Eliot What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined for life- to strengthen each other in all labor, to rest on each other in all sorrow, to minister to each other in silent unspeakable memories at the moment of the last parting? Montaigne If there is such a thing as a good marriage, it is because it resembles friendship rather than love. W.H. Auden Like everything which is not the involuntary result of fleeting emotion but the creation of time and will, any marriage, happy or unhappy, is infinitely more interesting than any romance, however passionate.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Speech Topics to Meet Oral Communication Standards

Speech Topics to Meet Oral Communication Standards Speech topics are a key element for impromptu oral presentation activities. Coming up with them can be a challenge for the teacher. You can use this collection of speech topics for oral presentations or use them to inspire your own variations. Impromptu Oral Presentation Activity Put all of the topics on slips of paper and have your students pick out of a hat. You can either have the student begin the presentation immediately or give a few minutes to prepare. You may have a student pick the topic just before the student before them presents so they have that time to think. In this case, give the very first student a few minutes to prepare. Impromptu Oral Communication Speech Topics You are an ant. Convince an anteater to not eat you.Explain three different ways to eat an Oreo cookie.Tell us about a nickname you have and how you got it.Convince us to vote for you as president of the USA.Explain three uses for a pencil other than for writing.Read us a letter you might write home when you are staying at a circus training summer camp.Tell us about your summer plans.Convince us that homework is harmful to your health.Tell us about your favorite pet and why it should win the Greatest Pet Ever award.If you were an animal, what would you be?You are a salesperson trying to sell us the shirt you have on.Explain how a smart person might not be wise.If you were the teacher, how would our class be different?Tell us about the hardest thing you have ever done.You are a mad scientist. Tell us about your latest invention.You are a famous sports player. Describe your best moment of a game.You are a famous rock star. Explain what the lyrics of your latest hit song mean.Tell us ab out the best job. Explain the benefits of drinking milk.Tell us how to become a millionaire.You are 30 years old. Tell us how you became a millionaire by age 18.Tell us about the best dream youve ever had.Create a myth that explains why pelicans have large beaks.Tell us how to make a new friend.Tell us about the most fun recess activity.Tell us about your favorite holiday.Tell us how to make your favorite meal.Explain which came first: the chicken or the egg.Explain the rules to your favorite game.If everything in the world had to change to the same color, what color would you choose and why?Explain how you would use a hat to catch butterflies. Be sure to identify the type of hat that is required.You are a piece of paper. Describe how we should use you before you get recycled.Explain how to make a pizza.Explain four uses for a drinking glass other than for holding a liquid.Convince our principal to give students their birthdays off of school.Describe how you would modify a snail so it can go faster.Ex plain the best way to teach an old dog a new trick. Describe the life cycle of a frog or butterfly.Explain what you would do if you were a monkey suddenly set free from a zoo.Describe one school rule you would change and why.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Project Management Software Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project Management Software - Research Paper Example Finally, it is significant that project associated risks are proactively recognized, mitigated and documented (Robb, 2009). A project manager should complete the risk assessment at the start of the project and assign risk ownership correctly so that, at the period of contingency, the risk owner takes the required procedures to lessen the dangers (Robb, 2009). Project management software is capable of planning, organizing, and managing resource pools and creates resource estimation (Robb, 2009). Depending on the complexity of the software, resource comprising of planning and estimation, scheduling, budget management and cost control, resource allocation, communication, collaboration software, decision-making, documentation and quality management or administration systems. The software also permits users to manage, track and control the mid- project status report of project, which will give insight to the sponsors regarding the progress (Robb, 2009). Finally, project management software can give information to diverse sponsors. The information can be used in measuring and justifying the level of effort needed to complete the

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

My Family Movie Analysis Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

My Family Analysis - Movie Review Example Even before Chucho was born, his parents considered him a special child. However, when he grew up, he became an intermediate gangster. Besides engaging in street fights, he was also involved in illegal activities. One day Jose got really upset because he found out from the police that his own son had been earning money by selling drugs. When Chucho came home, his father could not contain the anger and kicked him out of the house. Later, like anybody else, after pondering on what he did, he felt ashamed of his rash actions. Jose wanted to ask forgiveness and forgive his son, but was too proud to do it. He suffered a lot from the guilt and wanted to have his son back, but was not able to share his feelings, because Chucho was found and killed by the police. Chucho, at the time he left father’s home, was very upset and did not want to see his father any more. The pride kept the son and father separated. But Chucho honestly did not hold a grudge against his father. When Chucho was hiding after he accidentally killed another man, he was talking with his younger brother Jimmy and he wanted to tell his father something. The movie did not specify what it was, but by the tone of Chucho’s voice, it may be interpreted that he wanted to tell his father that he loved him. A lack of forgiveness sets an invisible wall between people. They cannot reach out to each other. By holding on to a grudge, the anger can be turned into a new experience. It may wrap a heart up in the anger so tight that it will not be possible to realize what is going on in the world around. Life will start to lose its meaning and purpose. Most people are depressed during this period of time. Forgiveness is a psychological decision to change and doing all you can to reach that goal. Once you forgive someone, you will start feeling compassionate and understanding. It is not something that can be expected from others.0 Forgiveness is a personal decision. Another example of forgiveness in the movie is Jose and Maria forgiving Toni. It was shocking news for them to find out she wanted to become a nun, but them her mother was very proud of her daughter for making such a decision. From then on her parents expected her to serve God. But things did not turn out the way they expected and, in a way, Toni disappointed them. She married a priest. It was such an unusual thing in the day that Maria fainted. Her parents could have easily gotten upset with their daughter and sent her away, but Jose said â€Å"If that’s what God wants – then its fine with me†. Jose learned through his life, that anger and a lack of forgiveness may have a price that is too high. Sometime’s in life, we are the ones that need to ask for forgiveness. Like little Carlitos needed to forgive his father Jimmy. Jimmy had been in prison and had not been around when the young boy needed him most. When his father came back, Jimmy tried to settle things between them and make them a fami ly again. Carlitos would always brush Jimmy off by breaking expensive gifts from his father, not going for outings with him and even doing his best to avoid Jimmy if it was at all possible. If the father ever needed to talk to his son, Carlitos would only respond in cursing. Jimmy almost lost hope in gaining his son’s love, but then he realized, he himself was held in the prison of anger for too long to forgive those who, he had thought, wronged him, to forgive Carlitos for his mother’

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Vanish automatically Essay Example for Free

Vanish automatically Essay The pages of human history, daubed in bloodshed, more recently that of World War I, World War II and the war in Nanking (China) ask a crying question. How to make this Planet Earth heaven-like? The answer is simple and direct. Eyes full of understanding, heart full of love and the life that refuses conflicts—these alone are enough! But then how to fight this malicious tendency among human beings and intense craving for violence and hatred? Heartfelt care and concern, an understanding approach, and tender regard for the feelings of fellow human beings are the necessary prerequisites to heal the inner wounds of one section of humanity caused by another. If human beings have to find a new identity for them, and make tangible efforts towards achieving the goal of ‘the world is one family,’ we need to learn to forgive and forget the bitterness of the past in order to build a new identity. This goal can not be achieved by any ‘isms. ’ The inner core of every human being is essentially divine, even that of the worst villain. It just needs to be revealed to him to help him align himself with his true personality Peace is possible†¦. Kurt Vonnegut perhaps feels that such an ideal state is not achievable on this Planet Earth; therefore, he introduces Planet Tralfamador in his book. Even that is not going to solve the problem relating to peace. It is futile to cross the moon and beat the stars, to get peace. Peace is within; one has to dive deep and fire the Light missiles for inner construction; then only outer destruction is preventable. Kurt argues that war conditions create total loss of humanity. As for the individual undergoing special suffering, as the prisoner of war, the collapse of his individuality and self-respect is complete. He undergoes most humiliating experiences that totally shatter him. Billy Pilgrim is one such prisoner-of-war, but he is unstuck in the wheel of time after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. Vonnegut’s devastating experience as an American prisoner of war, the firebombing of Dresden, is candidly reflected and explained in the book. Kurt’s other argument is that power corrupts—absolute power corrupts absolutely and brings out the worst in man, in war-situations. Slaughterhouse-G-Five is the name of the camp where Prisoners of War are held as captives. Prisoners of War and slaughterhouse—these words make a horrible combination and one is frightened to think about the consequences that would follow. The story of the book is known for its peculiarities. With no characters and no dramatic confrontations, a strange situation manifests. Most of the characters have lost charm for life, they see no definite purpose in living, resigned to the circumstances, and live as if they are born to walk up to the grave. In the grim circumstances prevailing with no hope for improvement, humanity has turned cynical. One is unable to meet the vicissitudes hotly pursuing one after another. Everything is so hopeless and one is unable to see the ray of hope or peace from anywhere. Each one lives like the punctured tier—directionless and destination less. With no forward movement, the life turns like the rudderless boat controlled by other external, powerful forces, which subdue the personality of human beings. In a war situation or when you live life as the prisoner-of-war, many grave uncertainties bother you. You don’t know what is in store for you the next moment. Another technique employed by Kurt is that he reveals the story from the voice of the narrator Ethan Hawke, who reads it in his inimical style. The reader gets the feeling that a secret is being revealed to him slowly and steadily, without intermission. You feel as if you are flying in the outer world with the wings of imagination provided to you by Hawke’s narrative style. As his narrations and explanations crystallize and struggle to achieve the form, Kurt reaches the borders of spirituality. The ignoble human beings will always remain ignoble, without any possibility for forward movement, unless they take shelter under the immutable laws of Nature (God). Because only that power is Immutable and Omnipresent! All else is transient, Kurt argues. This is an anti-war novel. All wars are enacted in the minds by the ambitious politicians and generals first. An ordinary soldier has no role in creating tragic histories for the sake of personal aggrandizements of the leaders. Some leaders create the war, on some leaders the war is thrust, but once the war begins, their mental make up becomes identical-to win the war at any cost and for that they destroy the enemy employing the most savage methods. Kurt expresses his great anguish why the city of Dresden was bombed killing over 100,000 civilians, who had no direct role in the war. The important theme of the book is fate. It is in the fitness of things that the prayer of serenity appears twice in the book. Permanent peace will not dawn by fighting wars first and then sitting across the table in big conferences to negotiate peace. Such exercises have proved futile in the past; they give the same results even now. Kurt seems to say that wars can not be avoided—but he is wrong on this count. An individual, ipso facto, the politicians and the leaders need not cross the frontiers of their enemy country but transcend their own mind-barriers. When the mind barrier is transcended, all differences of opinions cease. With no scope for confrontation, it is peace at last! When the thought process is changed, the action process also changes. When the thoughts are changed, the mind is changed; when the mind is changed, the man is changed; when the man is changed, the society is changed; when the society is changed, the nation is changed; such changed nations are hopes for world peace, a world without wars! World War III will rest for ever in the bosom of Nature!

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Ozzie Freedman Portrayed as a Hero Essay example -- essays research pa

Ozzie Freedman Portrayed as a Hero   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A hero can be defined as one who inspires through manners and actions; who leads through personal example. Under this definition, the character Ozzie Freedman from Philip Roth’s â€Å"The Conversion of the Jews† (1959) can be classified as a hero. The sections of Discoveries: Fifty Stories of the Quest (Schechter & Semekis 1992): The Call, The Other, The Journey, Helpers and Guides, The Treasure, and Transformation, can be applied to the story about Ozzie to support it’s inclusion in this class, entitled â€Å"Myth of the Hero†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The chapter on The Call describes that a hero may be â€Å"on the brink of a decisive change† (21) and they â€Å"perceive the danger of remaining where they are† (22). The hero must be â€Å"ready †¦ to leave [his] old, familiar [life] behind and move on to something new† (23). In â€Å"The Conversion of the Jews†, we see Ozzie questioning his faith and going against the Jewish teaching by believing that God could â€Å"let a woman have a baby without having intercourse† (384). He stood up to the rabbi in class and was prepared to defend his questioning and beliefs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Other is a character who embodies the exact opposite personality of the protagonist. According to Schechter & Semekis, the Other causes self-revelation in the protagonist, which his journey would not begin without. In Roth’s story, Itzie is Ozzie’s best friend, who does not question authority or his faith, quite the opposite of Ozzie. He gives Ozzie a hard time for always asking questions and speaking out in class. (‘â€Å"What do you open your mouth all the time for?†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (383)). Ozzie realizes he doesn’t want to be like Itzie and blindly accept the Jewish belief about Jesus. He defends his right to question something in order to seek validity, and says, ‘â€Å"Itz, I thought it over for a solid hour, and now I’m convinced God could do it.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Discoveries describes The Journey as a portrayal of â€Å"how difficult the hero’s quest is† (8). In Roth’s story, Ozzie faces â€Å"external enemies, agents of conservatism or conformity that must be overcome† (Schechter & Semekis, 8). He is speaking out against the Jewish religion, saying that he believes God could impregnate a woman without her having intercourse. When he delivers this defiance to Rabbi Binder, he is... ...nbsp;  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By applying the theory of the hero’s journey as found in Discoveries: Fifty Stories of the Quest and applying it to Roth’s â€Å"The Conversion of the Jews†, we see that the character Ozzie Freedman truly fits the title of a hero. Ozzie questions his religious beliefs and is not ashamed to bring forth his insight and seek answers and new ways of thinking. He winds up teaching his mentor a lesson in religion and sets out to have his message heard, despite the possibility of ridicule and even death. Once he realizes he has a different belief than the people of the Jewish religion, he understands his life will never be the same and that he cannot go back to the Jewish belief that God is not able to produce a child without intercourse. Ozzie gets his message across, that one should never be punished for his beliefs, and he is then born into a new day and a new life journey. Works Cited Roth, Philip. â€Å"The Conversion of the Jews.† Discoveries: Fifty Stories of the Quest. 2nd ed. Harold Schechter and Jonna Gormely Semekis. New York: Oxford, 1992. Schechter, Harold, and Jonna Gormely Semekis. Discoveries: Fifty Stories of the Quest. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford, 1992.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal Chapter 13

Chapter 13 â€Å"I could kick that punk's punk ass,† the angel said, jumping on the bed, shaking a fist at the television screen. â€Å"Raziel,† I said, â€Å"you are an angel of the Lord, he is a professional wrestler, I think it's understood that you could kick his punk ass.† This has gone on for a couple of days now. The angel has found a new passion. The front desk has called a dozen times and sent a bellman up twice to tell the angel to quiet down. â€Å"Besides, it's just pretend.† Raziel looked at me as if I had slapped him. â€Å"Don't start with that again, these are not actors.† The angel back flipped on the bed. â€Å"Ooo, ooo, you see that? Ho popped him with a chair. Thaz right, you go girl. She nasty.† It's like that now. Talk shows featuring the screaming ignorant, soap operas, and wrestling. And the angel guards the remote control like it's the Ark of the Covenant. â€Å"This,† I told him, â€Å"is why the angels were never given free will. This right here. Because you would spend your time watching this.† â€Å"Really?† Raziel said, and he muted the TV for what seemed like the first time in days. â€Å"Then tell me, Levi who is called Biff, if by watching this I am abusing the little freedom I've been given while carrying out this task, then what would you say of your people?† â€Å"By my people you mean human beings?† I was stalling. I didn't remember the angel ever making a valid point before and I wasn't prepared for it. â€Å"Hey, don't blame me, I've been dead for two thousand years. I wouldn't have let this sort of thing happen.† â€Å"Uh-huh,† said the angel, crossing his arms and striking a pose of incredulity that he had learned from a gangster rapper on MTV. If there was anything I learned from John the Baptist, it was that the sooner you confess a mistake, the quicker you can get on to making new and better mistakes. Oh, that and don't piss off Salome, that was a big one too. â€Å"Okay, we've fucked up,† I said. â€Å"Thaz whut I'm talkin' about,† said the angel, entirely too satisfied with himself. Yeah? Where was he when we needed him and his sword of justice at Balthasar's fortress? Probably in Greece, watching wrestling. Meanwhile, when we got to the library, Balthasar was sitting before the heavy dragon table, eating a bit of cheese and sipping wine while Tunnels and Pea Pods poured a sticky yellow wax on his bald head, then spread it around with small wooden paddles. The easels and slates from my lessons had been stacked out of the way against the shelves full of scrolls and codices. â€Å"You look good blue,† Balthasar said. â€Å"Yeah, everybody says that.† The paint, once set, didn't wash off, but at least my skin had stopped itching. â€Å"Come in, sit. Have wine. They brought cheese from Kabul this morning. Try some.† Joshua and I sat in chairs across the table from the magus. Josh, completely true to form, disregarded my advice and asked Balthasar outright about the iron door. The aspect of the jolly wizard became suddenly grave. â€Å"There are some mysteries one must learn to live with. Did not your own God tell Moses that no one must look upon his face, and the prophet accepted that? So you must accept that you cannot know what is in the room with the iron door.† â€Å"He knows his Torah, and Prophets and Writings too,† Joshua said to me. â€Å"Balthasar knows more about Solomon than any of the rabbis or priests in Israel.† â€Å"That's swell, Josh.† I handed him a hunk of cheese to keep him amused. To Balthasar I said, â€Å"But you forget God's butt.† You don't hang out with the Messiah for most of your life without picking up a little Torah knowledge yourself. â€Å"What?† said the magus. Just then the girls grabbed the edges of the hardened wax shell they'd made on Balthasar's head and ripped it off in one swift movement. â€Å"Ouch, you vicious harpies! Can't you warn me when you're going to do that? Get out.† The girls tittered and hid their satisfied grins behind delicate fans painted with pheasants and plum blossoms. They fled the library leaving a trail of girlish laughter in the hall as they passed. â€Å"Isn't there an easier way to do that?† asked Joshua. Balthasar scowled at him. â€Å"Don't you think that after two hundred years, if there was an easier way to do it I would have found it?† Joshua dropped his cheese. â€Å"Two hundred years?† I chimed in. â€Å"You get a hairstyle you like, stick with it. Not that you could call that hair, per se.† Balthasar wasn't amused. â€Å"What's this about God's butt?† â€Å"Or that you could call that style, for that matter,† I added, rising and going to a copy of the Torah that I'd seen on the shelves. Fortunately it was a codex – like a modern book – otherwise I'd have been unwinding a scroll for twenty minutes and the drama would have been lost. I quickly flipped to Exodus. â€Å"Right, here's the part you were talking about. ‘And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.' Right? Well, then God puts his hand over Moses as he passes, but he says, ‘I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.'† â€Å"So?† said Balthasar. â€Å"So, God let Moses see his butt, so using your example, you owe us God's butt. So tell us, what's going on with that room with the iron door?† Brilliant. I paused and studied the blueness of my fingernails while savoring my victory. â€Å"That's the silliest thing I've ever heard,† said Balthasar. His momentary loss of composure was replaced by the calm and slightly amused attitude of the master. â€Å"What if I told you that it is dangerous for you to know about what is behind that iron door now, but once you have training, you will not only know, but you will gain great power from the knowledge? When I think you are ready, I promise to show you what is behind that door. But you must promise to study and learn your lessons. Can you do that?† â€Å"Are you forbidding us to ask questions?† asked Joshua. â€Å"Oh no, I'm simply denying you some of the answers for the time being. And trust me, time is the one thing that I have plenty of.† Joshua turned to me. â€Å"I still don't know what I am supposed to learn here, but I'm sure I haven't learned it yet.† He was pleading me with his eyes to not push the issue. I decided to let it drop; besides, I didn't relish the idea of being poisoned again. â€Å"How long is this going to take?† I asked. â€Å"These lessons, I mean?† â€Å"Some students take many years to learn the nature of Chi. You will be provided for while you are here.† â€Å"Years? Can we think about it?† â€Å"Take as long as you like,† Balthasar stood. â€Å"Now I must go to the girls' quarters. They like to rub their naked breasts over my scalp right after it's been waxed and is at its smoothest.† I gulped. Joshua grinned and looked at the table in front of him. I often wondered, not just then, but most of the time, if Joshua had the ability to turn off his imagination when he needed to. He must have. Otherwise I don't know how he would have ever triumphed over temptation. I, on the other hand, was a slave to my imagination and it was running wild with the image of Balthasar's scalp massage. â€Å"We'll stay. We'll learn. We'll do what is needed,† I said. Joshua burst out laughing, then calmed himself enough to speak. â€Å"Yes, we will stay and learn, Balthasar, but first I have to go to Kabul and finish some business.† â€Å"Of course you do,† said Balthasar. â€Å"You can leave tomorrow. I'll have one of the girls show you the way, but for now, I must say good night.† The wizard stalked off, leaving Joshua to collapse into a fit of giggles and me to wonder how I might look with my head shaved. In the morning Joy came to our rooms wearing the garb of a desert trader: a loose tunic, soft leather boots, and pantaloons. Her hair was tied up under a turban and she carried a long riding crop in her hand. She led us through a long narrow passageway that went deep into the mountain, then emerged out of the side of a sheer cliff. We climbed a rope ladder to the top of the plateau where Pillows and Sue waited with three camels saddled and outfitted for a short journey. There was a small farm on the plateau, with several pens full of chickens, some goats, and a few pigs in a pen. â€Å"We're going to have a tough time getting these camels down that ladder,† I said. Joy scowled and wrapped the tail of her turban around her face so that only her eyes showed. â€Å"There's a path down,† she said. Then she tapped her camel on the shoulder with her crop and rode off, leaving Joshua and me to scramble onto our animals and follow. The road down from the plateau was just wide enough for a single camel to sway his way down without falling, but once down on the desert floor, much like the entrance to the canyon where the fortress's entrance lay, if you didn't know it was there, you would never have found it. An added measure of security for a fortress that had no guards, I thought. Joshua and I tried to engage Joy in conversation several times during the journey to Kabul, but she was cranky and abrupt and often just rode away from us. â€Å"Probably depressed that she's not torturing me,† I speculated. â€Å"I can see how that might bring her down,† said Joshua. â€Å"Maybe if you could get your camel to bite you. I know that always brightens my mood.† I rode on ahead without another word. It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs. Once in Kabul, Joy led the search for the blinded guard by asking every blind beggar that we passed in the marketplace. â€Å"Have you seen a blind bowman who arrived by camel caravan a little more than a week ago?† Joshua and I trailed several steps behind her, trying desperately to keep from grinning whenever she looked back. Joshua had wanted to point out the flaw in Joy's method, while I, on the other hand, wanted to savor her doofuscosity as passive revenge for having been poisoned. There was none of the competence and self-assured nature she showed at the fortress. She was clearly out of her element and I was enjoying it. â€Å"You see,† I explained to Joshua, â€Å"what Joy is doing is ironic, yet that's not her intent. That's the difference between irony and sarcasm. Irony can be spontaneous, while sarcasm requires volition. You have to create sarcasm.† â€Å"No kidding?† said Josh. â€Å"Why do I waste my time with you?† We indulged Joy's search for the blind man for another hour before directing her inquiries to the sighted, and to men from the camel caravans in particular. Once she started asking sighted people, it was a short time before we were directed to a temple where the blinded guard was said to have staked his begging territory. â€Å"There he is,† said Joshua, pointing to a ragged pile of human being beckoning to the worshipers as they moved in and out of the temple. â€Å"It looks like things have been tough on him,† I said, amazed that the guard, who had been one of the most vital (and frightening) men I'd ever seen, had been reduced to such a pathetic creature in so short a time. Then again, I was discounting the theatrics of it all. â€Å"A great injustice has been done here,† said Josh. He moved to the guard and gently put his hand on the blind man's shoulder. â€Å"Brother, I am here to relieve your suffering.† â€Å"Pity on the blind,† said the guard, waving around a wooden bowl. â€Å"Calm now,† said Joshua, placing his hand over the blind man's eyes. â€Å"When I remove my hand you will see again.† I could see the strain in Joshua's face as he concentrated on healing the guard. Tears trickled down his cheeks and dripped on the flagstones. I thought of how effortless his healings had been in Antioch, and realized that the strain was not coming from the healing, but from the guilt he carried for having blinded the man in the first place. When he removed his hand and stepped away, both he and the guard shivered. Joy stepped away from us and covered her face as if to ward off bad air. The guard stared into space just as he had while he had been begging, but his eyes were no longer white. â€Å"Can you see?† Joshua said. â€Å"I can see, but everything is wrong. People's skin appears blue.† â€Å"No, he is blue. Remember, my friend Biff.† â€Å"Were you always blue?† â€Å"No, only recently.† Then the guard seemed to see Joshua for the first time and his expression of wonderment was replaced by hatred. He leapt at Joshua, drawing a dagger from his rags as he moved. He would have split my friend's rib cage in a single swift blow if Joy hadn't swept his feet out from under him at the last second. Even so, he was up in an instant, going for a second attack. I managed to get my hand up in time to poke him in the eyes, just as Joy kicked him in the back of the neck, driving him to the ground in agony. â€Å"My eyes!† he cried. â€Å"Sorry,† I said. Joy kicked the knife out of the guard's reach. I put an arm around Joshua's chest and pushed him back. â€Å"You need to put some distance between you and him before he can see again.† â€Å"But I only meant to help him,† said Joshua. â€Å"Blinding him was a mistake.† â€Å"Josh, he doesn't care. All he knows is that you are the enemy. All he knows is that he wants to destroy you.† â€Å"I don't know what I'm doing. Even when I try to do the right thing it goes wrong.† â€Å"We need to go,† said Joy. She took one of Joshua's arms while I took the other and we led him away before the guard could gather his senses for another attack. Joy had a list of supplies that Balthasar wanted her to bring back to the fortress, so we spent some time tracking down large baskets of a mineral called cinnabar, from which we would extract quicksilver, as well as some spices and pigments. Joshua followed us through the market in a daze until we passed a merchant who was selling the black beans from which was made the dark drink we'd had in Antioch. â€Å"Buy me some,† Joshua said. â€Å"Joy, buy me some of those.† She did, and Joshua cradled the bag of beans like an infant all the way back to the fortress. We rode most of the way in silence, but when the sun had gone down and we were almost to the hidden road that led up to the plateau, Joy galloped up beside me. â€Å"How did he do it?† she asked. â€Å"What?† â€Å"I saw him heal that man's eyes. How did he do it? I know many kinds of magic, but I saw no spells cast, no potions mixed.† â€Å"It's very powerful magic all right.† I checked over my shoulder to see if Joshua was paying attention. He was hugging his coffee beans and mumbling to himself as he had for the whole trip. Praying, I presume. â€Å"Tell me how it's done,† Joy said. â€Å"I asked Joshua, but he's just chanting and looking stunned.† â€Å"Well, I could tell you how it's done, but you have to tell me what's going on behind the ironclad door.† â€Å"I can't tell you that, but perhaps we can trade other things.† She pulled the tail of her turban away from her face and smiled. She was stunningly beautiful in the moonlight, even in men's clothes. â€Å"I know over a thousand ways to bring pleasure to a man, and that's only what I know personally. The other girls have as many tricks that they'd be willing to show you too.† â€Å"Yeah, but how is that useful to me? What do I need to know about pleasing a man?† Joy ripped her turban off her head and smacked me across the back of the head with it, sending a small cloud of dust drifting into the night. â€Å"You're stupid and you're blue and the next time I poison you I will be sure to use something without an antidote.† Even the wise and inscrutable Joy could be goaded, I guess. I smiled. â€Å"I will accept your paltry offerings,† I said with as much pomposity as an adolescent boy can muster. â€Å"And in return I will teach the greatest secret of our magic. A secret of my own invention. We call it sarcasm.† â€Å"Let's make coffee when we get home,† said Joshua. It was some challenge to try to drag out the process of how Joshua had returned the guard's sight, especially since I hadn't the slightest idea myself, but through careful misdirection, obfuscation, subterfuge, guile, and complete balderdash, I was able to barter that lack of knowledge into months of outrageous knob polishing by the beauteous Joy and her comely minions. Somehow, the urgency of knowing what was behind the ironclad door and the answers to other enigmas of Balthasar's fortress abated, and I found myself quite content pursuing the lessons the wizard assigned me during the day, while stretching my imagination to its limit with the mathematical combinations of the night. There was the drawback that Balthasar would kill me if he knew that I was availing myself of the charms of his concubines, but is the pilfered fruit not sweetened by the stealing? Oh, to be young and in love (with eight Chinese concubines). Meanwhile Joshua took to his studies with characteristic zeal, fueled in no little bit by the coffee he drank every morning until he nearly vibrated through the floor with enthusiasm. â€Å"Look at this, do you see, Biff? When asked, the master Confucius says, ‘Recompense injury with justice, and kindness with kindness.' Yet Lao-tzu says, ‘Recompense injury with kindness.' Don't you see?† Joshua would dance around, scrolls trailing out behind him, hoping that somehow I would share his enthusiasm for the ancient texts. And I tried. I really did. â€Å"No, I don't see. The Torah says, ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,' that is justice.† â€Å"Exactly,† said Joshua. â€Å"I think Lao-tzu is correct. Kindness precedes justice. As long as you seek justice by punishment you can only cause more suffering. How can that be right? This is a revelation!† â€Å"I learned how to boil down goat urine to make explosives today,† I said. â€Å"That's good too,† said Joshua. It could happen like that any time of the day or night. Joshua would come blazing out of the library in the middle of the night, interrupt me in the midst of some complex oily tangle of Pea Pod and Pillows and Tunnels – while Number Six familiarized us with the five hundred jade gods of various depths and textures – and he'd avert his eyes just long enough for me to towel off before he'd shove some codex in my hand and force me to read a passage while he waxed enthusiastic on the thoughts of some long-dead sage. â€Å"The Master says that ‘the superior man may indeed endure want, but the inferior man, when he experiences want, will give into unbridled excess.' He's talking about you, Biff. You're the inferior man.† â€Å"I'm so proud,† I told him, as I watched Number Six forlornly pack her gods into the warmed brass case where they resided. â€Å"Thank you for coming here to tell me that.† I was given the task of learning waidan, which is the alchemy of the external. My knowledge would come from the manipulation of the physical elements. Joshua, on the other hand, was learning neidan, the alchemy of the internal. His knowledge would come from the study of his own inner nature through the contemplation of the masters. So while Joshua read scrolls and books, I spent my time mixing quicksilver and lead, phosphorous and brimstone, charcoal and philosopher's stone, trying somehow to divine the nature of the Tao. Joshua was learning to be the Messiah and I was learning to poison people and blow stuff up. The world seemed very much in order. I was happy, Joshua was happy, Balthasar was happy, and the girls – well, the girls were busy. Although I passed the iron door every day (and the niggling voice persisted), what was behind it wasn't important to me, and neither were the answers to the dozen or so questions that Joshua and I should have put to our generous master. Before we knew it a year had passed, then two more, and we were celebrating the passage of Joshua's seventeenth birthday in the fortress. Balthasar had the girls prepare a feast of Chinese delicacies and we drank wine late into the night. (And long after that, and even when we had returned to Israel, we always ate Chinese food on Joshua's birthday. I'm told it became a tradition not only with those of us who knew Joshua, but with Jews everywhere.) â€Å"Do you ever think of home?† Joshua asked me the night of his birthday feast. â€Å"Sometimes,† I said. â€Å"What do you think of?† â€Å"Maggie,† I said. â€Å"Sometimes my brothers. Sometimes my mother and father, but always Maggie.† â€Å"Even with all your experiences since, you still think of Maggie?† Joshua had become less and less curious about the essence of lust. Initially I thought that his lack of interest had to do with the depth of his studies, but I then realized that his interest was fading along with the memory of Maggie. â€Å"Joshua, my memory of Maggie isn't about what happened the night before we left. I didn't go to see her thinking that we would make love. A kiss was more than I expected. I think of Maggie because I made a place in my heart for her to live, and it's empty. It always will be. It always was. She loved you.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Biff. I don't know how to heal that. I would if I could.† â€Å"I know, Josh. I know.† I didn't want to talk about home anymore, but Josh deserved to get off his chest whatever it was that was bothering him, and if not to me, to whom? â€Å"Do you ever think of home?† â€Å"Yes. That's why I asked. You know, the girls were cooking bacon today, and that made me think of home.† â€Å"Why? I don't remember anyone ever cooking bacon at home.† â€Å"I know, but if we ate some bacon, no one at home would ever know.† I got up and walked over to the half-wall that divided our rooms. There was moonlight coming through the window and Joshua's face had caught it and was glowing in that annoying way that it sometimes did. â€Å"Joshua, you're the Son of God. You're the Messiah. That implies – oh, I don't know – that you're a Jew! You can't eat bacon.† â€Å"God doesn't care if we eat bacon. I can just feel it.† â€Å"Really. He still feel the same way about fornication?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"Masturbation?† â€Å"Yep.† â€Å"Killing? Stealing? Bearing false witness? Coveting thy neighbor's wife, et cetera? No change of heart on those?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"Just bacon. Interesting. You would have thought there'd be something about bacon in the prophecies of Isaiah.† â€Å"Yeah, makes you wonder, doesn't it?† â€Å"You're going to need more than that to usher in the kingdom of God, Josh, no offense. We can't go home with, ‘Hi, I'm the Messiah, God wanted you to have this bacon.'† â€Å"I know. We have much more to learn. But breakfasts will be more interesting.† â€Å"Go to sleep, Josh.† As time passed, I seldom saw Joshua except at mealtimes and before we went to sleep. Nearly all my time was taken up with my studies and helping the girls maintain the fortress, while nearly all of Joshua's time was spent with Balthasar, which would eventually become a problem. â€Å"This is not good, Biff,† Joy said in Chinese. I'd learned to speak her language well enough that she seldom spoke Greek or Latin anymore. â€Å"Balthasar is getting too close with Joshua. He seldom sends for one of us to join him in his bed now.† â€Å"You're not implying that Joshua and Balthasar are, uh, playing shepherd, are you? Because I know that's not true. Joshua isn't allowed.† Of course the angel had said he couldn't know a woman, he hadn't said anything about a creepy old African wizard. â€Å"Oh, I don't care if they're buggering their eyeballs out,† said Joy. â€Å"Balthasar mustn't fall in love. Why do you think that there are eight of us?† â€Å"I thought it was a matter of budget,† I said. â€Å"You haven't noticed that one of us will never spend two nights in a row with Balthasar, or that we don't speak with him beyond what is required for our duties and lessons?† I had noticed, but it never occurred to me that there was something out of the ordinary. We hadn't gotten to the chapter on wizard – concubine behavior in the book yet. â€Å"So?† â€Å"So I think he is falling in love with Joshua. That is not good.† â€Å"Well, I'm with you on that one. I wasn't happy the last time someone fell in love with him. But why does it matter here?† â€Å"I can't tell you. But there has been more commotion coming from the house of doom,† said Joy. â€Å"You have to help me. If I'm right, we have to stop Balthasar. We'll observe them tomorrow while we adjust the flow of Chi in the library.† â€Å"No, Joy. Not library Chi. The stuff in the library is too heavy. I hate library Chi.† Chi or Qi: the breath of the dragon, the eternal energy that flows through all things; in balance, as it should be, it was half yin, half yang, half light, half dark, half male, half female. The Chi in the library was always getting fucked up, while the Chi in the rooms with just cushions, or with lightweight furniture, seemed well adjusted and balanced. I don't know why, but I suspected it had a lot to do with Joy's need to make me move heavy things. The next morning Joy and I went to the library to spy on Joshua and Balthasar while we redirected the library's Chi. Joy carried a complex brass instrument she called a Chi clock, which was supposed to be able to detect the flow of Chi. The magus was noticeably irritated as soon as we entered the room. â€Å"Must this be done now?† Joy bowed. â€Å"Very sorry, master, but this is an emergency.† She turned and barked commands at me like a Roman centurion. â€Å"Move that table over there, can't you see that it rests on the tiger's testicles? Then point those chairs so they face the doorway, they lie on the dragon's navel. We're lucky someone hasn't broken a leg.† â€Å"Yeah, lucky,† I said, straining to move the huge carved table, wishing that Joy had recruited a couple of the other girls to help. I'd been studying feng shui for more than three years now and I still couldn't detect the least bit of Chi, coming or going. Joshua had reconciled the elusive energy by saying that it was just an Oriental way to express God all around us and in all things. That may have helped him toward some sort of spiritual understanding, but it was about as effective as trained sheep when it came to arranging furniture. â€Å"Can I help?† Joshua asked. â€Å"No!† shouted Balthasar, standing up. â€Å"We will continue in my quarters.† The old wizard turned and glared at Joy and me. â€Å"And we are not to be disturbed, under any circumstances.† He took Joshua by the shoulder and led him out of the room. â€Å"So much for spying,† I said. Joy consulted the Chi clock and patted a cabinet filled with calligraphy materials. â€Å"This most certainly rides on the horn of the ox, it must be moved,† she pronounced. â€Å"They are gone,† I said. â€Å"We don't have to pretend at this anymore.† â€Å"Who is pretending? That cabinet channels all the yin into the hall, while the yang circles like a bird of prey.† â€Å"Joy, stop it. I know you're making this stuff up.† She dropped the brass instrument to her side. â€Å"I am not.† â€Å"Yes, you are.† And here I thought I'd push my credibility a bit, just to see. â€Å"I checked the yang in this room yesterday. It is in perfect balance.† Joy dropped to her hands and knees, crawled under one of the huge carved dragon tables, curled up into a ball, and began to cry. â€Å"I'm no good at this. Balthasar wants us all to know it, but I've never understood it. If you want the Elegant Torture of a Thousand Pleasant Touches, I can do it, you want someone poisoned, castrated, or blown up, I'm your man, but this feng shui stuff is just, just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Stupid?† I supplied. â€Å"No, I was going to say difficult. Now I've angered Balthasar and we have no way of knowing what is happening between him and Joshua. And we must know.† â€Å"I can find out,† I said, polishing my nails on my tunic. â€Å"But I have to know why I'm finding out.† â€Å"How will you find out?† â€Å"I have ways that are more subtle and crafty than all your Chinese alchemy and direction of energies.† â€Å"Now who's making things up?† I'd lost most of my credibility by dragging out the arcane-Hebrew-knowledge-for-sexual-favors ruse until I had actually claimed credit for receiving the tablets of the Ten Commandments as well as constructing the Ark of the Covenant. (What? It's not my fault. Joshua was the one who would never let me be Moses when we were kids.) â€Å"If I find out, will you tell me what is going on?† The head concubine chewed at an elegantly lacquered nail as she thought about it. â€Å"You promise not to tell anyone if I tell you? Not even your friend Joshua?† â€Å"I promise.† â€Å"Then do what you will. But remember your lessons from The Art of War.† I considered the words of Sun-tzu, which Joy had taught me: Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby, you can be the director of the opponent's fate. So after considering strategy carefully, running and rejecting the various scenarios in my head, working out what seemed a nearly foolproof plan, and making sure the timing was perfect, I went into action. That very night, as I lay in my bed and Joshua in his, I called forth all my powers of subtlety and mysteriousness. â€Å"Hey Josh,† I said. â€Å"Balthasar sodomizing you?† â€Å"No!† â€Å"Vice versa?† â€Å"Absolutely not!† â€Å"You get the feeling he'd like to?† He was quiet for a second, then he said, â€Å"He's been very attentive lately. And he giggles at everything I say, why?† â€Å"Because Joy says it's not good if he falls in love with you.† â€Å"Well, it's not if he's expecting any sodomizing, I'll tell you that. That's going to be one disappointed magus.† â€Å"No, worse than that. She won't tell me what, but it's really, really bad.† â€Å"Biff, I realize you may not think so, but from my way of thinking, sodomizing the Son of God is really, really bad.† â€Å"Good point. But I think she means something to do with whatever is behind the iron door. Until I find out, you have to keep Balthasar from falling in love with you.† â€Å"I'll bet he was myrrh,† said Josh. â€Å"Bastard, he brings the cheapest gift and now he wants to sodomize me. My mother told me the myrrh went bad after a week too.† Did I mention that Joshua was not a myrrh fan?

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Harper Lee’s Influence on Scout

Harper Lee grew up in Monroeville, Alabama where girls were expected to be ladies, Harper Lee was just the opposite, a tomboy, and she wrote her famous novel â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird† based upon her childhood experiences. Harper Lee made her main character Scout to be very similar to her. Harper Lee created the town of Maycomb with features almost exactly like Monroeville. Harper Lee based Scout’s father Atticus after her own father Amasa Coleman Lee. Harper Lee based her book â€Å"To Kill A Mockingbird† about her own childhood because she thought an author should write what he knows. Harper Lee was a strong early reader and similarly so was Scout. â€Å"As a child, Harper Lee was an avid reader, similar to Scout's own ability to read before starting school. † (To Kill a Mockingbird). Another thing that both Scout and Harper Lee had in common was they were both tom boy rule breakers. â€Å"As a child, Harper Lee was an unruly tomboy. She fought on the playground. She talked back to teachers. She was bored with school and resisted any sort of conformity† (The Big Read). Just the same Scout fought with Cecil and Francis. Both Harper Lee and Scout live in a town’s that are very representative of each other. The town of Maycomb is very much so based upon Lee’s home town of Monroeville. â€Å"The town of Maycomb is modeled after Lee's own home town. The schoolyard in the novel is the same one Lee played in as a child. And the Maycomb courtroom is the Monroeville courtroom down to the last detail. She patterned her characters' speech after the Southern dialect she grew up with. She also looked to the citizens of Monroeville when setting up her cast of characters. (Reading about race and membership in America). The childhood best friends Dill and Truman were the neighbors of Scout and Harper Lee. Harper Lee’s good friend and neighbor growing up was a boy named Truman Capote whom Lee based Dill, the best friend and neighbor of Scout. â€Å"Dill, for example, is patterned after one of her childhood friends, Truman Capote† (Reading about race and membership in America). Another c haracter Lee based off of her childhood was her father, creating Atticus Finch. The character Atticus Finch is a representation of Harper Lee’s father Amasa Coleman Lee. Both men were lawyers who represented black men, and lost their cases unfairly due to race. Harper Lee’s father represented two men accused of murder, he lost the case and both clients were killed. â€Å"He once defended two black men accused of murdering a white storekeeper. Both clients, a father and son, were hanged. † (The Big Read). Harper Lee based her novel around her life, there are many similarities found within her book that are directly related to her life. Upon the thoughts that an author should base his writings upon what he know, Harper Lee based her novel â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† loosely around her childhood. Harper Lee created the character Scout with many features to resemble herself as a child. The town of Maycomb was created by Harper Lee as an almost exact replica of her hometown, Monroeville Alabama. Atticus Finch was created to resemble Harper Lee’s father Amasa Coleman Lee and the two have many similarities. Harper Lee only created this one book â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† she never expected to get this much attention for her works.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Ultraviolet Radiation - Definition of Science Terms

Ultraviolet Radiation - Definition of Science Terms Ultraviolet radiation is another name for ultraviolet light. It is a part of the spectrum outside the visible range, just beyond the visible violet portion. Ultraviolet Radiation Definition Ultraviolet radiation is electromagnetic radiation or light having a wavelength greater than 100 nm but less than 400 nm. It is also known as UV radiation, ultraviolet light, or simply UV. Ultraviolet radiation has a wavelength longer than that of x-rays but shorter than that of visible light. Although ultraviolet light is energetic enough to break some chemical bonds, it is not (usually) considered a form of ionizing radiation. The energy absorbed by molecules can provide the activation energy to start chemical reactions and may cause some materials to fluoresce or phosphoresce. The word ultraviolet means beyond violet. Ultraviolet radiation was discovered by the German physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter in 1801. Ritter noticed invisible light beyond the violet portion of the visible spectrum darkened silver chloride treated paper more quickly than violet light. He called the invisible light oxidizing rays, referring to the chemical activity of the radiation. Most people used the phrase chemical rays until the end of the 19th century, when heat rays became known as infrared radiation and chemical rays became ultraviolet radiation. Sources of Ultraviolet Radiation About 10 percent of the light output of the Sun is UV radiation. When sunlight enters the Earths atmosphere, the light is about 50% infrared radiation, 40% visible light, and 10% ultraviolet radiation. However, the atmosphere blocks about 77% of solar UV light, mostly in shorter wavelengths. Light reaching the Earths surface is about 53% infrared, 44% visible, and 3% UV. Ultraviolet light is produced by black lights, mercury-vapor lamps, and tanning lamps. Any sufficiently hot body emits ultraviolet light (black-body radiation). Thus, stars hotter than the Sun emit more UV light. Categories of Ultraviolet Light Ultraviolet light is broken into several ranges, as described by ISO standard ISO-21348: Name Abbreviation Wavelength (nm) Photon Energy (eV) Other Names Ultraviolet A UVA 315-400 3.103.94 long-wave, black light (not absorbed by ozone) Ultraviolet B UVB 280-315 3.944.43 medium-wave (mostly absorbed by ozone) Ultraviolet C UVC 100-280 4.4312.4 short-wave (completely absorbed by ozone) Near ultraviolet NUV 300-400 3.104.13 visible to fish, insects, birds, some mammals Middle ultraviolet MUV 200-300 4.136.20 Far ultraviolet FUV 122-200 6.2012.4 Hydrogen Lyman-alpha H Lyman- 121-122 10.1610.25 spectral line of hydrogen at 121.6 nm; ionizing at shorter wavelengths Vacuum ultraviolet VUV 10-200 6.20124 absorbed by oxygen, yet 150-200 nm can travel through nitrogen Extreme ultraviolet EUV 10-121 10.25124 actually is ionizing radiation, although absorbed by the atmosphere Seeing UV Light Most people cannot see ultraviolet light, however, this is not necessarily because the human retina cant detect it. The lens of the eye filters UVB and higher frequencies, plus most people lack the color receptor to see the light. Children and young adults are more likely to perceive UV than older adults, but people missing a lens (aphakia) or who have had a lens replaced (as for cataract surgery) may see some UV wavelengths. People who can see UV report it as a blue-white or violet-white color. Insects, birds, and some mammals see near-UV light. Birds have true UV vision, as they have a fourth color receptor to perceive it. Reindeer are an example of a mammal that sees UV light. They use it to see polar bears against snow. Other mammals use ultraviolet to see urine trails to track prey. Ultraviolet Radiation and Evolution Enzymes used to repair DNA in mitosis and meiosis are believed to have developed from early repair enzymes that were designed to fix damage caused by ultraviolet light. Earlier in Earths history, prokaryotes could not survive on the Earths surface because exposure to UVB caused adjacent thymine base pair to bind together or form thymine dimers. This disruption was fatal to the cell because it shifted the reading frame used to replicate genetic material and produce proteins. Prokaryotes that escaped protective aquatic life developed enzymes to repair thymine dimers. Even though the ozone layer eventually formed, protecting cells from the worst of the solar ultraviolet radiation, these repair enzymes remain. Sources Bolton, James; Colton, Christine (2008). The Ultraviolet Disinfection Handbook. American Water Works Association. ISBN 978-1-58321-584-5.Hockberger, Philip E. (2002). A History of Ultraviolet Photobiology for Humans, Animals and Microorganisms. Photochemistry and Photobiology. 76 (6): 561–569. doi:10.1562/0031-8655(2002)0760561AHOUPF2.0.CO2Hunt, D. M.; Carvalho, L. S.; Cowing, J. A.; Davies, W. L. (2009). Evolution and spectral tuning of visual pigments in birds and mammals. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 364 (1531): 2941–2955. doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0044

Monday, November 4, 2019

Annual Report of Alto Metals Limited Free-Samples for Students

In your Evaluation of the Company’s Performance, you should take account of Relevant Information in the Annual Reports Explanations for the level of Profits generated from assets and how the level varied annually between 2014 and 2016. The overall assets of Alto Metals are mainly evaluated in the essay, where the company’s overall return on assets is being evaluated. The overall annual report of Alto Metals Limited is mainly identified as the most viable document, which depicts the financial position of the company. However, the company mainly aims in discovering and acquiring gold mines for improving its profitability mining company. The company also aims for searching uranium object, which could develop more uranium mining facilities. The company has mainly conducted projects for search new depicts and mining for gold. Moreover, the revenue of the company has mainly increased from 2014; however, a sudden decline was witnessed in 2016. The company does not have any kind of constant revenue, which could support its constant increase in expenditure. The overall return on assets of the company has mainly improved from 2013 to 2016. Where the first ROA was mainly at -11.39%, -44.04%, -97.04% and then in 2016 it reached to -25.82%. This overall return on assets has mainly depicted efficiency of the company to utilise its assets. In addition, the improvement of ROA is mainly identified during 2016, where a decline in retune on assets from -97.04% went to -25.82%. The improvement in return on asset is seen to increase by 73.4% in 2016 as compared to 2015. This mainly suggested that increased improvement depicted by ROA states the effective measures taken by the company to support its activities. Weygandt, Kimmel & Kieso (2015) stated that investors by using the return on assets could effective identify efficiency of the company to attain the required revenue by using the same capital. On the other hand, Damodaran (2016) criticises that ROA does not allow the investors to determine the risk associated with investment and only portray the level of revenue attained by deploying certain fixed assets. The three-asset category and one income statement category could be evaluated, before actually seeing the return on assets of the company. The asset class, which needs effective inspection, are cash, property, and inventories. The evaluation of these three categories is mainly essential by the investors before seeing the return on assets. In addition, the income statement that needs to be evaluated is the sale of goods and products.   The overall evaluation of cash, property, and inventories could mainly help the identifying the financial capability of the company. Vogel (2014) mentioned that evaluation of inventory could mainly allow the investor in identify the overall capital blockage in inventory store. On the other hand, Damodaran (2016) criticises that the evaluation of inventory does not allows the investor to detect the actual financial position; instead it helps in depicting ht cash generating capacity of the company. There is relevant different scale from 1-10, which could be used in valuing the overall return on assets of Alto Metals Limited. In addition, the return on assets of Alto Metals Limited is mainly at -25.82%, which could be rated in the scale of 1. This scale 1 mainly depicts that overall results of retune on assets is very unsatisfactory. This unsatisfactory outcome is mainly due to the negative ROA of Alto Metals Limit. The company has not being conducting any kind of sales from 2012 to 21016, which is mainly declining its ability to utilise its assets. In addition, relative decline in total assets could also be witnessed, which is due to the sales of asset conducted by the company during 2016 fiscal year (Vogel, 2014). There are relevantly no ratios, which could be identified from annual report of Alto Metals Limit in 2016. This financial information of the company has effectively reflected in the real world, as no revenue was generated from operations, which led to loss. The company effectively uses Accounting policies which is been laid down by AASB. There is not significant change in the overall accounting policies. Furthermore, the Director and CEO Reports mainly depict the loses, which is continuously incurred by the company due to non-commencement of adequate operations. There is no limitation of the financial statement of the company as, it complies with all the relevant accounting method, which is been depicted by the AASB (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2013). Brigham, E. F., & Ehrhardt, M. C. (2013).  Financial management: Theory & practice. Cengage Learning. Damodaran, A. (2016).  Damodaran on valuation: security analysis for investment and corporate finance  (Vol. 324). John Wiley & Sons. Deboeck, G., & Kohonen, T. (Eds.). (2013).  Visual explorations in finance: with self-organizing maps. Springer Science & Business Media. Overview, C., Secretary, D., Directory, C., Shareholders, T., Governance, C., & Information, I. et al. (2017).  Focus on gold exploration in Australia | WA Mining.  Gold Focussed WA Mining Exploration Company. Retrieved 29 April 2017, from https://altometals.com.au/ Vogel, H. L. (2014).  Entertainment industry economics: A guide for financial analysis. Cambridge University Press. Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., & Kieso, D. E. (2015).  Financial & Managerial Accounting . John Wiley & Sons.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Henry Adams Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Henry Adams - Research Paper Example Adams was in a Classical sense a man of intellectual temperament, and the literature created by him extends a true insight into the intricacies and complexities of his time. Life Henry Adams was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on 16 February 1838 (Adams 17). His father, Charles Francis Adams was a writer and an influential diplomat (Adams 19). Henry’s mother was Abigail Brown Brooks (Adams 19). Henry Adams was the grandson of the sixth American President, John Quincy Adams, and the great grandson of John Adams, the second American president (Adams 21). There is no denying the fact Henry was born in an environment marked by opportunity, influence and accomplishment. Henry was definitely influenced by this propitious family standing, which facilitated certain advantages to young Henry. It is said that Henry Adams used to spend a significant time in summers, at his grandfather’s home, which was known to be a hub of culture and wealth. The personal library at the disposal of Adams family was considered to be the largest collections of books on varied subjects and topics in those times (Adams 41). Henry Adams spent hours in the family library, satisfying his voracious appetite for knowledge, by reading books on a variety of subjects like astronomy, the Roman and Greek literature, physics, politics and mathematics (Adams 41). It goes without saying that young Henry’s readings extended to him a sound grounding in the essentials of Western civilization. Henry also accrued ample exposure to the intricacies of politics and diplomacy, courtesy his father’s position as a congressman and a politician, and a Vice Presidential candidate in 1848 (Adams 43). Henry joined Harvard in 1854 and turned out to be an able student (Adams 47). However, it needs to be mentioned in those times marked by rigid college regulations, Henry managed to avoid being a stringent conformist (Adams 46). Henry was chosen the Class Day Orator on his graduation in 1858 (Adams 49). He also used to write for Harvard Magazine and tried a hand at acting in Hasty Pudding Club (Adams 49). The very fact that Henry Adams graduated sans any academic distinction made it difficult for people fathom the depth and extent of his knowledge and versatility. Henry went to Germany to study law; however, his lack of proficiency in German led him to travelling across Europe for two years (Adams 64). When Henry Adams returned to America, his father got appointed by President Lincoln as a minister to Great Britain (Adams 21). In the mean time, while Henry left with his father, as his secretary, to England, the Civil War had already begun (Adams 21). Henry Adams aspired to solicit a commission in the army, but at the request of Charles, his elder brother, who was himself an army officer, Henry decided to stay in England to support the Union cause (Adams 83). During this time, as a writer, Henry got published some reports in the New York Times. During his stay in England, Henr y Adams also met John Stuart Mill and Sir Charles Lyell, who urged him to study the works of Herbert Spencer and Auguste Comte (Adams 101). These readings were to reorient the mindset of Adams towards science, economics and politics. During this time Henry also managed to get published three well received articles in North American Review (Adams 103). On his return to America in 1868, Henry Adams actively served as a reporter in many news papers. He aspired to be an avid commentator on and critic of his times. In 1870 he left for Boston to serve as