Thursday, December 26, 2019

Definition and Examples of Hypercorrection in English

Hypercorrection (pronounced HI-per-ke-REK-shun) is a  pronunciation, word form, or grammatical construction produced by mistaken analogy with standard usage out of a desire to be correct. In some cases, hypercorrection may be a sign of language change. For example, in Understanding Language Use in the Classroom (2014), Susan Behrens points out that a hypercorrection such as Whom is it? would be rejected by everyone. However, Who did you see? would be rated by many as acceptable, even correct. Examples and Observations [H]ypercorrection crucially is motivated by the relationship between different dialects or languages--or rather by the relationship between these as perceived by their speakers.In many case, speakers focus on differences in prestige. Speakers of less prestigious dialects try to imitate a more prestigious one by adaptations in their pronunciation. . . .As the result of a variety of sound changes and analogical developments, English at a certain stage had two competing forms of the so-called gerund, a form in -ing (as in going) and a form in -en (as in goen). At a later stage, Standard English leveled out the form in -ing at the expense of -en. Many nonstandard dialects generalized -en, instead. This difference has since become one of the major features distinguishing standard from nonstandard English, and the use of the form in -en is often referred to as dropping ones gs. As speakers who drop their gs try to speak the prestige dialect, they replace their -en by -ing. And again, in ma ny cases they go too far and extend their substitution to words like taken (as in I have taking it). (Hans Henrich Hock and Brian D. Joseph, Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship. Walter de Gruyter, 1996)I heard a good one on the preacher last week. You know somebody got into his barn a while ago, and stole every blessed chicking he had to his name. (Fred Lewis Pattee, The House of the Black Ring: A Romance of the Seven Mountains, 1905) Whomever [W]e saw a t-shirt proclaiming I am for whomever beats Harvard. The whomever usage is nonstandard in this sentence since the pronoun is the subject of the predicate beats Harvard. Such overuse of supposedly correct words, pronunciation, or structure is called hypercorrection. If you dont quite know the way whom should be used, but believe that it is more prestigious than who, you might indeed overuse it. (Susan J. Behrens and Rebecca L. Sperling, Language Variation: Students and Teachers Reflect on Accents and Dialects. Language in the Real World: An Introduction to Linguistics, ed. by Susan J. Behrens and Judith A. Parker. Routledge, 2010)My friend, you are yesterday. Whomever pulled off this caper is tomorrow. (Robert Vaughn as Ross Webster in Superman III, 1983) The Use of I for Me and Whom for Who Perhaps the most common example of hypercorrectness is the use of I for me in a compound subject: between you and I. Other common hypercorrect forms include whom for who, as for like (She, as any other normal person, wanted to be well thought of), the ending -ly where it doesnt belong (Slice thinly), some verb forms (lie for lay, shall for will), and many pronunciations. (W. R. Ebbit and D. R. Ebbitt, Writers Guide. Scott, 1978)She had very little to say to Cathy and I.Whom are we inviting to the party?The phrase between you and I looks like a hypercorrection (and is confidently described as such by some) starting with latter-day harping by school teachers on such supposed errors as It is me. But between you and I is far too ancient and persistent to be any such thing. (A. Sihler, Language History: An Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000) False Plurals [T]he attempt to foist proper Greek and Latin plurals has bred pseudo-erudite horrors such as axia (more than one axiom), peni, rhinoceri, and [octopi]. It should be . . . octopuses. The -us in octopus is not the Latin noun ending that switches to -i in the plural, but the Greek pous (foot). (Steven Pinker, Words and Rules. Basic, 1999) The Grammar of Anxiety Who is to give [schoolchildren] warning signals about the whole Grammar of Anxiety, which springs from the chronic fear of being thought uneducated or banal and coins such things as more importantly, he invited Mary and I, when I was first introduced, and the end result? (Alistair Cooke, The Patient Has the Floor. Alfred A. Knopf, 1986) Virus Theory The key construct of Virus Theory [a term coined by linguist Nicolas Sobin, 1997] is the grammatical virus, which is envisaged as a surface rule that is acquired relatively late (for example during schooling). The effect of a virus is to trigger (or license) a prestige usage that core grammar would not normally be expected to produce. . . .Unlike normal grammatical rules, viruses typically make reference to specific lexical items. Consider, for example, the It was/is I construction that is sometimes found in prestige English usage. The nominative case form of the post-copular pronoun in this construction clearly diverges from the unmarked pattern, according to which post-copular position correlates with accusative case. . . . We can thus infer that the rule that allows It was/is I in prestige varieties is an addition to the basic usage. (Nigel Armstrong and Ian E. Mackenzie, Standardization, Ideology and Linguistics. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) Labov-Hypercorrection Labov-hypercorrection [is a] secular linguistic term associated with the embedding problem in which style stratification of marker is such that (usually) the second highest status group in a speech community uses higher status variants in formal styles more frequently than the highest status group. This linguistic behaviour can be interpreted as being the result of linguistic insecurity. Labov-hypercorrection should be distinguished from hypercorrection, whch is a feature of the speech of individuals. Labov-hypercorrection is term which is due to the British linguist J.C. Wells, who suggested that it was necessary to distinguish terminologically between individual hypercorrection and group hypercorrection of the type first described by William Labov in his research in New York City. (Peter Trudgill, A Glossary of Sociolinguistics. Oxford University Press, 2003)

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Analysis Of The Film 3 Of Yuma - 920 Words

In the film â€Å"3:10 to Yuma† emphasizes a family of four going through a downside, and in order to recover back his home, save the town, is to be a hero. The hero needs to catch the suspect that is ruining the town, and killing innocent people. Therefore, the suspect needs to be escorted to a train that goes to Yuma, but it only comes at a certain time, which is at 3:10 pm. That hero is Dan Evans that has a lot of experience with weapons because he comes from the civil war. Also Evans has a missing leg that prevents him from doing things that he cannot do before. However, he has a son name William Evans that looks up to him, but Dan manages a way to save the town, so he can have a happy family. Ben wade is the killer that is looking for trouble, along with his crew, and also has escaped from prison twice. Although, in reality not all heroes wear capes or have super powers, but has a mind that can control the situation to help out the community, for a happy life. A hero is does not have to apply to a fairytale, movie, or a book, but a person, who likes to help out an individual, or the community from killing, raping, or even bullying. In the beginning of the movie Evans noticed gun shots outside of his ranch, and he saw part of place was getting burn. He knew who was the person, and was disappointed because he owed money, but he manages somehow to payback. Linda Seger points out â€Å"Generally, the hero begins as a non-hero; innocent, young, simple, or humble† (PG 2) Therefore,Show MoreRelatedDiscourse on Method Essay example3627 Words   |  15 Pagesmedia (xi) for the invention of new methods of academic research and the production of new kinds of texts. Theory, Ulmer notes, is assimilated into the humanities in two principal ways - by critical interpretation and by artistic experiment (3). Heuretics, then, is to be contrasted with hermeneutics. The relevant question for heuretic reading is not the one guiding criticism (according to the theories of Freud, Marx, Wittgenstein, Derrida, and others: What might be the meaningRead MoreAlternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism21967 Words   |  88 PagesConflict to Co-operation Potential (PCCP): Water for Peace,† and was made possible by the generous financial assistance of the Japanese government. CONTENTS Summary 1. Introduction and Overview 2. The ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) Spectrum 3. Negotiation: Principles and Procedures 3.1. Competitive and Integrative Models 3.2. Principles 3.3. Skills 3.4. Cultural and Identity Aspects 3.5. Psychological Aspects 3.5.1. Psychological Traps 3.6. International Negotiation 3.7. Negotiations OverRead MoreStephen P. Robbins Timothy A. Judge (2011) Organizational Behaviour 15th Edition New Jersey: Prentice Hall393164 Words   |  1573 Pages658.3—dc23 2011038674 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN 10: 0-13-283487-1 ISBN 13: 978-0-13-283487-2 Brief Contents Preface xxii 1 2 Introduction 1 What Is Organizational Behavior? 3 The Individual 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Diversity in Organizations 39 Attitudes and Job Satisfaction 69 Emotions and Moods 97 Personality and Values 131 Perception and Individual Decision Making 165 Motivation Concepts 201 Motivation: From Concepts to Applications 239 3 The Group 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 FoundationsRead MoreAn Introduction to Hydrophonics and Controlled Environment Agriculture40110 Words   |  161 Pagesand Nutrient Solutions Greenhouse Site Selection Greenhouse Structures Greenhouse Control Systems Greenhouse Energy and Resource Alternatives â€Å"Greening† the Greenhouse Greenhouse Marketing, Economics Business Plans Appendices CHAPTER 2: CHAPTER 3: CHAPTER 4: CHAPTER 5: CHAPTER 6: CHAPTER 7: CHAPTER 8: CHAPTER 9: CHAPTER 10: CHAPTER 11: CHAPTER 12: CHAPTER 13: CHAPTER 14: CHAPTER 15: CHAPTER 16: Disclaimer: Any reference or mention of commercial products or companies in this manual is

Monday, December 9, 2019

Elaborate Rehearsal free essay sample

Elaborate Rehearsal Elaborate rehearsal is a good way to help people memorize new things (knowledge or hard concept). It is a technique to remember some hard stuff, and is much more effective and efficient than just reciting information repeatedly. The information organized in our mind is based on a schema; a schema is a collection of linked concepts. When we think about one thing we will also think about something else that relates to it. For example, talking about coffee, we will also mention sugar and cream; talking about penile, we will think about lead and eraser. Then, let’s talk about concept accessibility. It influences our ability of picking the information, which has already existed in our mind. There are three important factors that will influence concept accessibility. First, frequency of access, the more we use a concept, the higher accessibility to this concept we have. Then, emotion significance, some objects may be unforgettable in our mind because of a special experience . We will write a custom essay sample on Elaborate Rehearsal or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Finally, recent of access, if we talk about one things a lot recently, this object will have a high accessibility. Elaborate rehearsal was based on the concept of accessibility and schema. When we trying to memorize some hard formula or concept, we can try to use something relate to it to help us remember. For example, in China, a high school teacher writes a chemical song to help student memorize chemical formula. The melody comes from a famous popular song. The popular music has a very high accessibility. By this way, students can memorize these formula much more easily than just recite. There is also a Brain Song in Youtube, it helps us to remember our brain’s structure and functions. Learning a new language is always a tough process, and vocabulary was the most difficult part. People came up with several good ways to recite vocabulary, like using etyma and affix. For example, lunar was the affix of moon, the words used this affix including sublunary, superlunary etc. Sublunary was component by sub and lunar, which means under the moon, we can easily relate this word with the mortal world. Superlunarysuper moon, its sounds like something crazy, so we can conclude its means unreasonable. Finally, think about how we learn biology in high school. How did we learn human being’s body structure? Teachers always showed us some picture of human’s body and organ or using a model to bring students a deep impression. Elaborate rehearsal is remembering something by using the information we are familiar and related to encode new information.

Monday, December 2, 2019

The American Dream and the American Negro free essay sample

How free were free blacks in the North? This is a question many of us have asked ourselves. This is a question that is opinion based really; it depends on what you think. I believe that they weren’t free enough. Sure they were ‘free’ but they weren’t free to do as much as the whites could so technically they weren’t free enough. I believe that they were not free enough because they couldn’t do as much as the whites. The ‘free’ blacks in the north were not free enough with their political freedoms. They did not have the right to vote so they were not free with the whites; they also could not be president. Just because they were a different color the whites looked at them differently and they could not do anywhere near as much with them in the political fields. Therefore the ‘free’ blacks were not free enough, with the politics they also could not do anything with the political freedoms such as being the legislative branch and other branches. We will write a custom essay sample on The American Dream and the American Negro or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With the political freedoms not being free enough the economic freedoms weren’t good either.Furthermore, the economic freedoms were not free enough either. The ‘free’ blacks had a hard time owning their own property because they had a hard time getting a job because they were â€Å"different† because they were black and not the normal white. Just because they were a different color they had to be treated differently. They could barely get a job at the simplest place to work because they were ‘free’ but not free enough for this reason. With not being free enough in both the political and economic freedoms they were also not free enough in their social freedoms.Lastly, the social freedoms that they had were no better than the economic and political. Their social life was not good at all, they couldn’t eat a restaurant with the whites, and they had to be put on the other side of the restaurant. The blacks couldn’t even go to church with the whites. The blacks had to have their own church built for them so that they could do what they wanted instead of learning the same ways of the whites with their religion ways. In conclusion, the blacks were not free enough. They should have been able to do whatever a white man/ woman could do, but no, they had to have their own rules of being free. The free blacks in the north were not free enough. They should be able to do whatever as long as it was the same law-abiding as the whites had. Therefore I believe that the free blacks were not free enough in the north because they had different rules than the whites had which I find not to be very fair.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Essay Example

Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Essay Example Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Paper Ways of Forming New Words in a Language Paper ABSTRACT In the framework of the course Linguistics I, I am assigned to do a coursework on the subject of word formation. An introduction and definition of the processes used for the creation of new words as well as explicit examples in more than a language are included. Language has become an important issue all over the world today. It is a well known historical fact that all languages are constantly in a state of change. In linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new word. Word formation is sometimes contrasted with semantic change, which is a change in a single word’s meaning. The line between word formation and semantic change is sometimes a bit blurry ; what one person views as a new use of an old word, another person might view as a new word derived from an old one and identical to it in form. Word formation can also be contrasted with the formation of idiomatic expressions, though sometimes words can form from mueti-word phrases. The study of the internal structure of words, and of the rules by which words are formed, is called morphology. This word comes the traditional term for the most elemental unit of grammatical form which is the morpheme(From kin and Rodman, R 1998). A word is not a simple sequence of morphemes but has a hierarchical structure. In every language, there are morphological rules that determine how morphemes combine to from new words. According to Fromkin, V. and Rodman, R (1998) a word consists of one or more morphemes. Lexical content morphemes that cannot be analyzed into smaller parts are called root morphemes. When a root morpheme is combined with affix morphemes it forms a stem. Other affixes can be added to a stem to form a more complex stem. Some morphemes are bound in that they must be joined to other morphemes, are always parts of words and never words by the themselves. Other morphemes are free in that they need not to be attached to other morphemes. For instance, free, king, bore are free morphemes while – dom (as in freedom, kingdom, boredom) is a bound morpheme. Affixes, that is prefixes, suffixes, infixes and circumfixes, are bound morphemes. Prefixes occur before, suffixes after, infixes in the middle of, and circumfixes around stems. Lexical content or root morphemes constitute the major word classes – nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. These are open class items because their classes are easily added to. Morphological rules of word formation are complex. Here follows a simplistic schema of a frequent classification of morphological processes. Morphological processes Inflectional processes lexical processes Affixes erivational compounding processes other processes coinage Affixes Back formation conversion Suffixes Blending Prefixes Acronyms Eponyms (Words from names) Infixes Neologisms Borrowing Clipping (Abbreviations) (loanwords) Circumfixes Back Fore Middle Complex clipping clipping clipping clipping Inflectional morphemes are determined by the rules of syntax. They are added to complete words, whether simple monomorphemic words or complex polymorphemic words (i. e. words with more than one morpheme). Inflectional morphemes never change the syntactic category of the word. Some grammatical morphemes are inserted into sentences according to the syntactic structure. For example: In English, the past tense morpheme (: comfortable meaning â€Å"cosy† and uncomfortable which is the antonym, meaning â€Å"not cosy†. In French, the prefix im– gives a negative meaning to a word, as well. For example, the word possible meaning â€Å"likely to happen† prefixed by im- (impossible) means the opposite that is â€Å"unlikely to happen†. In Greek, if the prefix ? is added to the word  «  » we have the word  «  » which has the opposite meaning. A derived word may also be in a different grammatical class than the underived word. When a verb in English for example is suffixed with –able the result is an adjective such as desire + able> desirable. Respectively, in French we have adore + able > adorable (adjective) and in Greek, if the verb is suffixed with – , we have the verbal adjective . The changes made in grammatical classes are: from Noun to adjective English French Greek Boy + ish enfant + in + Verb to Noun: English French Greek Sing + er chant + eur + Adjective to Adverb: English French Greek Exact + ly exact + ement + Noun to Verb English French Greek Moral + ize moral + iser + Adjective to Noun English French Greek Tall + ness grand + eur o + Verb to Adjective English French Greek Creat + ive cre + atif + The other lexical process is compounding which is combining words together to form a compound word. An endocentic compound consists of a head, i. e. the categorical part that contains the basic meaning of the whole compound, and modifiers, which restrict this meaning. For example, the English compound â€Å"doghouse† where house is the head and dog is the modifier, is understood as a house intended for a dog. Obviously, an endocentric compound tends to be of the same part of speech (word class) as its head. For example: English French Greek railway chemin de fer Exocentric compounds do not have a head and their meaning often cannot be transparently guessed from its constituent parts. For example, the English compound white collar is neither a kind of collar nor a white thing. In an exocentric compound, the word class is determined lexically, disregarding the class of the constituents. For example, a must have is not a verb but a noun. In French, compound nouns are often formed by lefts: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Know-nothing grille-pain – Compounding is a common and frequent process for enlarging the vocabulary of all languages. Acronyms, initialisms and alphabetisms are abbreviations written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. New acronyms are freely produced, particularly for names of organizations. Acronyms pronounced as sequences of letters can be called alphabetisms. Many acronyms are pronounced as words for example radar from radio detecting and ranging. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK U. N for United Nations N. U for Nations Unies ?.? for Clipping is the word formation process which consists in the reduction of a word to one of its parts (Marchand: 1969). This process is sometimes called abbreviations. Clipping mainly consists of the following types:1) Back clipping 2) Fore –clipping 3) Middle clipping 4) Complex clipping. Back clipping: It is the most common type in which the beginning is retained. The unclipped original may be either a simple or a composite. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Doc (doctor) tele (television) ( ) Fore clipping: Here, the final part is retained. ENGLISH FRENCH GREEK Phone (telephone) bus (autobus) ( Middle clipping The middle of the word is retained. Examples: ENGLISH FRENCH Flu (influenza) frigo (refrigerateur) Complex clipping: clipped forms are also used in compounds. One part of the original compound most often remains intact. For example op art stands for optical art, in English. Sometimes both halves of a compound are clipped, as in navicert (navigation certificate) in English. Respectively, in French we have courriel (courrier electronique) for e-mail. In these cases it is difficult to know whether the resultant formation should be treated as a clipping or as a blend since the border between the two types is not always clear. According to Bauer (1993), the easiest way to draw the distinction is to say that those forms which retain compound stress are clipped compounds, whereas those that take simple word stress are not. By this criterion midcult is a compound made of clipping. According to Marchand (1969), clipping are not coined as words belonging to the standard vocabulary of a language. They originate as terms of a special group like schools, army, police, the medical profession etc, in the intimacy of a milieu where a hint is sufficient to indicate the whole. For example, in school slang originated exam (for examination) and tick (et = credit) originated in stock-exchange slang, whereas cap (tain) is an army slang. While clipping terms of some influential groups can pass into common usage, becoming part of the standard language, clipping of a socially unimportant class or group will remain group slang. The process of Back -Formation is the creation of a neologism by reinterpreting an earlier word as a derivation and removing apparent affixes, or more generally, be reconstructing an  «original » form from any kind of derived form ( including abbreviations or inflected forms). The resulting new word is called a back-formation. The simplest case is when a longer form of word pair predates what would usually be the basic form. For example, in English, the noun resurrection was borrowed from Latin and the verb resurrect was then derived from it. We expect the suffix -ion to be added to a verb to create a noun ; when as in this case the suffix is removed from the noun to create the verb, this is a back-formation. Back-formations of borrowed terms generally do not follow the rules of the original language. For example, antipodes, borrowed from Greek via Latin, has the apparent form of a plural noun, and is sometimes treated as such, with antipode taken to mean â€Å"an antipodal point†. The final podes is indeed plural, meaning feet, and the corresponding singular would be transliterated as pous (foot). However antipodes itself is a compound of anti (opposite) and podes (feet). As such, it is not a plural noun at all, and the singular antipous, if it existed at all, would mean  «a substitute foot ». Blending is a combination of only the beginning of one word with the end of another word. For example in English, motel from motor + hotel. In French, Copar from Comite Parisien. Coinage is the least common way among the various ways of creating words. It refers to the invention of totally new words. Specific brand names such as Kleenex, Jell-o, Vaseline are now sometimes used as the generic name for different brands of these types of products. Some of these words were created from existing words: Kleenex from the word clean for example. In Greek the word stands for the headache pills. In French, the brand name Carambar stands for the word caramel. Greek roots borrowed into English have also provided a means for coining new words. Thermos meaning â€Å"hot† + metron meaning â€Å"measure† give us thermometron. Latin, like Greek, has also provided prefixes and suffixes that are used productively with both native and nonnative roots. The prefix ex- comes from Latin: ex-husband in English. Respectively, the prefix hyper- coming from Greek: hypertension, in French. The suffix -able is also Latin, borrowed via French, and can be attached to almost any English verb. For example: readable, movable (Fromkin, V and Rodman, R: 1998). Conversion is a kind of word formation, as well. Specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form. Conversion is more productive in some languages than in others; in English it is a fairly productive process. Often a word of one lexical category (part of speech) is converted from a word of an other lexical category. For example in English a noun can be used as a verb as in the following sentence: He’s papering the room walls. In French, we can have the formation of a noun from another noun: medecine from medecin. Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotable in English; much more remarked upon is verbing, the creation of a verb by converting a noun or other word. Borrowing or loanword: is another process of word formation according to which linguistic elements of non-native origin are taken over and used in the language concerned. For instance, in English we have the word cliche which comes from French. In French, the word pull-over comes from English. In Greek, we extensively use the English word computer instead of the greek one . A neologism (from Greek = new, = word ) is a word, term or phrase which has been recently created ( coined often to apply to new concepts, to synthesize pre-existing concepts, or to make older terminology sound more contemporary. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. For instance the term e-mail, as used today, would be an example of a neologism in English. Similarly, the word courier electronique in French and in Greek, the term . Eponyms or Words from Names: it refers to words that derive from proper names of indivi duals or places. In English, for instance, the word sandwich comes from the name of the forth Earl of Sandwich, who put his food between two slices of bread so that he could eat while he gambled. In French, the word molieresque comes from the name of the famous French writer Moliere. In Greek, the word comes from the famous ancient greek sophist . EPILOGUE Speakers of a language may know tens of thousands of words. Dictionaries include hundreds of thousands of words, all of which are known by some speakers of the language. But no dictionary can list all possible words since it is possible to add to the vocabulary of a language in many ways. There are always gaps in the lexicon-words that are not in the dictionary but that can be added. Some gaps are due to the fact that possible combinations or morphemes have not been made. There are morphological rules in every language that determine how morphemes combine to form new words. According to the analysis made in this assignment, morphological processes consist of inflectional and lexical process. In turn, lexical processes include derivational processes (by adding all kind of affixes ) and other processes such as Back-formation, Acronyms, Borrowing, Clipping, Eponyms, Blending, Conversion, Coinage, Neologisms and Compounding. All these word formation processes result in the richness of the vocabulary of a language. Speakers of a language can easily learn how to analyze a word of their language into its component morphemes, since their mental grammars include a mental lexicon of morphemes and the morphological rules for their combination. However this is not very easy for a learner of a language. Learning the morphological processes of language can be of great help for someone who learns it. REFERENCES Bauer, Laurie (1983). English Word –Formation Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press Fromkin,V. and Rodman, R. (1998). An Introduction to Language, Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College. Larousse, (1988) Grammaire du Francais contemporain France : Paris, Larousse. Marchland, H (1969). The Categories and Types of Present Day English Word-Formation, 2nd ed. Munich: C,H. Oxford English Dictionary. Beck’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung S. A. Thompson (1975). On the Issue of Productivity in the Lexikon , ?. (2000).

Saturday, November 23, 2019

6 Jobs With Amazing Benefits and Perks

6 Jobs With Amazing Benefits and Perks a lot of jobs hover around the same salary range, and seem sort of boring around the edges. if you’re straining to pick what you want to be when you grow up, and you appreciate the quirkier and slightly more original job perks package, then these 6Â  jobs might be for you. 1. flight attendantbeing a flight attendant is kind of like being a waitress in a sealed capsule, traveling very long distances. the people can be grumpy, the job physically demanding, but you also have the benefit of seeing many different parts of the world. there’s good insurance, tuition assistance, excellent travel options like reciprocal travel agreements, and you won’t ever have to work a typical 9-5. the job can be demanding, both physically and emotionally, but it will rarely be boring.2. circus artistfew people can threaten to run off and join the circus. but if you happen to have a talent or penchant for physical theatre or performance, and the chutzpah to make it in this punishing w orld, then it isn’t quite as ridiculous as it might sound. circus performers, though they must be incredibly skilled, make great money, travel widely, and are given generous meal and lodging allowances, not to mention the close knit family of a group of performers on tour. if you have the heart and soul required, it can be an incredibly exciting career.3. journalistobviously, you would need a significant talent for writing, plus the ability to work in a fast-paced high-stress environment. it won’t pay as much as many other sexy fields, but you really can get access to corners of the world you may never have dreamed of. you can see and record things- be at the center of history, and really make a difference writing about things you truly care about.4. radio djif you love music and have an extensive enough collection, you might consider breaking into this field. imagine spending your day spinning your favorite tunes and chatting up a devoted audience. sound like more fun than pushing paper? well it is. you won’t work typical hours, but you’ll get lots of comp tickets and swag, not to mention the ability to meet people in the music industry, and you’ll spend hours and hours listening to the music that you love.5. personal assistantit doesn’t sound as sexy as some other possible careers, but a personal assistant actually gets some great perks for that low salary and high number of hours required to get her job done. the job is demanding, but if you happen to work for someone famous or fantastic, then you’re in for some sweet perks. you could end up tagging along at red carpet events, fancy dinners, epic vacations, and though you might have to work the whole time you are in it, you’ll have a taste of access to the vip world.6. sommelierif you love wine and have a keen nose and palate, this is for you. imagine getting paid to obsess over the tiniest details of the most exquisite wines, and then tasting them, fo r a living. at the master level, you could make a lot of money, but even a new sommelier will have the chance to travel, taste some of the best and rarest wines out there, pair those wines with delicious gourmet food, and chat to people from around the world. the hours are long, but the life is indisputably good for an aspiring enologist.6 careers with great benefits

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Social Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Social Media - Essay Example (2008). (Ed.). IPod and philosophy: iCon of an ePoch. Wittkower D.E. (2008) explains philosophy as a concept that is all about the study of philosophical ideas and their related concepts as applied within a timeframe. In the current times, philosophical perceptions have changed as influenced by the rapidly and ever changing transition in the social media industries. History has proved that initially, artistic/ design merits were largely independent of functionality and productivity. This, with events, has been sidelined as attractive designs are currently perceived as working better and are easier to use. The varied aspects of iPod device, a portable audio player as Wittkower describes it, has philosophical characteristics that creates very close link and therefore greatly influencing the cultural practices of its users in the sense of a new venue for philosophy electronic books, a device of community or isolation among its users. In his book, Wittkower expresses that the new technol ogical inversion used in the development of iPod is a symbolic improvement and creation of change as is and will ever be experienced in the media industry. Inductively, the use of iPod is seen and experienced to unanimously present both the old and young minds as equal in its use by considering such an invention in design and an innovation in technology as a resultant of rapid information, communication, and entertainment technologies to them (users) as individuals, technologically advanced society, and the unique cultural practices in this twenty-first century. The concepts of philosophy and iPod are intertwine with a core relationship of mediation that explains the extent to which this technology together with its users-everyday’s lives and the general economy are dependent; a... In his book, Wittkower expresses that the new technological inversion used in the development of iPod is a symbolic improvement and creation of change as is and will ever be experienced in the media industry. Inductively, the use of iPod is seen and experienced to unanimously present both the old and young minds as equal in its use by considering such an invention in design and an innovation in technology as a resultant of rapid information, communication, and entertainment technologies to them (users) as individuals, technologically advanced society, and the unique cultural practices in this twenty-first century. The concepts of philosophy and iPod are intertwine with a core relationship of mediation that explains the extent to which this technology together with its users-everyday’s lives and the general economy are dependent; a true significance of change. IPod technology has to its highest levels exploited the application of emotions in engagement of its users' experiences , and the seemingly intensified interplay that exists between non-purposeful and purposeful interactivities. In summary, the sole reason of ensuring all the three design aspects is that aesthetically well done designs help users to work even better.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Legal compliance and negotiations skills Assignment - 3

Legal compliance and negotiations skills - Assignment Example Settlement may significantly affect the tax liability of the plaintiff hence its disadvantage. It is also worth noting the potential of the defendant playing hard ball. This may compromise the agreement and provoke further misunderstanding. Besides, it still involves a lawyer who has to be paid hence partial gain from the compensation accrued to the plaintiff. The mediator is always non-partisan and likely to work on acceptable socio-economic and political principles to facilitate mutual understanding between the parties to the dispute. Besides, mediation involves in-depth understanding of underlying factors that may have led to the dispute and make effort to negotiate in respect of the same (Guasco & Robinson, 2007). In that regard, it facilitates truth justice and reconciliation for sustained peace. It is also worth to consider mediation due to its independence from the politics of majority influence hence emphasizes truth and honesty. Despite the overriding preference of mediation in conflict resolution, it lacks judicial support and either of the party may easily opt out thereby stalling the reconciliation process. The mediation team is not secured by the law but acts on voluntary basis and this gives the parties to the dispute leverage to determine their own interest. Mediation is time consuming as it relies on mutual consensus between the parties which may take time to achieve hence prolonged resolution period. This is a dispute resolution tactic that is applicable in the event couples fail to reach agreement through other options like mediation or negotiation and are still interested in out of court settlement. It has advantage in the sense that one can choose an arbitrator in line with the personal lawyer’s recommendation. This will offer the best outcome and deliver quasi-legal ruling. It also saves time by setting strict arbitration process deadline (Guasco & Robinson, 2007). This is made

Sunday, November 17, 2019

City of God vs. The Protestant Reformations Essay Example for Free

City of God vs. The Protestant Reformations Essay Introduction: The belief that God is present to the human mind and soul, and can be found is part of the Christian tradition. Many Christian philosophers seem to regard this as the concern only of specially devout persons and of no interest for philosophical purposes. The evidence for it, they think, it too slender to be taken seriously by academic philosophers without particular interest in religion, who tend to regard anything in the nature of religious experience as suspect. So, philosophical discussions about religion are usually concerned with rational arguments for and against theism, usually of a technical kind. In this article, I want to discuss the Augustine world with the reformist will as proposed by Martin Luther. One of the great cornerstones in the history of Christian thought, The City of God is vital to an understanding of modern Western society and how it came into being. Begun in A.D. 413 by Saint Augustine, the great theologian who was bishop of Hippo, the books initial purpose was to refute the charge that Christianity was to blame for the fall of Rome (which had occurred just three years earlier). Augustines City of God, a monumental work of religious lore, philosophy, and history, was written as a kind of literary tombstone for Roman culture. After the downfall of Rome, Augustine wrote this book to portray the corruption of Romans pursuit of earthly pleasures: grasping for praise, open-handed with their money; honest in the pursuit of wealth, they wanted to hoard glory. Augustine contrasts his condemnation of Rome with an exaltation of Christian culture. The glory that Rome failed to attain will only be realized by citizens of the City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem foreseen in Revelation. On the other hand Hans J. Hillerbrand in his book â€Å"The Protestant Reformation† says When the reformers who had first ventured a new interpretation of the gospel had passed from the scene, the question which had haunted the Reformation from its very inceptionwhere is truth?was still contested by the proponents of the old and the new faith. But one fact was beyond dispute: Western Christendom was tragically dividedinto no less than five religious factions.Though these divisions were the result of intense religious conviction, they could not help but lessen the intensity of religious belief in Europe. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was the last period in the history of Western civilization when men were preoccupied with religion, argued it, fought and even died for it. Its consequences are still with us†. Argument: The two cities in city of God and the two wills in Lutheranism No book except the Bible itself had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than the â€Å"City of God†. Since medieval Europe has been the cradle of todays Western civilization, this work by consequence is vital for an understanding of our world and how it came into being. St. Augustine is often regarded as the most influential Christian thinker after St. Paul, and this book highlights upon a vast synthesis of religious and secular knowledge. It began as a reply to the charge that Christian otherworldliness was causing the decline of the Roman Empire. Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Then he proceeded to his larger theme, a cosmic interpretation of history in terms of the struggle between good and evil: the City of God in conflict with the Earthly City or the City of the Devil. This, the first serious attempt at a philosophy of history, was to have incalculable influence in forming the Western mind on the relations of church and state, and on the Christians place in the temporal order. It is more than a question of setting down on paper a series of abstract principles and then applying them in practice. Christianity is more than a moral code, more than a philosophy, more than a system of rites. Although it is sufficient, in the abstract, to divide the Catholic religion into three aspects and call them creed, code and cult, yet in practice, the integral Christian life is something far more than all this. It is more than a belief; it is a life. That is to say, it is a belief that is lived and experienced and expressed in action. The action in which it is expressed, experienced and lived is called a mystery. This mystery is the sacred drama which keeps ever present in history the Sacrifice that was once consummated by Christ on Calvary. In plain wordsif you can accept them as plainChristianity is the life and death and resurrection of Christ going on day after day in the souls of individual men and in the heart of society. It is this Christ-life, this incorporation into the Body of Christ, this union with His death and resurrection as a matter of conscious experience, that St. Augustine wrote of in his Confessions. But Augustine not only experienced the reality of Christ living in his own soul. He was just as keenly aware of the presence and action, the Birth, Sacrifice, Death and Resurrection of the Mystical Christ in the midst of human society. And this experience, this vision, if you would call it that, qualified him to write a book that was to be, in fact, the autobiography of the Catholic Church. That is what The City of God is. Just as truly as the Confessions are the autobiography of St. Augustine, The City of God is the autobiography of the Church written by the most Catholic of her great saints. Evidently, the treatment of the theme is so leisurely and so meandering and so diffuse that The City of God, more than any other book, requires an introduction. The best we can do here is to offer a few practical suggestions as to how to tackle it. The first of these suggestions is this: since, after all, The City of God reflects much of St. Augustines own personality and is colored by it, the reader who has never met Augustine before ought to go first of all to the Confessions. Once he gets to know the saint, he will be better able to understand Augustines view of society. Then, no one who is not a specialist, with a good background of history or of theology or of philosophy, ought not to attempt to read the City, for the first time, beginning at page one. The living heart of the City is found in Book Nineteen, and this is the section that will make the most immediate appeal to us today because it is concerned with the theology of peace. However, Book Nineteen cannot be understood all by itself. The best source for solutions to the most pressing problems it will raise is Book Fourteen, where the origin of the two Cities is sketched, in an essay on original sin. On the other hand the protestant reformation deals with the religious movement which made its appearance in western Europe in the sixteenth century, and which, while ostensibly aiming at an internal renewal of the church, really led to a great revolt against it, and an abandonment of the principal Christian beliefs. The causes of the great religious revolt of the sixteenth century must be sought as far back as the fourteenth. The doctrine of the church, it is true, had remained pure; saintly lives were yet frequent in all parts of Europe, and the numerous beneficent medieval institutions of the church continued their course uninterruptedly. Whatever unhappy conditions existed were largely due to civil and profane influences or to the exercise of authority by ecclesiastics in civil spheres; they did not obtain everywhere with equal intensity, nor did they always occur simultaneous in the same country. Ecclesiastical and religious life exhibited in many places vigor and variety; works of education and charity abounded; religious art in all its forms had a living force; domestic missionaries were many and influential; pious and edifying literature was common and appreciated. Gradually, however, and largely owing to the variously hostile spirit of the civil powers, fostered and heightened by several elements of the new order, there grew up in many parts of Europe political and social conditions which hampered the free reformatory activities of the church, and favored the bold and unscrupulous, who seized a unique opportunity to let loose all the forces of heresy and schism so long held in check by the harmonious action of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities. Luthers theology is his understanding of God that can be summarized as Gottes Gottheit, which means God is God. In the deepest sense, Luther believes that God is above all and in all. God, through his creative power, reveals that he is free and immutable. He alone can bring life into existence. He alone sustains life. He alone freely wills. Moreover, what God wills can not be impeded or resisted by a mere creature. God is all-powerful and therefore, Gods will is alone immutable. Any person, therefore, that appeals to the freedom of human will attempts to usurp for themselves an attribute that belongs only to God. The free and immutable will of God is, in Luthers writings, fundamental to a right and proper faith. Without it, God is not God and Scripture would, therefore, have to be annulled. In BOW, Luther constantly emphasizes these two characteristics of the will of God and points out their significance for the Faith. In addition, Luther argues that God has two wills as pertains His nature: (1) the revealed will of His word and, (2) the hidden or inscrutable will. These characteristics of Gods will provide the basis for understanding and interpreting Luthers conviction that the human will is enslaved. For Luther, the free will of God is not simply Gods limitless and unobstructed ability to choose between any set of variables in any set of circumstances. Rather, it is Gods unique ability to transcend all these variables and circumstances to perform, or not perform, any action that He desires. Gods will is not contingent upon the will of any other being. In ceaseless activity, God creates the possibilities. As such, the free will of God is most plainly revealed to humanity through His creative acts. God freely chooses to create our present reality and likewise, He freely sustains this reality. In fact, reality does not exist except by the will of God. To this all-encompassing extent then, Luther asserts that God is all in all. Nothing is that God does not declare to be. And, it is this creative power that manifests Gods freedom, His free will. In recognizing Luthers pronounced emphasis on Gods sovereignty, Paul Althaus declares: â€Å"God is the first or principal cause, all others are only secondary or instrumental causes. They are only the tools which he uses in the service of his own autonomous, free, and exclusive working; they are only the masks under which he hides his activity†. The second characteristic of Gods   will that is crucial to Luthers understanding of the bondage of the human will, is its immutability. That is, Gods will can not be changed, altered or impeded. The immutability of Gods will is the logical conclusion to the freedom of Gods will. Gods sovereignty and almighty power demands that whatever God wills happens by necessity. Nothing occurs contingently. Gods will does not act independently of reality, as the human will does, but rather, Gods will creates reality. In Luthers theology, the will of God is not contingent and so likewise, the foreknowledge of God is also not contingent. For whatever God wills, he foreknows and so, whatever He foreknows must, by necessity, happen. For if it did not happen, then God would be fallible and His will contingent which Luther declares is not to be found in God!   It is the immutable will of God, acting freely, that provides the Christian with the assurance of things hoped for (Heb 11:1), namely that the promises of God will be fulfilled. As Luther suggests, the Christians chief and only comfort in every adversity lies in knowing that God does not lie, but brings all things to pass immutably, and that His will cannot be resisted, altered or impeded. Indeed, for Luther, the conviction that Gods will is free and immutable must be central to the Faith. Yet, Luthers theology presents a problem: if God wills everything and everything He wills comes to pass then one must conclude that God wills the salvation of few and the damnation of many (cf. Mt 22:14). Luther answered this dilemma by teaching that God has two wills, the revealed and the hidden. As Luther declares in BOW, Gods decree to damn the undeserving . . . [who are] compelled by natural necessity to sin and perish does indeed seem horrible. Moreover, all rational and philosophical knowledge of God can not avoid the terrible reality of this conclusion, for as Luther concedes, the injustice of God . . . is traduced as such by arguments which no reason or light of nature can resist. Luther understands this horrible decree in light of Gods justice in two ways. For Luther, the answer to these questions is twofold: (1) we must simply believe that Gods justice is righteous because in Christ God has proven His love and compassion and, (2) we should not probe into the hidden or inscrutable will of God wherein God operates paradoxically, i.e. righteousness made evident through unrighteousness. Luthers twofold answer to the questions of damnation reveals a high view of Gods sovereignty and majesty. Moreover, the answer is in accordance with Luthers view that Gods will is uniquely free and immutable. The answer also demands that the Christian simply trust in God. The Christian must believe all that is revealed in Scripture, not merely those things that are pleasant to the senses, and as such, we are compelled to accept the fact that God actively chooses to reject certain people. Nevertheless, if God has said in His Word that He is loving and gracious, and He has revealed himself to be such through His forbearance with the Israelites and the glorious plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, but what right can we judge the manner in which God oversees and sustains the world? For Luther, this is precisely the point at which the Christian must heed the words of God, spoken through the prophet Isaiah: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9). Luther would likewise appeal to Gods answer to Job in Job 38-41 and the words of Paul in Romans 9:20 as yet other examples of the futility of comprehending the incomprehensible and inscrutable will of God. Luther, therefore, answers the critics of predestination and defends Gods decree to affect unbelief in people by appealing to this inscrutable wisdom and will of God, a will that cannot be understood by any attempt of human reason. Because God is God, He has the right to condemn man for sins that God works in Him.10 And so, it is by faith that the Christian simply trusts that God is righteous, loving and gracious in so working. Luther consoles the Christian by exhorting them to look only to the revealed will of God that promises salvation to all who receive Christ. Thus, He does not will the death of a sinner-that is, in His Word; but He wills it by His inscrutable will. At present, however, we must keep in view His Word and leave alone His inscrutable will; for it is by His Word, and not by His inscrutable will, that we must be guided. Yet, for Luther, knowing that God does possess a hidden and inscrutable will of God provides valuable insights for the Christian. The inscrutable will of God tempers the revealed will of God. The doctrine of the free, immutable and inscrutable will of God, therefore, contributes three important foundations to the Christian Faith: (1) God is sovereign, all-powerful and therefore, even evil is under the sway of His goodness and as such, the Christian can be certain that the promises of God will be realized, (2) humanity is not free to earn or demand anything of God and so, Gods gift of salvation can truly be called free and gracious and, (3) the Christian, in response to these truths, is properly humbled and learns, in reverent adoration, to fear God, who acts freely and immutability for His glory. In consequence of his view of Gods will, Luthers view of the human will is necessarily placed in total subjection to the Divine. It is in this respect that Luther stands in contrast to Erasmus. Luthers discussion of this topic is theocentric, beginning with a discussion of God and His attributes whereas Erasmus belies an anthropocentric view, beginning with human experience. For Luther, that Gods will is immutable logically demands that mans will is mutable. For if Gods will is not contingent but immutable and free, no other will can be also be immutable and free otherwise these wills could impede one another and consequently, these wills would no longer be immutable and free but rather, they would be subject to one another. As such, Luther rightly proclaims the inconsistency of the term free will. In Luthers writings, there are three primary considerations to consider in evaluating the characteristics of the human will: (1) the human will is mutable, (2) as a consequence of the Fall, the human will is enslaved to sin and, (3) the human will requires the grace of God, offered through the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ Jesus, to affect any positive change in a persons life. Luthers position on the Divine and human wills was not a small matter to him. In Table-Talk, Luther once stated in regards to his position that I know it to be the truth, though all the world should be against it; yea, the decree of Divine Majesty must stand fast against the gates of hell. The belief that humanity is enslaved to sin and that it is only by sovereign election that God saves a person formed the basis for Luthers conviction of justification by grace through faith. Grace is one the most important principles of biblical interpretation to Luther and no where is divine grace more evident than in the doctrine of election. And, it is this sola gratia principle of Luthers faith that preserves the eternal significance of Christs death and resurrection. It is by his sacrifice, not by our own works, that God graciously extends salvation to the elect. As Luther often remarked, to assert the freedom of the will is to deny the necessity of Christs atoning work. Conclusion Augustine produced a wealth of evidence to prove that paganism bore within itself the seeds of its own destruction. By means of his contrast of the earthly and heavenly citiesthe one pagan, self-centered, and contemptuous of God and the other devout, God-centered, and in search of graceAugustine explored and interpreted human history in relation to eternity. Saint Augustine examines the failure of Roman religion and the flaws in human civilization, thus creating the first Christian philosophy of history. Against the city, i.e., society, of many gods, there is but one alternate society, this Augustine calls The City of God, adopting the expression found in several of King Davids psalms. Not only is the society of many gods the society of polytheists, it is also the city of pantheists, atheistic materialists and philosophical Cynics. In the case of the Cynics and atheists, these false gods are the myriad gods of self, indeed, at least as many gods (selves) as there are believers in them. Thus there are two cities, two loves, two ways to understand the big questions of existence, two destinations. Says Augustine:   The one City began with the love of God; the other had its beginnings in the love of self. XIV:13. The city of man seeks the praise of men, whereas the height of glory for the other is to hear God in the witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own boasting; the other says to God: Thou art my glory, thou liftest up my head. (Psalm 3.4) In the city of the world both the rulers themselves and the people they dominate are dominated by the lust for domination; whereas in the City of God all citizens serve one another in charity. . . References 1. http://www.newadvent.org The Catholic encyclopedia The Journal Of Religion, J. Jeffery Tyler, volume 85, Part 1(2005), pages 317 – 319 Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translation of 2nd edition by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1966 . Luthers Works, Volume 31: Career of the Reformer I. ed. Philip S. Watson. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1957.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

A Recipe for Revolution :: miscellaneous

A Recipe for Revolution Today’s world subjects an individual to many different socio-religious-political influences. Out of those individuals come idealized leaders reinforcing their influences. In the increasing complexity of such memes and their interactions clarity and an understanding of evolutionary paths that is favored by nature-one that results in better survival- has become paramount. An assumption can boldly be made that violent or non violent constituents in the practice of such ideals eventually determine the desirable outcome namely the survival and success in the pursuit. As such one begins to wonder what has happened to non-violence of Gandhian heritage. It seems a dead and irrevocable concept in the turbulent waters of today. If one said its no longer applicable, its not without ground. Let us see how an opposition to Gandhian nonviolence can be mounted. It could have only worked against British A finer point is the fact that any means of non-violence protest is sustainable provided the opposition has a moral value not to cross a certain line. Has it been the case where British practiced shoot or execute anybody who may protest by any means, then Gandhi would have been shot lot earlier, perhaps in the train in South Africa, and there would have been no mahatma or success of non violence. Take Hitler for example. Let alone resisting, even if you try to cooperate with German for the demise of Jews, as a Jew you can be sure you will be shot. Where do you put non-violence against such a tyranny? There is no current conflict scenario where non-violence can be applied It won’t be exaggeration to state that â€Å"almost all the current conflict in the world has an armed oppression against unarmed public.† The statement can be substantiated by following two different points. In the most direct sense it means an authority’s aggression towards specific category of people using the unitary powers they hold which eventually fuel and give birth to an armed opposition or say a revolution. Most importantly on the second sense in any such conflicts, revolution or terrorism, just or unjust, it is the innocent people who are victimized the most. It is in this context we must identify the current conflict scenarios as a new era-new era of violence. What is clear is the fact that the nature of the conflicts in the world has significantly shifted. Not long ago, it used to be fighting a foreigner-imperialist for the independence of native land.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

American Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century

American Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century was a very important era in our country. Imperialism is the acquisition of control over the government and the economy of another nation; usually by conquest. The United States became an imperialistic world power in the late nineteenth century by gaining control over the Hawaiian Island and after the Spanish American War (1898), Guam, the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto Rico. (Davidson, Delay, Heyrman, Lytle & Stoff, 2008) This policy was adopted to keep up with the world powers like Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, and Russia. Compared to the European-style imperialism the possession by conquest American imperialism was said to be more pure because it was done without conquest; it was completed with exportation of products, ideas, and influence. As countries became dependant on industrialism they needed the foreign trade to bring in the capital. Companies within the country could purchase products but that only moved the capital from producer to purchaser within our own economy. Securing the interests of trade was not an easy task as there were five other world empires trying to complete the same goal. Americans preferred the more indirect approach to imperialism, free enterprise. It was a win-win approach for America, everyone stood to gain by the rapid and expanding social and economic networks that were going to be secured. Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan argued that if the US was to be a great nation we needed to protect its interest in the foreign markets. He persuaded Congress to build a new Navy that consisted of large cruisers and battleships that were steam powered vessels made of steal. Congress agreed and the program to rebuild the Navy began in the 1880’s. The United States Navy was the third best in the world by 1900 and now had to means to become an imperial power and protect its vested interests. (Davidson, Delay, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff, 2008) The United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867; the deal was negotiated by William H Seward the Secretary of State and an ardent expansionist who was committed to enhancing the nation’s trade and military standing. We established a presence in Samoa during the 1870’s and the importance of Hawaii was recognized in the early portion of the nineteenth century. By 1875 the US had complete control of Pearl Harbor. American Imperialism grew momentum during the Spanish-American War (1898). The war only lasted four months but it was a turning point for America as it resulted in the acquisition of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. (Gale Encyclopedia, 1999) In 1899 the Anti-Imperialist League was founded. The League was the largest lobbying organization through the nineteenth century; the purpose of this organization was to oppose the US annexation of the Philippines. Even though the League had popular members like Andrew Carnegie, Jane Addams, and Williams James they struggled with a consistent message. It was this inconsistency that hindered their efforts to win the support within the Republican Party. After the Treaty of Paris was approved by Congress the League’s strength declined. Many of the League activists were charged with treason, causing even more decline in the support of their political cause. The expansion into the Caribbean continued and in 1903 the United States instigated a Panama revolution. The United States immediately entered a treaty with Panama to build the Panama Canal. In 1904 President Roosevelt declared that the US reserved the right to intervene in the affairs of smaller western hemisphere nations should these smaller countries fails to meet their financial obligations to European creditors. This was the so-called â€Å"Roosevelt Corollary† to the Monroe Doctrine. Over the next several years this policy was applied in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua. Overall, American Imperialism could have been more successful. In the end the interventions came to be expensive and more often caused bitterness and resentment with the affected countries. Since trade with the Far East did not grow like expected business sought to expand their markets within the Western Hemisphere. This required a different approach, one of good will and not tension. With this the Age of Imperialism as we knew it was over. In 1933 the United States formally renounced intervention to the world at an international conference in Uruguay. However after the 1959 revolution in Cuba the United States formulated a new round of international intervention by the Central Intelligence Agency in Cuba, Honduras, Chile, Nicaragua and numerous other foreign countries. (Gale Encyclopedia, 1999)

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Debut albums Essay

High School. Those two words can either bring fear or happiness to anyone. Besides college, the most life altering period in one’s lifetime is the four years we must go through to finally reach that milestone of getting a diploma. High school is that time to find yourself. It’s that time where you’re expected to conduct yourself like an adult, but you still get treated like a kid, a time of confusion. Because I cannot speak for everybody’s opinions about high school, I will just share mine. I’ve realized that there is no other place in this world where you will find such a large array of people other than a public high school. You have your jocks, your honors students, your geeks, your goths, your skaters, your princesses (a. k. a. cheerleaders), your drama kids, and then you have those kids that don’t really fit into any other category but â€Å"you know, those kids. † Logically, you would think that there is absolutely no way all of those different types of people could get along, but for some unknown reason we do. School is like a whole other separate community, a business community. The C. E. O. and head honchos are the main office, the teachers are the workers, and we students are merely the entrepreneurs. With that said, I have figured out a reason on why we all get along. Every entrepreneur does what they do for all the same reasons, just like all of us students attend school for the same thing. Of course some of us attend more voluntarily than others but nevertheless, we all show up every morning for the same reason. We show up to learn, to prepare ourselves for the real world and what is to come. Most of us show up to better our chances of succeeding in education after high school. Another thing I’ve learned about high school is that for a place that is supposed to be all good and fun and educational, there sure are a lot of things that aren’t. The food isn’t good, the stressful work isn’t fun, and some classes might be educational but I sure don’t understand why the heck I have to take them, like Introduction to Animal Sciences for example. How is that helping me be prepared for the real world? However, because of these problems in the system of just about every high school, I’ve learned possibly the most valuable lessons of all: Life isn’t fair, you don’t always get what you want, and you can’t change people. The point of me telling you all of this isn’t to say what a great learning experience I’ve had or how I know that my way of life has been shaped by my experiences in school, but rather to point out that you can’t always focus on the differences, or the negatives in life, but instead to realize what you have in common, or what is good.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

University of Puget Sound Admissions and Admit Rate

University of Puget Sound Admissions and Admit Rate Admission to the University of Puget Sound is not highly selective. In 2016, the university had a 79 percent acceptance rate. Successful applicants tend to have high school GPAs above a B and above average standardized test scores (note, however, that ACT and SAT scores are optional).   application, those interested in the University of Puget Sound will need to send in official high school transcripts, a personal essay, and letters of recommendation. For complete information and guidelines about applying, be sure to visit the University of Puget Sounds website, or get in touch with the admissions office. Will You Get In? Calculate Your Chances of Getting In  with this free tool from Cappex Admissions Data (2016) University of Puget Sound Acceptance Rate: 79 percentGPA, SAT and ACT graph for Puget SoundWhat these SAT numbers meanTop Washington colleges SAT comparisonWhat these ACT numbers meanTop Washington colleges ACT comparison University of Puget Sound Description The University of Puget Sound is grounded in a strong liberal arts curriculum that has earned the college a chapter of the prestigious  Phi Beta Kappa  Honor Society. The University of Puget Sound can boast of an 13 to 1  student / faculty ratio. The school is located in Tacoma, Washington, so students have easy access to the cultural and social opportunities of the city, as well as proximity to the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges. Students come from 46 states and 8 countries, and on the financial front, the great majority of students receive grant aid. Student life is active with over 100 clubs and organizations, and 23 varsity sports teams that compete in the NCAA Division III Northwest Conference. Enrollment (2016) Total Enrollment: 2,791  (2,508 undergraduates)Gender Breakdown: 40  percent male / 60 percent female99 percent full-time Costs (2016  - 17) Tuition and Fees: $46,552Books: $1,000 (why so much?)Room and Board: $11,800Other Expenses: $2,300Total Cost: $61,652 University of Puget Sound Financial Aid (2015  - 16) Percentage of New Students Receiving Aid: 100 percentPercentage of New Students Receiving Types of AidGrants: 99 percentLoans: 45 percentAverage Amount of AidGrants: $19,322Loans: $8,660 Academic Programs Most Popular Majors:  Art, Biology, Business Administration, Communication Studies, Economics, English, History, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology What major is right for you?  Sign up to take the free My Careers and Majors Quiz at Cappex. Graduation, Retention and Transfer Rates First Year Student Retention (full-time students): 86 percentTransfer Out Rate: 16 percent4-Year Graduation Rate: 70 percent6-Year Graduation Rate: 80 percent Intercollegiate Athletic Programs Mens Sports:  Basketball, Crew, Football, Swimming, Cross Country, Tennis, BaseballWomens Sports:  Lacrosse, Softball, Volleyball, Swimming, Golf, Crew, Track and Field Data Source National Center for Educational Statistics If You Like University of Puget Sound, You May Also Like These Schools Reed College: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWhitman College: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of Washington: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphGonzaga University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphSanta Clara University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWhitworth University: Profile  Stanford University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphLewis Clark College: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphSeattle University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphUniversity of Portland: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT GraphWashington State University: Profile | GPA-SAT-ACT Graph

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Battle of Stoney Creek in the War of 1812

Battle of Stoney Creek in the War of 1812 The Battle of Stoney Creek was fought June 6, 1813, during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). Having conducted a successful amphibious landing on the Lake Ontario side of the Niagara Peninsula in late May, American forces succeeded in capturing Fort George. Slowly pushing west after the retreating British, U.S. troops encamped on the night of June 5-6, 1813. Seeking to regain the initiative, the British launched a night attack that resulted in the enemy retreating and the capture of two American commanders. The victory led Major General Henry Dearborn to consolidate his army around Fort George and largely ended the American threat on the peninsula. Background On May 27, 1813, American forces succeeded in capturing Fort George on the Niagara frontier. Having been defeated, the British commander, Brigadier General John Vincent, abandoned his posts along the Niagara River and withdrew west to Burlington Heights with around 1,600 men. As the British retreated, the American commander, Major General Henry Dearborn, consolidated his position around Fort George. A veteran of the American Revolution, Dearborn had become an inactive and ineffective commander in his old age. Ill, Dearborn was slow to pursue Vincent. Finally organizing his forces to chase Vincent, Dearborn delegated the task to Brigadier General William H. Winder, a political appointee from Maryland. Moving west with his brigade, Winder halted at Forty Mile Creek as he believed the British force was too strong to attack. Here was joined by an additional brigade commanded by Brigadier General John Chandler. Senior, Chandler assumed overall command of the American force which now numbered around 3,400 men. Pushing on, they reached Stoney Creek on June 5 and encamped. The two generals established their headquarters at the Gage Farm. Scouting the Americans Seeking information on the approaching American force, Vincent dispatched his deputy assistant adjutant general, Lieutenant Colonel John Harvey, to scout the camp at Stoney Creek. Returning from this mission, Harvey reported that the American camp was poorly guarded and that Chandlers men were badly positioned to support each other. As a result of this information, Vincent decided to move forward with a night attack against the American position at Stoney Creek. To execute the mission, Vincent formed a force of 700 men. Though he traveled with the column, Vincent delegated operational control to Harvey. Battle of Stoney Creek Conflict: War of 1812Date: June 6, 1813Armies Commanders:AmericansBrigadier General William H. WinderBrigadier General John Chandler1,328 men (engaged)BritishBrigadier General John VincentLieutenant Colonel John Harvey700 menCasualties:Americans: 17 killed, 38 wounded, 100 missingBritish: 23 killed, 136 wounded, 52 captured, 3 missing The British Move Departing Burlington Heights around 11:30 p.m. on June 5, the British force marched east through the darkness. In an effort to maintain the element of surprise, Harvey ordered his men to remove the flints from their muskets. Approaching the American outposts, the British had the advantage of knowing the American password for the day. Stories regarding how this was obtained vary from Harvey learning it to it being passed on the British by a local. In either case, the British succeeded in eliminating the first American outpost they encountered. Advancing, they approached the former camp of the U.S. 25th Infantry. Earlier in the day, the regiment had moved after deciding that the site was too exposed to attack. As a result, only its cooks remained at the campfires making meals for the following day. Around 2:00 a.m., the British were discovered as some of Major John Nortons Native American warriors attacked an American outpost and noise discipline was broken. As the American troops rushed to battle, Harveys men re-inserted their flints as the element of surprise had been lost. Battle of Stoney Creek, June 6, 1813. Public Domain Fighting in the Night Situated on high ground with their artillery on Smiths Knoll, the Americans were in a strong position once they had regained their poise from the initial surprise. Maintaining a steady fire, they inflicted heavy losses on the British and turned back several attacks. Despite this success, the situation began to quickly deteriorate as the darkness caused confusion on the battlefield. Learning of a threat to the American left, Winder ordered the U.S. 5th Infantry to that area. In doing so, he left the American artillery unsupported. As Winder was making this error, Chandler rode to investigate firing on the right. Riding through the darkness, he was temporarily removed from the battle when his horse fell (or was shot). Hitting the ground, he was knocked out for some time. Seeking to regain the momentum, Major Charles Plenderleath of the British 49th Regiment gathered 20-30 men for an attack on the American artillery. Charging up Gages Lane, they succeeded in overwhelming Captain Nathaniel Towsons artillerymen and turning the four guns on their former owners. Returning to his senses, Chandler heard fighting around the guns. Unaware of their capture, he approached the position and was quickly taken prisoner. A similar fate befell Winder a short time later. With both generals in enemy hands, command of the American forces fell to cavalryman Colonel James Burn. Seeking to turn the tide, he led his men forward but due to the darkness mistakenly attacked the U.S. 16th Infantry. After forty-five minutes of confused fighting, and believing the British to have more men, the Americans withdrew east. Aftermath Concerned that the Americans would learn the small size of his force, Harvey retreated west into the woods at dawn after carrying off two of the captured guns. The next morning, they watched as Burns men returned to their former camp. Burning excess provisions and equipment, the Americans then retreated to Forty Mile Creek. British losses in the fighting numbered 23 killed, 136 wounded, 52 captured, and three missing. American casualties numbered 17 killed, 38 wounded, and 100 captured, including both Winder and Chandler. Retreating to Forty Mile Creek, Burn encountered reinforcements from Fort George under Major General Morgan Lewis. Bombarded by British warships in Lake Ontario, Lewis became concerned about his supply lines and began retreating towards Fort George. Having been shaken by the defeat, Dearborn lost his nerve and consolidated his army into a tight perimeter around the fort. The situation worsened on June 24 when an American force was captured at the Battle of Beaver Dams. Angered by Dearborns repeated failures, Secretary of War John Armstrong removed him on July 6 and dispatched Major General James Wilkinson to take command. Winder would later be exchanged and commanded American troops at the Battle of Bladensburg in 1814. His defeat there allowed British troops to capture and burn Washington, DC.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Entering HVAC Market Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Entering HVAC Market - Assignment Example Keeping in mind the recent merger with the firm providing technological expertise in wireless communications the report outlines Goals and Plans needed to be devised by the firm, ways in which it can innovate in order to capture the new market the firm is venturing into, needs as ways to train employees and emphasizes the importance of strategic leadership. This report should be helpful to prepare the firm for a change and reorganizing it needs in order to survive the HVAC market. It outlines ways to innovate and brings forth the innovation process. It brings into account organizational behaviors and motivation factors which are beneficial to the company. It also provides an effective model for the sequence of changes. In view of the recent merger of the firm providing security system and our venture into the area of Eco-Friendly HVAC Systems a change in the organizational behaviour is in order. To make our company goal directed and structured activities such as Planning, Organising, Controlling and Leading must be rationalized. Our operations are now just not restricted to providing IT network equipment like LAN's and Firewalls. The merger has brought in the expertise in wireless technologies and thus broadened the horizon. Thus the foremost essential part of the strategic itinerary is to setup the goal and device a plan to achieve the set goal. A bottom up strategy for devising a mission statement is advisable. Firstly specific, measurable targets should be set up for each individual and departments forming the operational goals. Tactical goals should be conveyed to the middle management aiding the functions of major divisions of the firms. The senior management should be aware about short term and long term goals about the position of the firm in the market in future. Finally a Mission Statement has to be devised to be presented to the external players depicting the overall intent of the firm. In order to achieve these goals a particular strategy or a long term course of action needs to be in place. A few success indicators and corresponding strategic enablers must be considered in this context. Market Penetration Agility, Market Share Momentum, Rate of Return Factor and Shareholder Value Growth must be measured in terms of our technology standards meeting the market requirements, differentiation and compelling competitive advantage, strength relative to other economic value players (customers, competitors, suppliers, and channel members) and Proactive CRM, support, operational excellence, derivative products respectively.The Management By Objectives (MBO) approach is the one most likely to provide beneficial results. The following figure explains the working of the MBO approach. The Management By Objective approach:: Managerial Planning and Goal Setting. -Daft and Marcic 2008 Three approaches might be considered while developing a strategy to enter the new market of Eco-Friendly HVAC Systems production: The Position approach, Resources approach or the Opportunistic approach.

Friday, November 1, 2019

Computer Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Computer Security - Essay Example One study was done by a group of academicians. The second study was done by computer security professionals. One is a seminal work carried out by Farzeneh Asghapour, Debin Lin and Jean Camp (2007) in assessing the indirect and implicit use of mental models applied to computer security. Asghapour et. al., (2007) did three experiments which revealed corresponding results. First, the experiments showed that for a set of security risks, the self-identified security experts and non-experts exhibit specific mental models. Second, a brand of expertise increases the distance between the mental models of non-experts and experts. Finally, the utilization of models through metaphors did not correspond to metaphors that are similar the mental models of simple users. The second study on computer security done by Stuart Schechter and Daniel Smith tackled the kind of security required to protect a packaged system which is present in large organizations from thieves who would plot a vulnerability to attack multiple installations. Both studies are similar since they relay the importance of computer security in organizations. The main theme of Asghapour and her co-researchers were to emphasize the importance of effective security risk communication. The researchers argue that this requires both communicating risk information and motivating the appropriate risk behaviors. The crucial argument is that the purpose of risk communication is not transmitting truth to the users, but training them to take an appropriate move to respond against a certain threat to their system. Similarly, Schechter and David present an economic threat modeling as a measure for understanding adversaries who are attracted for financial gain. They did a mathematical model on thieves outside the target organization who would enter through a simple vulnerability in one of the target company's packaged systems. This model can determine what these thieves are willing to pay for system vulnerabilities and how secure the system should be to withstand any form of theft. The main methodology of Asghapour and her co-researchers were to identify implicit mental models for computer security which makes these explicit and run a test for mental models for fit for risk communication. They also aim to utilize the mental models in a rational manner to address risk communication to non-expert computer users. The researchers pointed out that a mental model is an internal concept of a given process. This concept is case specific and may depend on life experience, description of the risk, type of risk, and information processing strategies. In contrast, the methodology of Stuart Schechter and David Smith in their computer security study was to project economic threat models. The economic threat models they designed were meant to answer these questions: a.) who profits from a computer security attack on a given company; and b.) what is the choice of attack The threat models enable them to pinpoint the adversary and the respective motivation of those. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Ashgapour and her co-researchers (2007) determined the scope of mental models which are used in the computer security profession. They chose five conceptual models implicit in language and explicit in metaphors: physical safety, medical infections, criminal behavior, warfare and economic failure. Physical safety refers to 'keys', 'safe

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Euthanasia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Euthanasia - Research Paper Example Despite the fact that in some countries it is permitted, there is still no consensus on the matter in the world. Unfortunately, even given the high level of its achievements under the influence of scientific and technological progress, modern medicine cannot save mankind from death and physical suffering. The fact that the issue of euthanasia is particularly important in modern medicine is also associated with a departure from the principle of medical paternalism to the principles determined by contemporary bioethics. To begin with, for centuries, medical ethics had changed markedly. Previously medicine relied on Hippocratic Oath, the basic principle of which is as follows: â€Å"do whatever you like, but do no harm† (Hulkower 41). The ethics of Hippocratic medicine was an example of paternalism where the doctor was endowed with limitless powers in relation to the patient (McClenaghan 10). Today, medical ethics is based on four ethical principles that demonstrate a departure from medical paternalism. None of them is leading, since they are all equivalent (Varelius 377-380): Translated from the Greek the word "euthanasia" means a "good death." (Ardelt 424) The term appeared in the 16th century. The English philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon identified the following main features of euthanasia: easy and painless dying and a strong belief that to die is the greater good than to feel pain and sufferings in life. Francis Bacon believed that the doctor should help the dying patients, so they were not so scary. He "discussed euthanasia as a fair, easy passage" (Pridgeon 49). After almost three hundred years, a modern meaning of the term had appeared. Euthanasia began to be understood as an attempt to help person experiencing unbearable suffering escape from life that is to show compassion towards him or her. Shortly after, the term was forgotten, and at the end of the twentieth century, the issue of euthanasia became rather disputable. There is a

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Henchard and farfrae contrast

Henchard and farfrae contrast Henchard and Farfrae contrast each other, both by the states of their characters, and by the ideas they evoke. Farfrae is testament to the power of modernity and change and, in Casterbridge, an actual impetus of it. He implements new farming and harvesting techniques. Henchard, however, is representative of tradition and unprogressive stability; while Henchard is Mayor the town merely survives, while under Farfrae it flourishes. Unlike the contrast that is presented between Henchard and Farfrae, Henchard and Lucetta are presented as compliments. They are very much alike: inclined to strong, irrational passions, characterized by willful, independent natures, and compelled by love as well as ambition. However, Lucetta is not a woman of character. Unlike Henchard, Lucettas primarily obligation is to her own happiness, whereas Henchards is to a higher sense of interpersonal responsibility and the moral amendment of past mistakes. This commitment to the right-course is what both compels Henchard to improve his moral and material condition and what prevents him from taking possession of his happiness. Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane are also presented as compliments to each other. They are both emotionally moderate, not excited into extremes of emotion the way that Henchard and Lucetta are (although Farfraes infatuation for Lucetta was rather impulsive). I think that Elizabeth-Jane is truly the most admirable character in the book. She seems to have a subtle, unobtrusive beauty and reserved manner that I find more compelling than Lucettas sophisticated prettiness and flirtatious demeanor. Lucetta is not a deep or especially intelligent woman; we get the sense that Elizabeth-Jane is very much is both of those things. She is kind, compassionate, empathetic and beautiful; yet she is not, however, a one-dimensional doormat the way Tamsin is in The Return of the Native. Although Farfrae and Elizabeth-Jane are presented as similar characters, I think Elizabeth-Jane is still more admirable. Farfrae is ambitious, smart, successful, and very kind, yet Elizabeth-Jane seems to exude a greater deg ree of profound empathy, perhaps because she has suffered so much herself. The tone of this novel is both very much like Hardys other novels and somewhat different. There is a strong sense of determinism in the novel; I sense that the lives of these characters are almost predestined- their life-courses are inevitable, it is only the emotions that they feel that are subject to the change. I think that Hardy suggests that the natural world, fate, time, and chance are not antagonist to human life, but rather somewhat indifferent to it- for individual people are so inconsequential amidst the greater profundity of Life itself. This gives the book a somewhat melancholy, but not necessary pessimistic tone. Ultimately, Hardy suggests that the novel is like life itself: ambiguous, neither good nor bad, triumphant or self-defeating.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Great Gatsby :: essays research papers

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is more than a story about a mans love for a women, but rather a mans will to achieve greatness as he perceived. Jay Gatsby was a man driven by money and power. He was a man with a vision, a vision to succeed in life. As a child, Jay Gatsby grew up on a farm. He saw his parents as nothing but lethargic farmers. Gatsby knew exactly what he didn’t want to be and that was like his parents. They were people who were content with who they were. Gatsby, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. He wanted to move on. Jay Gatsby wanted to be someone special, someone with prestige and someone definitely with money. Gatsby developed a self improvement plan to help him flourish as a young man. His plan detailed dumbbell exercises, studying electricity, practicing elocution and studying needed inventions. Even his parents knew he was driven. His father said: "Jimmy was bound to get ahead.. He always had some resolve like this or something. Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that" (182). The structured drive let Gatsby prevail in his endeavors. However, there are some things people just can’t get away from. James Gatsby desperately wanted to achieve success in life. However, it is difficult to flourish with a background like Gatsby’s. So to escape his past, he changed his name at the age of 17 from James Gats to Jay Gatsby. Nonetheless, changing his name only did so much for him. Gatsby ended up living a life of lies because of his hidden identity. Nobody really knew Gatsby. So in the absence of peoples knowledge, they conjured up rumors. "One time he killed a man who found out he was a nephew of von Hindenburg and second to the devil"(65). These were just some of the rumors about Gatsby. Some believed he was a German spy, while others thought he was a war hero. These were things he had to go through to reach his ultimate goal in life, which was to succeed. After he left the farm, Gatsby went to work for a man named Dan Cody. Cody was a stable father figure for Gatsby. He looked up to Dan and saw what he really wanted to be. "That’s Dan Cody, old sport.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Spirit Bound Chapter Seven

â€Å"NOT WITH YOUR TEETH,† I added hastily. â€Å"Throw yourself at me. Swing your shackles. Whatever you can do.† Victor Dashkov was not a stupid man. Others might have hesitated or asked more questions. He did not. He might not know exactly what was going on, but he sensed that this was a shot at freedom. Possibly the only one he'd ever get. He was someone who had spent a large part of his life masterminding complicated plots, so he was a pro at slipping right into them. Holding his hands up as much as he could manage, he lunged at me, making a good show of trying to choke me with the chain between his cuffs. As he did, I gave a bloodcurdling shriek. In an instant, the guardians were there to stop this crazy prisoner who was senselessly attacking a poor girl. But as they reached to subdue him, I leapt up and attacked them. Even if they'd expected me to be dangerous–and they hadn't–I had so much surprise on them that they had no time to react. I almost felt bad at how unfair it was to them. I punched the first hard enough that he lost his grip on Victor and flew backward, hitting the wall near Lissa as she frantically compelled Northwood to stay calm and not call anyone in the midst of this chaos. The other guardian had slightly more time to react, but he was still slow in letting go of Victor and turning on me. I used the opening and got a punch in, forcing the two of us into a grappling match. He was big and formidable, and once he deemed me a threat, he didn't hold back. A blow to my shoulder sent shooting pain through my arm, and I responded with a swift knee in his stomach. Meanwhile, his counterpart was on his feet heading toward us. I had to end this fast, not only for my own sake but also because they would undoubtedly call for backup if given a moment's chance. I grabbed the one closest to me and pushed him as hard as I could into a wall–headfirst. He staggered, dazed, and I did it again, just as his partner reached me. That first guardian slumped to the ground, unconscious. I hated doing that, but part of my training had been learning to differentiate between incapacitating and killing. He should only have a headache. I hoped. The other guardian was very much on the offensive, however, and he and I circled each other, getting in some shots and dodging others. â€Å"I can't knock him out!† I called to Lissa. â€Å"We need him. Compel him.† Her response came through the bond. She could compel two people at the same time, but it took a lot of strength. We weren't out of this yet, and she couldn't risk burning herself out so soon. Frustration replaced fear within her. â€Å"Northwood, go to sleep,† she barked. â€Å"Right there. On your desk. You're exhausted and will sleep for hours.† Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Northwood slump, his head hitting the desk with a thump. Everyone who worked here would have a concussion by the time we were through. I threw myself at the guardian then, using my full weight to get him within Lissa's line of sight. She pushed her way into our fight. He glanced at her in surprise, and that was all she needed. â€Å"Stop!† He didn't respond as quickly as Northwood, but he did hesitate. This guy was more resistant. â€Å"Stop fighting!† she repeated more forcefully, intensifying her will. Strong or not, he couldn't stand against that much spirit. His arms fell to his sides, and he stopped wrestling me. I stepped back to catch my breath, straightening my wig back into place. â€Å"Holding this one's going to be hard,† Lissa told me. â€Å"Hard as in five minutes or five hours?† â€Å"Somewhere in the middle.† â€Å"Then let's move. Get Victor's key from him.† She demanded the guardian give her the key for the shackles. He told us the other guardian had it. Sure enough, I frisked the unconscious body–he was breathing steadily, thank God–and retrieved the key. Now I turned my full attention on Victor. Once the fight had started, he'd stepped out of the way and simply observed quietly while all sorts of new possibilities undoubtedly formed in his twisted mind. I approached and put on my â€Å"scary face† as I held up the key. â€Å"I'm going to unlock your cuffs now,† I told him, in a voice both sweet and menacing. â€Å"You're going to do exactly what we tell you to do. You're not going to run, start a fight, or in any way interfere with our plans.† â€Å"Oh? Are you using compulsion nowadays too, Rose?† he asked dryly. â€Å"I don't need it.† I unlocked the shackles. â€Å"I can render you unconscious as easily as that guy and drag you out. Makes no difference to me.† The heavy cuffs and chains fell to the floor. That sly, smug look stayed on his face, but his hands gently touched each wrist. I noticed then that there were welts and bruises on them. Those shackles weren't meant for comfort, but I refused to feel sorry for him. He glanced back up at us. â€Å"How charming,† he mused. â€Å"Out of all the people who would attempt to rescue me, I never would have expected you two†¦ and yet, in retrospect, you're probably the most capable.† â€Å"We don't need your running commentary, Hannibal,† I snapped. â€Å"And don't use the word rescue. It makes it sound like you're some wrongfully imprisoned hero.† He arched an eyebrow, like he believed that might indeed be the case. Instead of disputing me, he nodded toward Bradley, who had actually slept through the fight. In his drugged state, Lissa's compulsion had been more than enough to knock him out. â€Å"Give him to me,† said Victor. â€Å"What?† I exclaimed. â€Å"We don't have time for this!† â€Å"And I have no strength for whatever you have in mind,† hissed Victor. That pleasant and all-knowing mask vanished, replaced by one vicious and desperate. â€Å"Imprisonment involves more than bars, Rose. They starve us of food and blood, trying to keep us weak. Walking here is the only exercise I get, and that's effort enough. Unless you really do plan on dragging me out of here, give me blood!† Lissa interrupted any response I could make. â€Å"Be fast.† I stared at her in astonishment. I'd been about to deny Victor, but through the bond I felt an odd mix of feelings from her. Compassion and†¦ understanding. Oh, she still hated him, absolutely. But she also knew what it was like to live on limited blood. Mercifully, Victor was fast. His mouth was at the human's neck practically before Lissa finished speaking. Dazed or no, feeling teeth in his neck was enough to wake Bradley up. He woke with a start, his face soon moving into the delight feeders took from vampire endorphins. A short burst of blood was all Victor would need, but when Bradley's eyes started to go wide in surprise, I realized Victor was taking more than a quick drink. I leapt forward and jerked Victor away from the scattered feeder. â€Å"What the hell are you doing?† I demanded, shaking Victor hard. It was something I'd wanted to do for a long time. â€Å"Did you think you could drain him and become Strigoi right in front of us?† â€Å"Hardly,† said Victor, wincing at the grip I had on him. â€Å"That's not what he was doing,† said Lissa. â€Å"He just lost control for a second.† His bloodlust satisfied, Victor's smooth demeanor had returned. â€Å"Ah, Vasilisa. Always so understanding.† â€Å"Don't make any assumptions,† she growled. I shot glares at both of them. â€Å"We have to go. Now.† I turned to the compelled guardian. â€Å"Take us to the room where they monitor all security footage.† He didn't respond to me, and with a sigh, I looked expectantly at Lissa. She repeated my question, and he immediately began to leave the room. My adrenaline was running high from the fight, and I was anxious to finish all of this and get us out of here. Through the bond, I sensed her nervousness. She might have defended Victor's need for blood, but as we walked, she kept as far away from him as possible. The stark realization of who he was and what we were doing was creeping up on her. I wished I could comfort her, but there was no time. We followed the guardian–Lissa asked his name; it was Giovanni–through more halls and security checkpoints. The route he led us on went around the prison's edge, not through the cells. I held my breath almost the entire time, terrified we'd run into someone. Too many other factors were working against us; we didn't need that too. Our luck held, though, and we ran into no one–again probably a result of doing this near the end of the night and not passing through a high-security zone. Lissa and Mia had gotten the Court guardian to erase the security footage there too, but I hadn't witnessed it. Now, when Giovanni led us into the prison's surveillance room, I couldn't help a small gasp. Monitors covered the walls, and consoles with complex buttons and switches sat in front of them. Computer-covered desks were everywhere. I felt like this room had the power to blast off into space. Everything in the prison was in view: each cell, several halls, and even the warden's office, where Eddie sat making small talk with Theo. Two other guardians were in here, and I wondered if they'd seen us in the halls. But no–they were too fixated on something else: a camera that had been turned to face a blank wall. It was the one I'd adjusted in the feeding room. They were leaning toward it, and one of them was saying how they should call someone to check down there. Then they both looked up and noticed us. â€Å"Help her subdue them,† Lissa ordered Giovanni. Again, there was hesitation. We would have been better off with a â€Å"helper† with a weaker will, but Lissa had had no idea when she chose him. Like before, he eventually sprang into action. Also like before, surprise went a long way in subduing these two guardians. I was a stranger–immediately raising their guard–but still appeared as human. Giovanni was their coworker; they didn't expect an attack from him. That didn't make them easy to take down, though. Having backup went a long way, and Giovanni was good at his job. We rendered one guardian unconscious pretty quickly, Giovanni using a choke hold to briefly cut off the guy's air until he collapsed. The other guard kept his distance from us, and I noticed his eyes continually shifting toward one of the walls. It had a fire extinguisher, a light switch, and a round silver button. â€Å"That's an alarm!† exclaimed Victor, just as the guardian lunged for it. Giovanni and I tackled him at the same time, stopping the guy just before his hand could brush the button and send a legion of guards down on us. A blow to the head knocked this guardian out too. With each person I took out in this prison break, a knot of guilt and nausea twisted tighter and tighter in my stomach. Guardians were the good guys, and I couldn't help but keep thinking I was fighting on the side of evil. Now that we were left to ourselves, Lissa knew the next step. â€Å"Giovanni, disable all the cameras and erase the last hour's worth of footage.† There was a greater hesitation on his part this time. Getting him to fight his friends had required a lot of forceful compulsion on her part. She was keeping her control but growing weary, and it was only going to get harder making him obey our commands. â€Å"Do it,† growled Victor, coming to stand beside Lissa. She flinched at his proximity, but as his gaze joined hers, Giovanni complied with the order and began flipping switches on the consoles. Victor couldn't match Lissa's power by a long shot, but his small burst of compulsion had strengthened hers. One by one, the monitors went black, and then Giovanni typed in a few commands on the computer that stored digital footage from the cameras. Red error lights were flashing on the consoles, but there was no one here now to fix them. â€Å"Even if he erases it, there are those who might be able to recover it from the hard drive,† noted Victor. â€Å"It's a chance we'll have to take,† I said irritably. â€Å"Reprogramming or whatever isn't really in my skill set.† Victor rolled his eyes. â€Å"Perhaps, but destruction certainly is.† It took me a moment to get what he meant, but then it clicked. With a sigh, I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall and beat the computer to a pulp until it was nothing more than a pile of plastic and metal fragments. Lissa winced at each blow and kept glancing at the door. â€Å"I hope that's soundproof,† she muttered. â€Å"It looks sturdy,† I said confidently. â€Å"And now it's time to go.† Lissa ordered Giovanni to return us to the warden's office at the front of the prison. He complied, leading us back through the maze we'd gone through earlier. His codes and security card got us through each checkpoint. â€Å"I don't suppose you can compel Theo into letting us walk out?† I asked Lissa. Her mouth was set in a grim line. She shook her head. â€Å"I don't even know how much longer I can hold Giovanni. I've never used someone as a puppet before.† â€Å"It's okay,† I said, trying to reassure both of us. â€Å"We're almost done with this.† But we were going to have another fight on our hands. After beating up half the Strigoi in Russia, I still felt good about my own strength, but that guilty feeling wouldn't leave me. And if we ran into a dozen guardians, even my strength wasn't going to hold. I'd lost my bearings from the blueprint, but it turned out that Giovanni's route back to the main office was taking us through a block of cells after all. Another sign read overhead WARNING–NOW ENTERING PRISONER AREA (PSYCHIATRIC). â€Å"Psychiatric?† I asked in surprise. â€Å"Of course,† murmured Victor. â€Å"Where else do you think they send prisoners with mental problems?† â€Å"To hospitals,† I responded, holding back a joke about all criminals having mental problems. â€Å"Well, that's not always–â€Å" â€Å"Stop!† Lissa interrupted him and came to an abrupt halt before the door. The rest of us nearly walked into her. She jerked away, taking several steps back. â€Å"What's wrong?† I asked. She turned to Giovanni. â€Å"Find another way to the office.† â€Å"This is the fastest way,† he argued. Lissa slowly shook her head. â€Å"I don't care. Find another, one where we won't run into others.† He frowned, but her compulsion held. He abruptly turned, and we scurried to keep up. â€Å"What's wrong?† I repeated. Lissa's mind was too tangled for me to pull out her reasoning. She grimaced. â€Å"I felt spirit auras behind there.† â€Å"What? How many?† â€Å"At least two. I don't know if they sensed me or not.† If not for Giovanni's clip and the urgency pressing on us, I would have come to a stop. â€Å"Spirit users†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Lissa had looked so long and hard for others like her. Who'd have thought we'd find them here? Actually†¦ maybe we should have expected this. We knew spirit users danced with insanity. Why wouldn't they end up in a place like this? And considering the trouble we'd gone through to learn about the prison, it was no wonder these spirit users had remained hidden. I doubted anyone working here even knew what they were. Lissa and I exchanged brief glances. I knew how badly she wanted to investigate this, but now wasn't the time. Victor already looked too interested in what we'd said, so Lissa's next words were in my head: I'm pretty sure any spirit users would see through my charms. We can't risk our real descriptions being discovered–even if they came from people who are allegedly crazy. I nodded my understanding, pushing aside curiosity and even regret. We'd have to check into this another time–say, like, the next time we decided to break into a maximum-security prison. We finally reached Theo's office without further incident, though my heart pounded furiously the entire way as my brain kept telling me, Go! Go! Go! Theo and Eddie were chatting Court politics when our group entered. Eddie immediately leapt up and went for Theo, recognizing it was time to go. He had Theo in a choke hold as efficiently as Giovanni had managed earlier, and I was glad someone else was doing this dirty work besides me. Unfortunately, Theo managed a good yelp before passing out and falling to the ground. Immediately, the two guardians who had escorted us in earlier charged the office. Eddie and I jumped into the fray, and Lissa and Victor got Giovanni in on it too. To make things more difficult, just after we subdued one of the guardians, Giovanni broke out of the compulsion and began fighting against us. Worse, he ran to the wall where I discovered–too late–there was another silver alarm button. He slammed his fist against it, and a piercing wail filled the air. â€Å"Shit!† I yelled. Lissa's skills weren't in physical fighting, and Victor wasn't much better. It was all on me and Eddie to finish these last two–and we had to do it fast. The second of the escort guardians went down, and then it was just us and Giovanni. He got a good hit in on me–one that knocked my head against the wall. It wasn't good enough to make me pass out, but the world spun and black and white spots danced before my eyes. It froze me up for a moment, but then Eddie was on him, and Giovanni was soon no longer a threat. Eddie took my arm to steady me, and then the four of us immediately ran out of the room. I glanced back at the unconscious bodies, again hating myself for it. There was no time for guilt, though. We had to get out. Now. Every guardian in this prison would be here in less than a minute. Our group ran to the front doors, only to discover them locked from the inside. Eddie swore and told us to wait. He ran back to Theo's office and returned with one of the security cards that Giovanni had often swiped at the doors. Sure enough, this one let us out, and we made a mad dash for the rental car. We piled in, and I was glad Victor kept up with all of us and made none of his annoying comments. Eddie stepped on the gas and headed back toward the way we'd come in. I sat beside him in the front. â€Å"I guarantee the gate guy's going to know about the alarm,† I warned. Our original hope had been to simply leave and tell him there'd been a paperwork mix-up after all. â€Å"Yup,† Eddie agreed, face hard. Sure enough, the guardian stepped out of his gatehouse, arms waving. â€Å"Is that a gun?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I'm not stopping to find out.† Eddie pushed hard on the gas, and when the guardian realized we were coming through regardless, he jumped out of the way. We crashed through the wooden arm that blocked the road, leaving it a mess of splinters. â€Å"Bud's gonna keep our deposit,† I said. Behind us, I heard the sounds of gunshots. Eddie swore again, but as we sped away, the shots grew fainter, and soon, we were out of range. He exhaled. â€Å"If those had hit our tires or windows, we'd have had a lot more to worry about than a deposit.† â€Å"They're going to send people after us,† said Victor from the backseat. Once again, Lissa had moved as far from him as she could. â€Å"Trucks are probably leaving right now.† â€Å"You don't think we guessed that?† I snapped. I knew he was trying to be helpful, but he was the last person I wanted to hear from at the moment. Even as I spoke, I peered back and saw the dark shapes of two vehicles speeding down the road after us. They were gaining quickly, leaving no question that the SUVs would soon catch up to our little compact car. I looked at our GPS. â€Å"We need to turn soon,† I warned Eddie, not that he needed my advice. We'd mapped out an escape route beforehand, one that took lots and lots of twisty turns on these remote back roads. Fortunately, there were a lot of them. Eddie made a hard left and then almost an immediate right. Still, the pursuing vehicles stayed with us in the rearview mirror. It wasn't until a few turns later that the road behind us stayed clear. Tense silence filled the car as we waited for the guardians to catch up. They didn't. We'd made too many confusing turns, but it took nearly ten minutes for me to accept that we might have actually pulled this off. â€Å"I think we lost them,† said Eddie, the wonder in his voice matching my feelings. His face was still lined with worry, his hands gripping the wheel hard. â€Å"We won't lose them until we clear Fairbanks,† I said. â€Å"I'm sure they'll search it, and it's not that big.† â€Å"Where are we going?† asked Victor. â€Å"If I'm allowed to ask.† I squirmed around in my seat so that I could look him in the eye. â€Å"That's what you're going to tell us. As hard as it is to believe, we didn't do all that just because we missed your pleasant company.† â€Å"That is hard to believe.† I narrowed my eyes. â€Å"We want to find your brother. Robert Doru.† I had the satisfaction of momentarily catching Victor off guard. Then his sly look returned. â€Å"Of course. This is a follow-up to Abe Mazur's request, isn't it? I should have known he wouldn't take no for an answer. Of course, I never would have guessed you were in league with him.† Victor apparently didn't know I was actually in the familial league with Abe, and I wasn't about to enlighten him. â€Å"Irrelevant,† I said coldly. â€Å"Now, you're going to take us to Robert. Where is he?† â€Å"You forget, Rose,† mused Victor. â€Å"You aren't the one with compulsion here.† â€Å"No, but I am the one who can tie you up by the side of the road and make an anonymous call back to the prison with your whereabouts.† â€Å"How do I know you won't get what you want from me and then turn me back in anyway?† he asked. â€Å"I have no reason to trust you.† â€Å"You're right. I sure as hell wouldn't trust me. But if things work out, there's a chance we might let you go afterward.† No, there really wasn't. â€Å"Is this something you want to gamble on? You'll never get another opportunity like this, and you know it.† Victor had no witty quip for that. Score another one for me. â€Å"So,† I continued, â€Å"are you going to take us to him or not?† Thoughts I couldn't read churned behind his eyes. No doubt he was scheming about how he could work this to his advantage, probably figuring out how to escape us before we even reached Robert. It was what I would have done. â€Å"Las Vegas,† Victor said at last. â€Å"We need to go to Las Vegas.†