Is Genetic Engineering For Athletes - 2443 Words

Google defines â€Å"a performance-enhancing drug† as any substance taken by athletes to improve performance. Some athletes take steroids to increase their athletic ability in order to have an advantage over their opponents. Athletes have always looked for the one thing that will get them to be bigger, stronger, and better enough to beat out all the other teams. As technology expands, new ways of making the better athlete have been discovered. Currently, you can do a process called gene doping to gain new genes to increase your athletic potential. This new technique has created ethical problems in today’s sports world. The sports community has questioned what the future of sports is going to look like if genetic modification for athletes†¦show more content†¦Gene combinations can be made naturally by sexual reproduction, but reproductive mechanisms limit the number of combinations that can be made. Genetic engineers can make any combination they want if there i s a gene for that trait. This unprecedented ability to mess around with genes allows endless possibles that genetic engineers can put together (Wells, D). Who knows what could become of our world when we allow ourselves to play God. This specific part of science is changing the world we know and creating more problems dealing with ethics. Controlling and changing someone’s genes do have risks and dangers. It is a set of technologies for literally changing the traits of an organism by inserting genetic material from something else. As presented in the novel, Frankenstein, the consequences of genetic engineering could be explained by, â€Å"I cannot describe to you the agony that these reflections inflicted upon me; I tried to dispel them, but sorrow only increased with knowledge.† (121). Although genetic engineering can seem like innovative and better technology, it has its’ large share of downsides. If you interfere with genes, for example a gene that increases athletic performance, you could be facing a lot of substantial health risks. High levels of growth hormones have been associated with the development of different types of cancer, heart failure, and strokes (Wells, D). Currently, gene doping is not a reality, but rather a threat. It is

Confucianism In a Nut Shell Free Essays

Confucianism does not have any particular belief(s) about after life. It only focuses on the earthly life, and specifically puts emphasis on cleaving Harmony. In fact, followers of Confucianism ultimate goal Is social harmony; meaning, they must know their place in the social order. We will write a custom essay sample on Confucianism In a Nut Shell or any similar topic only for you Order Now In finding this (their place in the social order), they are guided by the 1) Five cardinal relations a. Ruler and subject b. Father and son c. Cubans and wife d. Elder and younger brother e. Friend to friend; and their 2) Five virtues a. Rene or humaneness; the quality of compassion for others, (may include both people and animals). Key concepts of Rene are love, mercy, and humanity. B. Yell or honesty and righteousness. C. Lie or propriety and correct behavior. D. Chi or wisdom or knowledge. E. Sin or fidelity and sincerity. [2 3] Also, Confucianism greatly believes that the center of everything is their family, and that it comes before the individual person. They do not necessarily ignore the Seibel existence of gods; it is Just that in their system, a divine being does not have any significant role in their lives. Its philosophy is man centered and relies in self- effort (In terms of Improving oneself or solving everyday problems. ) As Confucius stated, â€Å"To devote oneself earnestly to one’s duty to humanity, and while respecting the splats, to keep aloof from them, may be called wisdom. How to cite Confucianism In a Nut Shell, Papers

Great Gatsby Theme and character anlysis of Tom a Essay Example For Students

Great Gatsby: Theme and character anlysis of Tom a Essay nd DaisyGreatGatsby: Theme and character anlysis of Tom and DaisyGreed, Corruption, the Search of OnesSelf and the 1920sThe characters search of their own identitiesand the struggle that ensues is the most suffusive theme throughout TheGreat Gatsby . The fact that we never really know the characters, and thecorrupt immoral things they do, directly represent the 20s high societylifestyle. The characters continued to cheat on their spouses, let moneybecome their obsession, and debated the American dream for the hopes ofone day obtaining happiness. But the fact remains that they have no truemorals or ideals of themselves as individuals. These are a group of peoplewho no matter how cocky and self- confident they seem have absolutelyno idea of what they are doing (as many men and women of the 20s do not). Tom and Daisy are two examples. Daisy is a hospitable character who hada love for parties and tended to lose herself in them and the drinking. Daisy once said, Whatll we do with ourselves this afternoon, and theday after that, and the next thirty years? This quote not only means shelives for one day at a time never thinking of the future, but that shetruly has no idea of what to do with herself. She is like loose changefloating around wandering from party to party, man to man, friend to friend,in a big house in East Egg with no sense of purpose. She once attemptedto plan something when she first reunited with Nick. She said, Whatllwe plan? What do people plan? meaning she has never had to make decisionsnor has she had much responsibility. Not only does she have no purpose,she has no morals. She literally killed a woman and went home to eat coldchicken. What more, her lover was killed and she left on a trip missinghis funeral. Show me a woman who has no morals or goals and Ill show youa woman who is searching for her own identity. Tom Buchanan is a small man hiding in abig house with an equally large ego. In fact, he once remarked that womenrun around too much and meet the wrong kind of people. This statement isboth arrogant and ironic because he runs around with the wrong people,and women run around with him- he being the wrong people. Also, when statingthis he was most likely referring to his wife, and subtly putting her downfor her relationship with Gatsby in a most conceited way. Tom is not acaring or sympathetic man. He did not attend his mistresss- Myrtles-funeral. Tom cared a great deal about his image. Enough to uncover thehistory and truth about his wifes lover, and openly embarass him for it. Tom is so desperately an empty man that he believes he can define himselfwith exterior belongings. He is trying to find his identity by lookingfor happiness in nice cars (his is a ridiculous yellow luxury vehicle),money and a good woman- be it he has to cheat on his wife to do so. Butwhat about if the money runs out? What happens if his wife finds anotherlover also? or one of his women kills the other? One day he will look himselfin the mirror and not like what he sees, and only then can he finally forgetabout the image and just be. To best describe Daisys, Toms, and the1920s high societys relentless quest for money and aimlessness existenceis Daisy and Toms own relationship. They were once young lovers with ahold on the world like their hold on eachother but that too tarnished likea gilded cup and saucer. Tom once carried Daisy down from the punch owlso her feet wouldnt get wet. But the weight of time has pulled at theirlove until Tom was seen as a racist man reading The Rise of Colored Empireswho depends on a mistress to fulfill his need of lust and to be apart fromhome life, leaving Daisy ignorant and smiling. She hoped her daughter wouldbe a fool of a girl so nothing would hurt her, a lesson she learned fromliving with Tom. While their marriage seems to be falling apart Daisy findsa man from her past- Gatsby-who has a heated desperation for her love-enough so to acquire a huge home and beautiful shirts, and throw

University Versus a Community College Essays - Education

University Versus a Community College One of the hardest decision after graduating from the high school is to choose to go to a university or community college. Universities and community colleges provide academic education and prepare the high school graduates for specific major. However university and community college differ in their admission requirements, learning environment and tuition. Universities ask for more requirements from the students and they only accept students who have high good grades in high school and they often require students to take advance placement tests . Community colleges can have 100% accepting rate for any student who has at least a high school diploma or GED and their placement tests are also easier than universities. Universities always have big classrooms where tens of students can be in each classroom. However, c ommunity colleges have small classrooms where you can have the chance to ask your professor and get the answer. Some students at universities say that sometimes it's hard to ask a question because their classroom has a lot of students so they have less opportunity to interact with their teacher. I f you will go to university you should have a lot of money or have someone who can support you until you finish your education. Going to university is always cost you a lot of money especially for the people who are not eligible for finical aid. Community colleges have affordable tuition and other fees that a normal student can handle during the academic year. Majority of People with small budget s start to go to community colleges where they can save thousands of dollars then they transfer their credits to universities in order to get the bachelor degree. Although university and community college provide academic education, there are remarkable differences in their admission requirements, learning environment and tuition. Nowadays many students start with community college then go to university to get Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees or Doctorates.

4 Essay Outline Templates That Will Simplify Your Writing Process

4 Essay Outline Templates That Will Simplify Your Writing Process Have you ever put together a piece of furniture (or maybe stood by and watched someone else do it)? The task was made a lot easier thanks to the instructions that came in the box. The piece of furniture didnt exactly build itself just because it came with instructions, but without these instructions the task would be nearly impossible to complete.You can think of an outline for your essay kind of like a set of instructions. Although you still have to put in quite a bit of effort while youre building/writing it, the instructions will help guide you through the entire process so that you dont have to go in there completely blind.An essay outline is especially helpful for those who are novice writers, but even the old pros use outlines. The prolific William Faulkner was known to use an outline, and he wrote a timeline out for his novel A Fable on his office walls, which can be still seen on display at his home Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi. Now were not advocating for anyone to write on their walls (sorry to all the moms out there!), but his method was effective because he was able to visualize his timeline and organize his writing around it.When you are assigned an essay, you might be tempted to wait until the last minute and just write something out really quickly. But without a concrete plan or knowing what it is that youre going to say, you might find yourself hovering over a computer with a blank page and a blinking cursor in the middle of the night. Nobody wants to be in that position, so lets aim to plan ahead, shall we?Why you should use an outline for everything you writeHave you ever heard the phrase great ideas take time? No amazing writer in the history of the universe just started typing one day and then had his or her writing magically turned into a book. Great writing requires great planning. Even if a writer didnt physically write down her timeline, she had a general idea of what she was going to write about before she started typing. Of course, there is such a thing as being inspired and acting on that inspiration (but lets be honest, your history essay isnt probably going to spark that kind of creativity in you).So, because we are writing a very structured piece with a somewhat predictable layout, its always best to use an outline. After you do your required research for your topic, an outline will help you to keep all of the points you want to make organized so that you dont skip any important pieces of information and so you can stay on track.How do you write an outline?The beauty of an outline is that no one will be seeing your outline - unless, of course, your teacher is making you turn it in beforehand so that he or she can review it before you turn in your paper. However, even if your teacher is reviewing the outline before you turn in your essay, its doubtful that he or she will grade too harshly on how you organize your thoughts. The main idea is that your teacher wants to see that youre putting in some thought before you write the essay.Because theres not as much pressure to make an outline sound nice and be grammatically correct, you can get out your thoughts quicker and easier. You can use a piece of scratch paper for an outline and just jot down a few points or you can get really intricate by creating a writing outline on the computer. Whatever way you want to write your outline is fine - just make sure youre doing it. Generally, in an outline you will need to have an idea of what your thesis statement will be, how your body paragraphs will support your thesis statement, and how you are going to wrap everything up in a conclusion at the end.Still a little unsure of how to start? Weve provided some examples below of what an outline will look like for a few different types of essays. Remember that these outlines are just samples. They arent necessarily something set in stone that you cant adapt for your particular assignment or idea.The argumentative essayThe argumentative essay is as o ld as writing is. The idea of an argumentative is - you guessed it - to establish an argument and provide evidence of why your claim is correct. You will collect evidence in defense of your argument and evaluate it.Here is a sample of what an argumentative essay outline might look like:IntroductionGeneral background information about your topicThesis statementBody paragraphsArgument 1 in support of your thesisSupporting factSupporting factSupporting factArgument 2 in support of your thesisSupporting factSupporting factSupporting factArgument 3 in support of your thesisSupporting factSupporting factSupporting factOpposing arguments and your response to these claimsOpposing argument 1 to your thesisYour response to this claimOpposing argument 2 to your thesisYour response to this claimConclusionReiterate arguments made in thesis statementWhy this essay matters (ideas for future research, why its especially relevant now, possible applications, etc.)Expository essay outlineExpository essays often get confused with argumentative essays, but the main difference is that the writers opinions and emotions are completely left out of an expository essay. The objective of an expository essay is to investigate a topic and present an argument in an unbiased way, but to still arrive at a conclusion. Because of this subtle difference, its important to have a solid outline to get you started on your writing.IntroductionThe presentation of the topicYour thesis statementBody paragraphsTopic sentence 1Supporting evidenceAnalysisTransition sentenceTopic sentence 2Supporting evidenceAnalysisTransition sentenceTopic sentence 3Supporting evidenceAnalysisTransition sentenceConclusionReiterate the points with an overview of the main points you discussed throughout the paper.Offer solutions, insight into why this topic matters, and what future topics could be expanded upon in a future paper.Reflective essay outlineReflective papers are a fun exercise where you get to write about a par ticular experience in your life and to discuss what lessons you learned from it. First-person essays are a really popular genre right now and are designed to make people from all different backgrounds reflect on a common human experience like receiving your first kiss, failing at something, or triumphing over obstacles. Because reflective essays are a little bit less rigid writing than a traditional classroom essay, the structure is definitely not set in stone. Feel free to play around with what makes sense for your particular story and experience.IntroductionA really great hook that will have the audience want to keep reading on (an example from the great writer David Sedaris, I always told myself that when I hit fifty I was going to discover opera, not just casually but full force: studying the composers, learning Italian, maybe even buying a cape.A brief little tease of what the story is going to be about. Youll probably need one to two sentences tops.Body paragraphsAct I of your storyWhat happened initially?Who were the key players?What obstacle did you have to overcome?Act II of your storyDescribe the obstacle/problem in more detailWhat role did the key players have?Act III of your storyWhat happened at the end?Was everything tied up neatly or not?ConclusionSummary of the eventsWhat lesson did you learn? Or, maybe, what was the lesson you learned much later on in life?Compare and contrast essay outlineWe compare and contrast things all the time in real life. We analyze what kind of healthcare plan we want, what major to pick, what phone we want, what career we want to pursue, etc. Having the skills to analyze two (or more) items and discovering what the facts are about them so that you can make an educated decision on which to pick are pretty crucial.A compare and contrast essay gives us the building blocks to understand how to make these decisions with real-life applications - and they can be pretty fun too. Although these compare and contrast essays do nt have as complicated of a structure as an expository or an argumentative essay, its still important to plan out how youre going to tackle this type of essay. Heres an idea of what a compare and contrast outline might look like:IntroductionA brief introduction to the topic and what Point A and Point B areYour thesis statement (which will contain some sort of equivalence or dissonance between Point A and Point B)Body paragraphsTopic sentence 1 about Point AClaim 1 about Point AClaim 2 about Point AClaim 3 about Point ATopic sentence 2 about Point BClaim 1 about Point BClaim 2 about Point BClaim 3 about Point BTopic sentence 3 that connects Point A and Point BWhat is similar between these two points?What is dissimilar?What comparisons can be made?ConclusionWhat conclusions can we draw about comparing these two points?Any further research required or suggested for the future?Is there a third thing that we should be comparing these two points to?Need help with your outline?If after rev iewing these guidelines or examining these sample outlines youre still a little bit unsure about how to incorporate an outline into your particular essay, be sure to ask your instructor for more guidance.And, if you need another pair of eyes to look over your paper after its been written, be sure to check out the services of our professional editors. Our expert editors can help you to polish up your paper, ensure that all of your citations have been made according to the style guide, and give you direction if the essay needs to be revised or rearranged in any way.

Klasies River Caves - Middle Paleolithic South Africa

Klasies River Caves - Middle Paleolithic South Africa Klasies River is the collective name of several caves eroded into the sandstone bluff located along a 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometers) stretch of the Tsitsikamma coast of South Africa facing the Indian Ocean. Between 125,000 and 55,000 years ago, a handful of our Anatomically Modern Human (AMH) (Homo sapiens) ancestors lived in these caves at the very southern tip of Africa. What they left behind provides evidence of the behavior of Homo sapiens at our very earliest moments of existence, and a slightly uncomfortable peek into our distant past. The Klasies River main site is one of the most intensively occupied sites within this area, associated with abundant cultural and subsistence remains of Middle Stone Age (MSA) hunter-gatherer-fishers. The site includes two caves and two smaller rock shelters, tied together by a 69-foot (21-meter) thick shell midden that spills out of all four. Archaeological investigations have been conducted at Klasies River since the late 1960s, primarily at the main site. The Klasies River caves were first excavated by J. Wymer in 1967–1968, and then by H. Deacon between 1984–1995, and most recently by Sarah Wurz beginning in 2013. Chronology Early modern Homo sapiens lived in the Klasies River caves during the Middle Stone Age, periods which are roughly equivalent to the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS 5). At Klasies, MSA I (MIS 5e/d), MSA I Lower (MIS 5c), and MSA I Upper (MIS 5b/a) were relatively intensive human occupations. The oldest the oldest AMH bone found in the cave dates to 115,000 (abbreviated 115 ka). The main layers of occupation and listed in the table below; the most substantial occupation debris is from the MSA II lower levels. MSA III MIS 3 (80–60 ka)Howiesons Poort (MIS 5/a to MIS 4)MSA II upper (85 ka, MIS 5b/a)MSA II lower (MB 101–90 ka, MIS 5c, 10 m thick)MSA I (KR technocomplex) 115–108 ka, MIS 5e/d Artifacts and Features Artifacts found at the sites include stone and bone tools, animal bones and mussel shell, and over 40 bones or bone fragments of the human occupants of the cave. Hearths and artifact clusters within the shell midden indicate that the residents systematically exploited both land-based and marine resources. Animal bones found within the caves include bovids, baboon, otter, and leopard. The earliest stone tool tradition found in the caves is MSA I Klasies River techno-complex. Others include convergent Levallois tool types in MSA I known as Mossel Bay technocomplex; and the Howiesons Poort/Still Bay complex. Nearly 40 human fossil bones and bone fragments are in the catalogs from the excavations. Some of the bones look identical to modern Homo sapien morphologies, others show more archaic traits than recent human populations. Living in Klasies River Caves The people who lived in these caves were modern humans who lived by recognizably human methods, hunting game and gathering plant foods. Evidence for our other hominid ancestors- Homo erectus and Homo ergaster, for example- suggests that they primarily scavenged other animals kills; the Homo sapiens of Klasies River caves knew how to hunt. The Klasies River people dined on shellfish, antelope, seals, penguins, and some unidentified plant foods, roasting them in hearths built for the purpose. The caves were not permanent residences for the humans who inhabited them, as best as we can tell; they only stayed for a few weeks, then moved along to the next hunting stand. Stone tools and flakes made from beach cobbles were recovered from the earliest levels of the site. Klasies River and Howiesons Poort Apart from the debris of living, researchers have also found fragmentary evidence in these earliest levels of the earliest of ritual behavior- cannibalism. Fossil human remains were found in several layers of the Klasies River occupations, fire-blackened fragments of skulls and other bones showing cut marks from deliberate butchery. While this alone would not convince researchers that cannibalism had taken place, the pieces were mixed with the rubble of kitchen debris- thrown out with the shells and bones of the remainder of the meal. These bones were unequivocally modern human; at a time when no other modern humans are known- only Neanderthals and early modern Homo existed outside of Africa. By 70,000 years ago, when the layers called by archaeologists Howiesons Poort were laid down, these same caves were used by people with a more sophisticated stone tool technology, backed tools from thin stone blades, and projectile points. The raw material from these tools came not from the beach, but from rough mines some 12 mi (20 km) away. The Middle Stone Age Howiesons Poort lithic technology is nearly unique for its time; similar tool types are not found anywhere else until the much later Late Stone Age assemblages. While archaeologists and paleontologists continue to debate whether modern humans are descended only from the Homo sapiens populations from Africa, or from a combination of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal, the Klasies River cave populations are still our ancestors and are still representatives of the earliest known modern humans on the planet. Sources Bartram, Laurence E.Jr., and Curtis W. Marean. Explaining the Klasies Pattern: Kua Ethnoarchaeology, the Die Kelders Middle Stone Age Archaeofauna, Long Bone Fragmentation and Carnivore Ravaging. Journal of Archaeological Science 26 (1999): 9–29. Print.Churchill, S. E., et al. Morphological Affinities of the Proximal Ulna from Klasies River Main Site: Archaic or Modern? Journal of Human Evolution 31 (1996): 213–37. Print.Deacon, H.J., and V. B. Geleisjsne. The Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of the Main Site Sequence, Klasies River, South Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 43 (1988): 5–14. Print.Grine, Frederick E., Sarah Wurz, and Curtis W. Marean. The Middle Stone Age Human Fossil Record from Klasies River Main Site. Journal of Human Evolution 103 (2017): 53–78. Print.Hall, S., and J. Binneman. Later Stone Age Burial Variability in the Cape: A Social Interpretation. The South African Archaeological Bulletin 42 (1987): 140–52. Print.N ami, Hugo G., et al. Palaeomagnetic Results and New Dates of Sedimentary Deposits from Klasies River Cave 1, South Africa. South African Journal of Science 112.11/12 (2016). Print. Nel, Turid Hillestad, Sarah Wurz, and Christopher Stuart Henshilwood. Small Mammals from Marine Isotope Stage 5 at Klasies River, South Africa–Reconstructing the Local Palaeoenvironment. Quaternary International 471 (2018): 6–20. Print.Voigt, Elizabeth. Stone Age Molluscan Utilization at Klasies River Mouth Caves. South African Journal of Science 69 (1973): 306–09. Print.Wurz, Sarah. Variability in the Middle Stone Age Lithic Sequence, 115,000–60,000 Years Ago at Klasies River, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 29 (2002): 1001–15. Print.Wurz, Sarah, et al. Connections, Culture and Environments around 100?000 Years Ago at Klasies River Main Site. Quaternary International (2018). Print. Klasies River Caves Fast Facts Name of Site: Klasies River or Klasies River MouthSpecies: Early Modern HumansStone Tool Traditions: Klasies River, Mossel Bay (convergent Levallois), Howiesons PoortPeriod: Middle Stone AgeDate of Occupation: 125,000–55,000 years agoConfiguration: Five caves and two rock sheltersMedium: Naturally eroded into the sandstone cliffLocation: 1.5 mi (2.5 km) stretch of the Tsitsikamma coast of South Africa facing the Indian OceanOffbeat Fact: Evidence that our ancient human ancestors were cannibals

Consumer Behavior Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Consumer Behavior - Assignment Example See it works as the CEO of the company says if one is in the store for 2 hours then we got him or her. The bookseller gives value to cognition because a purchase decision is a consequence of thinking and therefore, once the customer initiates to think about getting then the store might make a sale. Barnes and Noble offers a place where people can meet up others and have a social activity but at the same time, no one is going to stop the objective customers from buying what they need or want to leave. After all, the store is selling books and CDs and all that fuss of offering opportunities to socialize, coffee, comfy couches and free music is actually means of selling literature (Peter & Olson, 2010) and in the light of above argument, both Rob and Lisa will have themselves entertained at the featured bookstore’s facility. Lisa on the other hand, will most probably prefer Barnes and Noble because she has the luxury of actually reading or listening to a book or a piece of music before she can make a final purchase decision over there. According to Social Exchange Theory, humans interact and love to share their knowledge and information with each other (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005). However, Barnes and Noble is offering free online services on the web and free live performances in their physical locations because all it wants to do is to facilitate the consumers to find out what they like by looking around and talking to the people in the store and purchase it. All of these free activities are there to motivate customers towards buying something intrinsically. The salesperson does not have to push customers towards buying books but they are needed to be seated in comfy couches and then frontline employees have to wait for them to actually buy something. I found the marketing strategy of Barnes and Noble as most intriguing and innovative because it focuses on meeting traditional goals of marketing with a newer approach. I got most of

Evolution of the Global Economy, 1800 to the 21st Century Essay

Evolution of the Global Economy, 1800 to the 21st Century - Essay Example In this case, poverty refers to the deprivation of access and opportunities to resources and denial of the enjoyment of their rights and privileges due to social stratification and inequalities of wage system (Alam, 2000, p. 215). Researchers however tried to quantify the nature of poverty to make it more understandable. Under the Human Development Report of 2012 reported that there are 50% of the world populace or about 3 billion people are earning less than $ 2.50 per day (Statistic Brain, 2012, p. 1). There are also about 80% of the world populace are surviving in less than $10 a day and same percentile of 80% where income (Statistic Brain, 2012, p. 1). Moreover, there are 22,000 children that are dying each day due to poverty while there are 1.1 billion of people in emerging country with inadequate access to water (Statistic Brain, 2012, p. 1). Reports further bared that there are 443 million of school days that are lost due to water related illness (Statistic Brain, 2012, p. 1). ... ive wealthy ratio statistics, there were 3 poor people per 1 ich person in 1820 but this increased to 72 poor people per 1 wealthy person (Statistic Brain, 2012, p. 1). DoSomething. Org (2013) likewise reported that 70 million people do not have enough food to eat (p. 1). There were 2 million children that have died of preventable illnesses such as diarrhea and pneumonia due to absence of access of medication (DoSomething. Org, 2013, p. 1). Since 2011, there were 19 million children that were recorded as unvaccinated and 1.6 billion people that are still living in darkness due to absence of access to energy or electricity (DoSomething. Org, 2013, p. 1). In Asia, reports bared that there are 44% of Indian peoples that are struggling to lie life at US$1/day and so is in Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh which has only similar subsistence level (Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2007, pp. 71-78; Aggarwal & Chowdhr, 1991, p. 142; Adil Khan, 1996, p 144). This is also true to the peoples of B hutan and Afghanistan where people live at a rate of $ 1/day (Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2007, pp. 71-78). High illiteracy is more felt in South Asia, especially for women and children (Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2007, pp. 71-78). The region has also high child mortality rate. Although there are indicators that certain levels of development are attained certain improvement but the disparity of income and opportunities to resource remained scarce (Chronic Poverty Research Centre, 2007, pp. 71-78). They are also the same regions that is lead with undemocratic or less democratic systems and where conflicts are abound in multifarious ways—meaning, it covered issues on terrorism, rebellion, labor disputes, women rights violations and militarism. World Bank (2013), a financial

Early Childhood Education Essay Example for Free

Early Childhood Education Essay Children are our future. This explains to you, the reader, why I chose to dive into the career path of Early Childhood Education. In this essay I will explain to you what the job of an early Childhood professional is, what training they need and what standards they are expected to maintain. These are all important facts in becoming an Early Childhood professional. First of all, what is the job of an Early Childhood professional? Well, their job is to nourish the growth of children, support families, and work closely with coworkers. Their work with children begins before the first child arrives, and continues until after the last child leaves. Early Childhood educators spend a lot of time with not only the children, but with the families of the children. The book, Who Am I in the Lives of Children states that young children cannot be separated from the context of their homes, so relating to and working with families is an important part of the role of the Early Childhood educator. If your not a people person, this job may not be for you. Educators provide a safe and secure environment for the children, allowing them to grow and blossom into an independent child, with a personality of their own. Early Childhood education may take a number of faces including family childcare providers and nannies, teacher aides or teacher assistants, assistant teachers or assistant care givers, teachers or care givers, master teachers or head teachers and lastly, directors. Members of this field share a mission, commitment and set of values. Also, they have agreed on standards, in the form of a code of ethics. In one single day, an Early Childhood professional may function as a teacher, friend, secretary, parent, colleague, nurse, janitor, counselor, entertainer, and a diplomat. Second of all, what training are Early Childhood professionals expected to have? Well, paraphrasing from the book, Who Am I in the Lives of Children, the training and experience required will be determined by program licensing. Requirements vary from state to state. In some states being in good health and having a diploma are all that is necessary. Most states require that teachers and care givers in center based programs be qualified for their jobs through training, either by having a college degree, or a CDA credential(Child Development Associate). From what I know you need approximately 12 units of ECE training to go into the field of Early Childhood education. Lastly, what standards are Early Childhood professionals expected to maintain? I think the core values of early childhood education are very important to maintain. These core values are: appreciating childhood as a unique a valuable stage of the human life cycle basing our work with children on knowledge of child development appreciating and supporting the close ties between the child and the family recognizing that children are best understood in the context of family, culture and society Respecting the dignity, worth and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member and colleague) Helping children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust, respect and positive reguard. The NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct is also important is the field of Early Childhood education. (A copy of the code is found in the appendix of, Who Am I in the Lives of Children) These two things are important because young children are vulnerable and lack the power to defend themselves. In conclusion, when people say that you just babysit kids they are wrong. Being an Early Childhood professional is a very important job. You are helping shape and raise our futures leaders.

Affective Gaming Essay -- essays research papers

Shigeru Miyamoto, the father of the Mario and Zelda franchises, tells us that he designs his games around a series of specific emotional experiences. Console manufacturer Sony have christened the PlayStation 2's CPU the ‘emotion engine'. Clearly the gaming community understands the importance of emotion in games, so why do most games offer the player such a shallow emotional play experience? The reason is partly due to the relative immaturity of the games industry. Whereas the film industry has a mature and well developed structure for how the auteur might evoke tears in the eyes of the audience, the digital games industry is still in the process of writing the rule book. With digital gaming being a visual medium, you might expect techniques for eliciting emotion to be transferable across media. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. The film director has complete control over the image appearing on the cinema screen – the camera angle, the sequential order of each scene, and the pacing of a scene. In contrast, the game designer hands control of such things to the player. The player will choose the camera angle best suited to getting Mario across the tight rope, as well as the direction and pace at which the game progresses. Interactive media needs to find their own rules for supporting emotion in games, and they have a couple of neat tricks which set them apart from the competition. Evoking an emotional response in the player The interactive nature of digital games provides new and very different possibilities for eliciting emotions. For example, whereas the movie goer simply watches the narrative world unfold, the game player gets to interacts with it - and each environment has the potential to evoke a different emotional response. For example, a large building with towering marble pillars is generally considered much more imposing and makes people feel smaller and more uncomfortable than a small room with a sofa and a blazing wood-fire. At Glasgow Caledonian University we are currently looking specifically at those environments which are renowned for producing supernatural experiences. By modelling and adapting reputedly haunted places in Edinburgh, UK we have been able to create game environments which evoke ghostlike experience for approximately 60% of people who experience it. Reported experiences include the feeling a ghost breathing on the... ... how to control their avatar. With the arrival of online gaming it is often the case that a player's opponent is not physically present, thus diluting the social experience of multiplayer gaming. However, if the software could determine the player's affective state, an on-screen persona could be adapted to reflect the player's emotional state. 3. AFFECTIVE GAME-MECHANICS Knowing the affective state of the player allows for novel game mechanics based around the player's emotions. An example of such can be found in Zen Warriors, a game currently in pre-development at Glasgow Caledonian University. Zen Warrior is a fighting game where, to perform their finishing move, the player has to switch from fast paced aggression, to a Zen-like state of inner calm. These are exciting times. Games have taken the huge aesthetic leap from two dimensions to three dimensions. The next evolutionary step is for games to elicit deeper and more varied emotion in players. And we are still only writing the first chapter of the rule book. -- Jonathan Sykes Jonathan Sykes currently heads the eMotion Laboratory at Glasgow Caledonian University, where he investigates emotional engagement with technology.

How significant is the concept of the American Dream in the novel Of Mice and Men? Essay

The question above is asking us how the author, John Steinbeck, incorporates the American Dream in his novel, Of Mice and Men. To obtain the knowledge you must look at what the text is telling you in different aspects. The meaning of American Dream in this novel is to some day gain independence, to do this you must work hard. For quite a few the dream is someday achieve this goal, however this goal may change from an illusion to an ambition. In the following pages I will try to interpret the true meaning of The American Dream, to do this I will have to study the author himself, the way he has portrayed his characters, the language he has used and the structure of the novel itself. First we have to define the terms used to understand the story and the characters. The word Dream carries many meanings, which many people get confused about. A Dream can be an illusion, but if you believe it when it is not true you will become deluded. A Dream can also be an aim or a goal in life. By doing things towards your aim you will become closer to it. This will then become an ambition. The Classic American Dream is to achieve freedom and independence through hard work; once this is accomplished your own land must be acquired to complete The Dream, â€Å"an live off the fatta the lan†. To almost everyone the dream is to be accomplished by itself; however George and Lennie have other plans they want to do it together. This is because loneliness is what makes a man become crazy, so a companion is needed even if he/she is black or white, dumb or clever just to make sure that you don’t become crazy, â€Å"With us it ain’t like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us†. This quote assures you that they are seeking The Dream together and care about each other The characters who want The Classical American try all their luck to achieve it, they include George, Lennie, Candy and Crooks. They want it before George and Lennie even have any contact with them, however it is split up into four beliefs: illusion, hope, ambition and delusion. George does not believe in The Dream at first, he only talks about it as it comforts Lennie to great extents; the dream is an illusion to him. However The Dream rapidly changes into an ambition when he arrives on the ranch. The only way he was near The Dream was because Candy overheard him talking to George about it, he asks if he can have a part in it, he also offers three hundred dollars towards the land that George was talking to Lennie about. The cycle for George starts of with illusion, hope, and ambition then back to illusion at the end. For Lennie The Dream was never an illusion and never will be, with the childlike mind he has. The Dream is an ambition to him throughout the story until he hallucinates about his Aunt Clara and a big, giant rabbit. This shows that he is deluding. For Candy it is very upsetting and hard to cope with because of his old age and the death of his companion. The sudden cancellation affects him dreadfully and he is very upset about this. His cycle covers everything: illusion, hope, ambition and illusion with the sudden cancellation. Crooks has it hard to, he starts to believe in The Dream when Lennie tells him about it, he then confirms this with George he also asks for a place in the deal, but Curley’s wife walks in and he quits the deal. Crooks is still looking for equality, since he is black he knows that he cannot take part in the dream. Another character called slim is also introduced into the story. Slim is portrayed as the ‘perfect man’, his build, looks, hair style, jaw definition etc are all perfect, â€Å"†¦he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen† this clarifies that slim is the perfect man. The Dream to slim is foolish so he does not believe in it. Another worker on the ranch is Carlson he is portrayed as ‘average Joe’. Carlson and Slim are both symbols and teach you a lot, Carlson is what people were like during The Great Depression, and Slim is what people should be like during The Great Depression. Carlson is the one who kills Candy’s dog once this is acknowledged we are forewarned about George and Lennie, this is a parallel. The New American Dream is money, fame and power through as little as possible. To accomplish this you must go into Hollywood, become an actor. Hollywood was formed during the 1930’s – 1950’s, it was very successful. The only character that believes in The New American Dream is Curley’s wife. She is described as a tart and a lot of trouble, â€Å"Jesus, what a tramp†. She wears a lot of red, red is the colour of Satan i.e. she means trouble. Steinbeck immediately tells us that she will be the reason George and Lennie won’t accomplish The Dream, â€Å"Rectangle of sunshine in the doorway was cut off† the rays of the sunlight in the story mean hope, light are referred to hope i.e. ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’. Her cycle starts of as ambition, when a young actor said he was in the movie business. She then married Curley and was on a ranch most of the time. He Dream then turned into an illusion as she knew that she would not achieve it. She, sadly, dies which brings her Dream to a crashing downfall. This means that The New American Dream should not be believed in. John Steinbeck has used his own thoughts and translated them into text and characters. He has hidden a message inside the book. The only character in the novel that believes about The Dream the whole way through is Lennie. This is because of his childlike mind and through his character he shows how everyone who wants The Dream behaves. He is the voice of all the people that want The Dream, he is their spirit. However this is a message to say that this Dream is childlike as only a child would believe it, Lennie. The Dream provides hope for all those people who want The Dream so badly. The Dream dies at the end with Lennie as no one believes The Dream at the end. The Classical American Dream has been taken over by The New American Dream. The aim is not for a few acres of land and a bunch of rabbits, it is now about wealth, fame, power and reputation. If I were to read the book just like that I would thing it is a boring story now that I have looked deeper into what John Steinbeck is trying to tell us I seem to enjoy the book more. The structure of the book revolves around in a cycle, this supports Steinbecks views that The Dream cannot be achieved. There are many parallels in the book. The character Lennie is compared many times to an animal in the book, he is also shot like Candy’s dog in the same place. From the beginning to the end of the book there is no progress; including Crooks as his cycle is illusion, then hope but back down to illusion again. The language that is used during the novel creates a perfect atmosphere to make the points about The Dream very clear. In the beginning he starts the book with a Garden of Eden atmosphere. By using his words like so he has turned California into a heaven like place, California being the Promise Land then. He starts with a nice atmosphere but soon brings you back down to earth when he describes the other places in the novel. â€Å"On the sandy bank†¦a lizard makes a great skittering among them†. The Garden of Eden like atmosphere and the bunk house at the ranch have a very, very high contrast. The Garden of Eden is full of hope, but the bunk house is like a prison. The dream seems virtually impossible in the bunk house. So George has illusions through his time at the bunk house. Another cyclic theme in the novel is when a water snake dies, but another just comes again.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦to the legs of a motionless heron that stood in the shallows†¦and the beak swallowed the little snake while its tail waved frantically†¦Another little water snake swam up the pool, turning its periscope head from side to side†. The American dream is significant as it provides an aim for everyone in life whether it is The New American Dream or The Classical American Dream. The Dream is not about obtaining it or not, it is about the journey towards it. The search for a better life and the companionship in the times of need. The way we deal with the obstacles in front of us and the way we conquer them is what counts. John Steinbeck showed us this through his pen & paper and his great intelligence.

Tiger Brands Limited Essay

Tiger Brands Limited, a Top 40 JSE Limited company whose footprint extends across the African continent and beyond, is one of the largest manufacturers and marketers of FMCG products in Southern Africa, and has been for several decades. Tiger Brands has been built over several decades through the acquisition and clustering of businesses which own leading food, home and personal care brands. It’s success is grown and maintained through the perpetual renovation and innovation of its brands, while its approach to expansion, acquisitions and joint ventures has given traction to a distribution network that now spans more than 22 African countries. The Group focus is on the core business of FMCG categories that spread synergy across the value chain – which a broad basket of categories spans food, home and personal care as well as baby products. The wide range of brands are underpinned by comprehensive research and meaningful insights into each of the markets in which Tiger Brands operates. Tiger Brands is without question a world–class operation – and will continue to hold and grow its position through constant investment in every asset of the business, be it in people, brands, technology, efficiency, quality or sustainability.

Checks and Balances essays

Checks and Balances essays In the United States Federal Constitution, there is a system specifically designed to prevent one of the three branches from gaining too much power. This system is called Checks and Balances. Over the course of history, there have been many instances where this system has been put into effect. The system of Checks and Balances is very simple yet intricate. For example, if the President [E] isnt fulfilling his responsibilities as a leader or behaving inappropriately, the Legislative Branch [Congress] can limit him though the power of impeachment (Doc 1). The Judicial Branch can limit his power through the process of judicial review. This is when a justice can declare a law unconstitutional (Doc 6). If Congress [L] is proposing a bill to the President [E] that he feels isnt in the best interests of the nation, he has the power to veto the bill. Most often, a bill can not become a law without the consent and ratification of the President (statistics of Presidential vetoes are shown on the chart in Document 3). The President [E] can also check the power of the Judicial Branch through the appointment of justices. With a new justice in place, over time, there is a chance an earlier decision made by the Supreme Court can be overturned. This can only be done, however, wit h the ratification of a constitutional amendment. Over time, there have been infamous cases where Checks and Balances have been put into effect. The Senates rejection of the treaty of Versailles was an important historical controversy. In 1919, World War I had ended. Then-President Woodrow Wilson had put into the treaty his idea for world peace called the 14 Points. The section that caused conflict was the proposal for an international peace-keeping organization called the League of Nations. Ironically, if any member-nation had conflict, other members would then be forced to send their troops into a peace war in whi...

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Welcome back to the black-hole time-sucking wasteland known as Youtube, HipsDontLie6969! It’s been an eternity since we’ve last seen you. What, a whole two days? Unacceptable. You have 53 videos piled up in your subscription box– a record high! How have you managed to survive without staring at Michelle Phan slap makeup on for five minutes or watching yet another adorable puppy video? No, don’t look away from the screen. You still need your daily dose of prank-gone-wrong videos and low-budget trailers for movies you’ll never see. There we go, two hours you’ll never get back! Oh, but you’re not done yet. In fact, we’ve barely just started! To tell you the truth, we’ve been worried about you. First you haven’t posted an Instagram picture in three days, now you’re talking with your friend and haven’t checked your phone in over five minutes. What’s next, no more selfies every three seconds?Don’t make Siri ask you what’s wrong. This is getting incredibly unhealthy and you’re showing signs of all the symptoms: being attentive to other people, engaging in conversation, good god, even LOLing (or as the prehistoric barbarians used to call it, â€Å"laughing†). I’m afraid you have a severe case of the â€Å"Life’s So Much Better Not Looking Through A Screen But Actually Enjoying the Present Syndrome†. I’m afraid recovery is not going to be an easy process. People complain about recovering from cancer or a surgery, yet they don’t understand the amount of work it takes to find a post-worthy selfie with just the right cleavage-to-duckface ratio. Then you need to find an adequate (usually irrelevant) caption, maybe another Taylor Swift lyric or movie quote? How about a good ‘ole hashtag? â€Å"#selfiesunday #hashtag #love #girl #boobs† it is . Oh, don’t even get me started on the filters. Yet the hardest part of healing is relearning the unspoken rules of â€Å"text language†: to be able to typeâ€Å"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA† without a remnant of a smile on the face or decimate the English language so u tlk lik dis and sound rly smart lol:) Recovery is also hard on your loved ones, as you slowly sink back into to the habit of taking pictures of your food at the dinner table instead of eating it or texting while your Mom has, or at least attempts,a one-sided conversation. This journey back to health will be full of glazed eyes and relapses back to reality, but #webelieveinyou. We see a large cause of this sickness is due to that boy you’ve been flirting with in math class. Don’t think we haven’t noticed like Google, we know everything. Also like Google, we’re here to help and make sure you don’t have to use your own brain for anything. If you would like to talk to him, text him instead! Everyone knows talking online is the same if not better than in person. You get to filter your true thoughts and hide behind a rampage of smiley face emojis. If that doesn’t work out, welcome to Tinder! With just a swipe right, this mobile dating app matches you with sweet sentimental guys who are looking for nothing short of a lifelong romance (long walks on the beach and kisses in the sunset not included). Next, we’ll prescribe a strong dose of Twitter; make sure to take this at least once an hour. After all, everyone is dying to know where you are, what your mood is, and what youre wearing at all times, Now don’t forget, if you want to heal faster, make sure to also subtweet your ex-boyfriends new girlfriend around once a week, because who doesn’t love a good twitter fight.Sure you could be paying attention in class, but Nicole’s status on the cloudy weather seems much more important . Favorite. As the saying goes, pictures/videos or it didn’t happen. This treatment is one of of the best cures towards your diagnosis. What would be the point of going to a concert if you didn’t take a video? Concerts used to be about the live experience, the intimate connection between artist and fan, and the swarming energy that causes people to dance, laugh, sing along. Never mind that when now you can capture it and just re watch it again later. This applies when you hang out with friends as well. Make sure to take as many pictures as possible so you can brag about your friendship through â€Å"candid† laughter photos and Snapchat storiesthen you can go back to â€Å"hanging out†, aka being in each other’s presence as you both stare away at your phones. Have you ever walked into a silent room where everyone’s heads were craned down, scrolling through their Facebook newsfeed? Satisfying, isn’t it? Silence speaks louder than words. You seem to be doing much better pale ghastly skin, a sore neck from constantly looking down, and the inability to go to the bathroom, or anywhere really, without your phone seemingly attached to your hand. You used to make small talk with the stranger in the elevator or only Facebook friend people you really knew, but fortunately we’ve successfully removed those malignant actions. Now you’re a living success story: socially impaired with+800 Facebook friends who couldn’t give a rats ass about you! With our current treatment, less and less people are getting struck with this contagious virus. Luckily, we are starting vaccinations at a younger age, with little kids playing on smartphones instead of outside and taking bathroom mirror pictures before they’re tall enough to reach it. By the next five years, kids are projected to have smartphones handed to them right out of the womb! In the age of technology and advancement, those struck down with the syndrome are dying out while the rest of the population is progressing forward. I’m glad you were able to recover and join us.Make sure to follow the necessary steps to prevent the â€Å"Life’s So Much Better Not Looking Through A Screen But Actually Enjoying the Present Syndrome† from resurfacing. Have as many social media applications as possible and when in doubt, never look up. Your screen is your reality. If you’re reading this off paper (does that still exist?), you’re doing it wrong. Oh , well pardon me, I forgot to look at the time! It’s that time of the day again. Welcome back to the black-hole time-sucking wasteland known as Youtube, HipsDontLie6969! It’s been an eternity since we’ve last seen you. What, a whole two hours?

Case plan scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Case plan scenario - Essay Example This is the basis of this case plan. The purpose of the plan is to move the client to the point where they recognize the need to change their unhealthy eating and drinking habits for their benefit. One of the best ways of treating lifestyle diseases is for the patient to abandon their unhealthy way of life that led to or worsens the effects of the diseases. In the case of the patient that is the subject of this plan, it was established that their lifestyle disease is attributable to their eating fatty, junk foods and heavy drinking. When advised to quit that lifestyle in favour of a healthy one, they protested bitterly to the point of claiming that they rather die and stop eating junk food and drinking. Two possibilities arise. Either the patient does not understand and appreciate the contribution of their lifestyle to their disease or they do, but there are certain forces that drive them to refuse to cooperate with the dietician. Either way, the task ahead is to get the patient to cooperate with the dietician for the sake of their health. However, the patient has made it clear that they will not cooperate with the dietician. Thus, it may be necessary to enlist the help of a third party. Arguably, this is the best and first third party to approach the patient’s immediate family, if they had one. The fact that the client leaves alone further complicates the situation. Functional families are known to offer the highest moral, emotional, psychological and other forms of support in difficult moments such as when a member of the family suffers from a life-threatening disease or condition. The effective treatment of a lifestyle disease or any other disease takes the joint effort of both the patient and the health practitioner (Malcher, 2009). Otherwise, left to one party, the process of administering treatment is an exercise in futility. Suppose a patient visits a

Choose one of the topics below Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Choose one of the topics below - Research Paper Example It is paramount to shift to energy sources that can substantially reduce the CO2 emissions as compared to fossil fuels rather than restricting energy saving portfolios in order to realize a reduction of greenhouse emissions. Renewable energy strategy is the best approach to reducing the emissions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), to reach the ultimate goal of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, including the developing countries, strategic renewable energy sources should be implemented. Nuclear power generations and fossil fuel-fire d power generations with CO2 storage and recapture measures should be put in place to fast track counter global warming (IEA, 2008). Renewable energy is an inexhaustible energy that is a flow-type and is environment friendly. This proposal will presents some analytic findings of renewable energy outputs towards a low carbon society. It goes further to provide the nature policies on the promotion of renewable energy, measures to overcome non-economic barriers for the adoption, future courses of electricity demand-supply system, cost and effects of promotion of renewable energy and the ways to allocate related costs (IEA, 2008). The leading renewable energy producer in North America is Ontario. This renewable energy is beneficial since it does not bring about environmental degradation or pollution. Different methods of producing such energy include harnessing of wind energy through the use of windmills, harnessing of biogas or through the harnessing of solar energy. Electricity harnessed through solar energy directly depends on the energy from the sun and its intensity. Hence, different states that rely on solar energy try to determine solar insolation annually in order to optimize their electricity production during high insolation periods and subsidize their electricity during low insolation periods. There are different methods of

Expanding the Oral Care Group in India Case Study - 1

Expanding the Oral Care Group in India - Case Study Example 50% of the population is not concerned for oral hygiene. Those parts of the potential customers need awareness first of all about the oral health. Secondly, they are not in a reach of oral health care products as the disposable incomes of people living in rural areas have $2 per day, in comparison of urban population who are wealthy and they have great purchasing power. There is a shortage of dental care personnel in rural areas specially, single personnel handles thousands of dental patients. In addition, people with only high income consult dental professionals as they cost very high (Bruce, Moore, & Birtwistle, 2004). That defines the problem of affordability to the consumers. And the third is Accessibility, in which the director of the company, Brinda Patel want her manager to make a new market plan and she want to increase the unit sales nearly up to 30% of toothbrushes in India by spending 3% more in advertising budget, as her previous project in Thailand went successful. Whereas, manager Michael Lang is concerned if the strategy of increasing advertising budget more than Thailand’s budget will affect the sales positively as there are many cultural barriers in each region of India. The projections could go wrong, whether they can access the products and accept the change in oral health as they are using Neem twigs and tobacco and ashes since ages. Brinda believes that rural area need more hygiene protection messages and has a strategy to market its premium products and convince customers to switch to high range of oral care products, that might help the company to reach up to 30% per unit sales(Rudolf R. Sinkovics, 2009). On the other hand, Michael suggested not increasing the advertising budget and applying strategies in urban market to focus and persuade first time users of tooth brush and later spend on when they become habitual. Applying marketing strategies suggested by Brinda over rural areas

Punishment And Rehabilitation Between Prison Probation Services Criminology Essay

Punishment And Rehabilitation Between Prison Probation Services Criminology Essay When the prison population doubles, then doubles again, and then doubles again as it has done in EW from 15,900 in 1901 to nearly 90,000 in 2010, it follows that there will be substantial increase in the number of supervised by National Probation Service (NPS). The probation service is responsible for the commissioning and delivery of offenders who are subject to a court order or those released on licence from prison. The probation service focuses on the following aims and objectives: proper punishment, protecting public, reduce re-offending, assisting courts in sentencing, victim empathy, rehabilitation and finally best use of resources. As shown, its aims are less about the welfare of offenders and more about social control, which will be covered in more depth in this chapter. During the late 1990s, the probation service was targeted by the media for its poor ability to administer probation orders due to the lack of effective punishment for offenders (Ward et al 2002). Association Of Chief Officers Of Probation (ACOP) released the results of their study which revealed what was feared. It clearly demonstrated that improving enforcement was fundamental for proper punishment and public protection. Thereby, in order to re-gain public confidence and that of the courts, the service took an active approach to ensure that those who breach an order will be returned to court or custody for further sentencing. However, data collected by the National Association of Probation Officers (NAPO) indicated that; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦many of the recalls were for technical reasons such as not following rules, or missing appointments. In the majority of the cases of those recalled for technical reasons, there was no evidence of risk to the public. Cases published by the Napo include individuals who were recalled for not getting up in the morning, for reporting to the wrong probation office, for loosing their permanent address, because of tags not workingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (cited in Sim 2009 page 112) Thereby, although probation officers attempts to protect public with rigorous enforcement orders, for Hearnden and Millie (2004) these changes made little advancement because organisational effectiveness of law enforcement agencies has been seen in terms of control and punishment, rather than rehabilitation of offenders. Recent research findings support Hearnden and Millies claim as re-conviction rates within the first two years of being released from prison is more than 60% (Telegraph 2008). As a consequence of an organisational shift towards law-enforcement, it has been told that control-oriented models of NOMS had an inhibitory effect on the performance of rehabilitation and treatment needs of offenders. Although control-oriented and rehabilitative forms of treatment have been used together, one of the other has been obviously pre-eminent; punishment. This, as a result, brought a punitive criminal justice system which also increased fears about the disappearance of the caring and socially aware aspects of probation work. For Farral (2002) such changes have been a dismal failure because professional literature recommends assisting individuals in the process of self-change and building on strengths. In support, Farrals (2002) project which included interviewing almost two hundred probationers revealed the very small role that supervising probation staff had played in any successful desisting from crime. It has, for long, been recommended by Bottoms and McWilliams (1979) and many others that the elements of rehabilitation and punishment should be separated from each other. More controlling the probation service may be, but Ames (2002) told that probation staffs are often reluctant to punish offenders because they have understandably felt that this is not their proper business, and indeed is not within their power (Duff 2003). It has come to be assumed by many probation officers that offenders have problems, often involving their adjustment to society and to life in general. And because the problems of many more offenders lie in their situation, past and present, rather than in themselves, officers are more willing to refer offenders to agencies in which they can obtain special help with housing, employment, drug or alcohol problems and mental health needs which are all considered to be aspects of re-offending (Thames Valley Criminal Justice Board 2007). This reinforces the arguments put forward by Bottoms and McWilliams over twenty years ago when they wrote that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ help may be more crime-reducing than treatment (1979: 174). It is clear fro m this statement that offenders require understanding, and as a result of their understanding they will receive insights which will substantially alter their attitudes after a criminal activity. The notion of reintegration is well known in Marunas Liverpool desistance study where he found that participants often talked about the role of probation officers in recognising redemption (Maruna 2000). But not only do the probation officers play big role in re-integration; models of reintegration stress the need for changes in both role and status for the released prisoner: The exchange theory concept of reciprocity suggests that only by taking responsibility for making things right with victims and victimised communities can offenders change either the communitys image of them or their perceptions of themselves. (Bazenmore and Stinchcomb 2004: page) So the emerging question is how can offenders change either the communitys image of them or their perceptions of themselves. For Williams (1995: 124), the latter can be achieved by developing a professional relationship with the client. However, there is a barrier. In contrast to Ames (2002), more recent findings revealed that the attitude of the probation officer to the probationer is no longer as it would be adopted by a sensible friend. Though there are still elements in place in to supply advice, assist and befriend but in reality it is lacking. Strategies For Effective Offender Supervision highlighted the necessity for a higher detailed quality approach to deal with offenders by addressing more of their specific behaviour (HMIP 1998b). Offenders can change communitys image of them by undertaking community work in the community- which is a form of punishment. Nonetheless, no matter how strict the supervision of offenders, and no matter the extent of technology used, it will not be considered to be as effective as the simple act of imprisonment because offenders are not under a total control which prison affords, and is therefore not physically prevented for a period from committing further crimes. However, there are many reasons which provoke government from abolishing the objective of proper punishment; from an effective punishment in the community the offenders are more likely to able to pay compensation to their victims (Home Office, 1998: 7) by having the chance to re-appraise their lives and their relationships to other people. Moreover, as well as being economic for the taxpayer, it also boosts the probationers chance of finding employment as many offenders have poor work records; especially among school leave rs. In theory, community sentences help to ease the pressure on the prison system. As well as being cheaper than prisons, community sentences have shown to have lower recidivism rate; in 2007, 37% of people on a community order re-offended within one year of the order coming to an end as it offers a difficult but genuine opportunity for self-determination and an incentive to use it in legitimate directions. Community orders lasts between 60 and 240 hours of useful labour in the community. Approximately 70% of supervised offenders will be on community sentences each year. With community sentences, probation service aims to provide punishment (the hard work); reparation (working for the community); deterrence (giving up free time to work for nothing); incapacitation (restriction of liberty); and rehabilitation (achieving something worthwhile, and perhaps even learning a new skill). Among the community sentences performed by offenders has been work in youth clubs, hospitals and elderly home s, construction, painting and decorating, cleaning and many more. As psychologist ________ assert The desire to be wanted is basic to human nature (reference). In regards to community sentences, many who feel rejected by their families or society can under the right circumstances find fulfilment in discovering that they are needed by others. For example, Inner London Probation Service provides Bulldog Employment Project for offenders who are fully capable of work. The participants are paid more than they would receive from unemployment benefits, but less than they could obtain outside the programme. In due course they can leave work not only with the habit but also with an employers reference. This example provides the base of support which enables the offender to rise above their situation so they do not return to a life of crime by increasing their empathy with victims and growing their sense of community responsibility. (Ward 2008). This is consistent with Bazelmore and Stitchcombs model of reintegration. However, in some places the community wo rk has not been so inventive; it has been claimed that a few public service institutions in North London have been painted four times because the local probation service has run out of ideas (reference) In addition to the fact that community penalties lack the denunciatory power and the punitive elements of imprisonment, there is a huge amount of criticism that the idea of punishment turned upside down when considering that offenders often enjoy and continue to work voluntarily after the order expired. This is an opposition to utilitarian theory because the amount of pain derived from the community sentence is not greater than the amount of pleasure that is derived the forbidden activity (reference) Despite the potential of non-custodial sentences as an alternative to custody, magistrates and judges are sceptical of their use particularly when regarding the adequate supervision of offender which is resulting in prisons becoming a massive and seemingly indispensable pillar of contemporary social control (Garland 2001:14), which does not do anything to overcome the contemporary crisis experienced with the prison system. Having said that there have also been cases where non-custodial s entences have been imposed on minor offenders who would otherwise have received lesser penalties or none. This proves that there is inconsistency when imposing a sentence. And also, apart from being an excessive invasion of their liberty, this overloads the probation service. Another form of community penalty is the curfew order (electronic tagging) which is predominantly used for juveniles. Since electronically monitored curfews were introduced and implemented throughout in EW, their use has increased dramatically from 9,000 cases in 1999 to 53000 in 2004-05 (reference). The Home Office spend over  £100 million on the electronic monitoring of curfews. Although the primary purpose of electronic tagging is to monitor a curfew and reduce the opportunities for offenders to commit further crimes during their sentence, this does not prevent the offender from potentially deviating during the day. National Audit Office (NAO) reported that those who breached their curfew were more likely to have committed an office whilst on tag than those who had complied with the curfew (NAO 2006:3:1) In addition to this some offenders have tampered with or removed their tagging device which increase the risk of a breach and the subsequent risk of recidivism. However, some sc holars told that reconviction rates vary by offender- some statistics giving more convincing results. Despite the various criticisms, electronic tagging is financially more beneficial compared with incarceration. Moving on, as a result of tensioning recidivism rates and adverse publicity many critics point their finger at the probation service for its poor job handling. Speaking from their own experience and their knowledge of being part of a wider national probation workforce, staff reported sheer numbers of sickness absences which are sometimes accompanied by feelings of fear and insecurity (BBC News 2009a). These resulted in staff-resignations which further pressurised staff (BBC News, 2009b). Statistics are available to confirm this; each year the probation service commences the supervision of some 165,000 offenders; the caseload on any given day is believed to be in excess of 200,000 (Ministry of Justice 2009: 3). The funding invested to probation service over the recent years to provide more effective and beneficial service, particularly in supervision of community sentenced offenders allowed the service to become a more attractive proposition for the courts, not simply because they fel t resources are in place to enable them to use community orders more widely, but also because it is considered by courts to be more efficient and suitable form of treating and training offenders than imprisonment (Ministry Of Justice 2008). Given that the service as a whole relies upon the loyalty and integrity of its staff (reference), it is unimpressive that staffs are often feeling unsupervised and unsupported by their bosses (BBC News 2009c). In an attempt to reduce workload between the years of 2001-2008, the number of staff involved in the probation service has increased by 37%. This hides the reduction in the number of professionally qualified probation officers by 4%. Despite the rise in number of staff, the ratio of offenders to qualified probation officers has dramatically risen from 31:1 to 40:1, which is an increase of 28% as a result of numerous factors affecting the flows and caseloads. (NPS for England and Wales, 2005) Some of these factors are; the number of cases passing through the courts and the number found guilty; the length of time spent on remand; the custody and court order rates at the courts; and the number of offenders breaching court orders. Moreover, the role of the probation has expanded in many directions. As though the current workload is not enough, the probation service now has a duty to contact victims about the progress of the case and also give free and emotional support and practical help to victims of crime, their family, friends and anyone who is affected by it. According to _____ this is a rational decision because if the service continued to withdraw ignoring victims it would be targeted publicly and politically for its naiveness, thus it would also be morally unacceptable to behave as though the offenders need for rehabilitation is more important than victims. Of particular importance is that, according to _________, being equipped with fewer roles and responsibilities would make the service more likely to achieve those aims. Overall, a particular attention must be paid to rising workloads and staff dis-satisfaction, which in itself is bad but what is also important is that it makes the job of the probatio n service much more difficult and the possibility of rehabilitation and punishment far less likely to be successful than it otherwise would be. For instance, only about half of community sentence orders ran their full-course or at most, the likely offenders were terminated early for good progress. This could possibly be due to the fact the staff in these facilities are under immense pressure which produce hasty decisions, which are then reflected in the recidivism rates (Ministry of Justice 2009: 2). In order to reach its primary objectives, Multi-Agency Public Protection (MAPPA) was introduced in April 2001 to improve powerful management system for those offenders who are a potential threat to the community à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ensuring that public protection is the priority (MAPPA, 2005) For the most serious of cases MAPPA can take further actions to prevent distress to citizens. However, the plausibility of this agency is limited. An independent investigation agency, Panorama, revealed that only the top two risk levels, two and three, are tracked by the service. They argue that majority of violent criminals in England and Wales include sex offenders who are only classified as a low risk and subject to less supervision. (Panorama) In order to protect the public and reduce re-offending, risk assessment forms the basis for successive intervention and management of offenders by identifying harms posed. It is an important feature of the probation service and a core activity of a fully qualified probation officer. The intentions of government ministers for improving the risk assessment is clear; to be seen to be fighting crime on a politically sensitive issue.(reference) However, such an objective was difficult to achieve when traditional ways of working based on professional autonomy led to inconsistency and variation in probation practice. As a solution, over the decade, various risk assessment tools have been developed to eliminate inconsistency, but were, too, often open to criticisms. Ultimately, the creation of OASys sought to fulfil the aims of the prison and probation service by working in partnership with other institutions and also ensuring that probation officers assessed risk against the same criteria i n the same previous way. Howard et al (2006:33) highlighted the effectiveness of OASys as the best of actuarial methods of prediction with structured clinical judgement. However, critical consequences have been acknowledged by staff such as the loss of autonomy and de-skilling. Many officers complained that their job was becoming increasingly standardised, technical, and routine. (Leach 2004) The same argument was put forward by probation officers in a previous risk assessment tool such as LSI-R. (Robinson 2003). However, such changes in New Labours image of the modernized correctional institutions failed to materialise with respect to the protection of ex-prisoners upon release. This could perfectly be explained in the case of Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were the victims of correctional service for their errors which left offenders free to kill (BBC News 2009c). Equally important, according to Shaw, in the week following release, prisonersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ are about 40 time s more likely to die then the general population (2007; 1) because offenders have problems in meeting their basic needs for food and shelter. Their basic needs also act as a barrier to develop relationships with other people. Such arguments are nothing new; as early as in the late 1960s, Dr. Eugene Heimler (1967) provided a convincing argument that when the satisfaction of a mans basic needs falls below a certain level he finds it increasingly difficult to struggle with his everyday life, with all the pressures and forces of social living. A step taken by the Labour government to successfully meet its objective of rehabilitating offenders and protecting public was by developing staff. In an attempt to ensure that staff are of the right quality, well trained and efficiently used, labour government have abolished the diploma in Social Work and replaced it by integrating level 4 NVQ and an undergraduate degree to become a probation officer. The underlying reason for a change was to move beyond a social work curriculum by maintaining a university base. (Nellis, 2003: 95) Although the new requirement is much more preferable to the previous, there are some limitations that must not be masked. A major concern is the diminution of properly contextualised understanding of offending which was the strength of social work training. (Bhui 2001:1)Thus the emerging question is, though new probation officers may know how to run an effective programme, will they have a good comprehension of wider relevant issues such as social deprivat ion and so on? Surely this is still a concern for the service for the reason of there being little scope for the probation officers to decide how they want to work due to the introduction of accredited programmes and minimum standards they have to follow. In support, a newspaper article informs that officers spend about 25% of their time face-to-face with offenders (BBC News 2009b) which highlights how technical staffs have become. So rather than being encouraged to do as they are told, officers should be given the environment to think independently as professionals which would also eliminate dissatisfaction and enable them to meet their, and offenders, psychological needs. Frankly probation service was targeting both, offenders and victims, in its early years, (Smith et al., 1988) but this was not the case in the last decade or two. This Another problem stemming from punishment in the community is that if an offender is undergoing a probation order of treatment is later charged with a further offence, the court will most likely disapprove its previously given generous opportunity. This will lead to an inclination not only to impose a prison sentence, but an imprisonment longer than that which might otherwise be considered appropriate. This could perfectly be explained in the case of Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were the victims of correctional service for their errors which left offenders free to kill (BBC News 2009c). The punishment should be imposed by the court, and rehabilitation should be agreed between the offender and the probation officer. In EW, although punishments are largely dependent on the court order issued, Carter report told that they do not tend to address the needs of the offender (91). However, a problem stemming from punishment in the community is that if an offender is undergoing a probation order of treatment is later charged with a further offence, the court will most likely disapprove its previously given generous opportunity. This will lead to an inclination not only to impose a prison sentence, but an imprisonment longer than that which might otherwise be considered appropriate. This could perfectly be explained in the case of Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were the victims of correctional service for their errors which left offenders free to kill (BBC News 2009c). (See extra stuff document) for a conclusive paragraph Nonetheless, the ineffectiveness of such roles and responsibilities should not solely be attributed to the probation service or to the Ministry of Justice. Indeed, they can not find satisfaction in work and recreation, and do not have the motivation to acquire the necessary skills. The likelihood of reintegration is made worse given that many probationers are illiterate. It is possible that illiterate people commit more offences than others, because fewer opportunities are available to them. When the offenders return to their home, they again associate with the society that bred the criminal activity in the first place. Many offenders come from areas where poverty and low education standards overwhelmingly influence criminal behaviour. It can not of course be concluded that illiteracy is alone responsible; other factors can also influence criminal behaviour, such as the care and support shown by teachers and other participants and the fact that these individuals were motivated to seek self-improvement. Surely probation officers should not be held liable to fix what education institutions failed to do; teach reading and writing.

Immigrants and The American Dream Essays -- Essays on the American Dre

The "American dream" is different for every person. To some it means financial success, to others it means freedom of expression, while others dream to practice their religion without fear. The "American dream" is a complex concept providing immigrants with the hope of better life. The U.S. government provides the environment and resources for everyone to pursue their dreams. Each year millions of people around the world apply for the Diversity Visa lottery program provided by the U.S. government, however only a few thousand people are lucky enough to come here. America is the place where people are judged by their achievements instead of having references or connections. Even though the American economy is in recession and the achieving of the American Dream is harder, many immigrants still achieve religious, political, financial, and sports dreams here in the U.S. Throughout the history of this nation there are thousands of upon thousands of immigrants coming to this country and achieving the American dream. The Irish immigrated to the United States in 1840 – 1850s in big numbers driven by hunger and by the oppression of the British. Many of them became successful politicians, police officers and businessmen. One of the brightest examples in the history of Irish immigration success is Henry Ford. His grandfather immigrated in the 1840s escaping the potato famine. Henry Ford himself was born in a poor family in Dearborn, Michigan went on to become the most successful car builder in the country (Hennigan). Between 1880 and 1920 the first wave of Italians mainly from South Italy immigrated in the United States (Hendin 13). Many escaped from the poor countryside in Southern Italy to seek better life in America. Shining ex... ...cal Engineering 122.10 (2000): 82. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 8 Mar. 2013. More About the Film â€Å"Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life. Joe DiMaggio. PBS., n.d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. â€Å"The Bulgarians beyond the ocean.† BTV the Reporters. BTV Channel. 19 Feb. 2011. Television. Thomas, John F. Documentation. Cuban Refugees in the United States. N.d. 46-57. International Migration Review. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. Thomas, Oliver "Buzz". "How To Keep The 'United' In United States: Coping With Religious Diversity In The World's First 'New' Nation." Church & State Feb. 2007: 19+. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. "U.S. Coptic church gets bishop." Christian Century 113.3 (1996): 70. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2013. Wills, Chuck, Destination America: The People and Cultures That Created a Nation. New York: DK Publishing, 2005. Print.

Night World : Soulmate Chapter 9

You'll change your mind,† Thierry said. An instant later everything was chaos. Thierry had one hand in her hair, twisting her head to the side, exposing her neck. His other arm was keeping both her arms trapped against her body. Hannah was twisting, struggling-and it wasn't doing any good. He was unbelievably strong. She felt the warmth of breath on her neck . .. and then the sharpness of teeth. â€Å"Don't fight.† Thierry's muffled voice came to her. â€Å"You'll only make it hurt worse.† Hannah fought. And it did hurt. The pain of having blood drawn out against her will was like nothing she'd ever felt. It was as if her soul was being pulled out of her body, a pain that radiated down her neck and through her left shoulder and arm. It turned her vision gray and made her feel lightheaded. â€Å"I-hate-you,† she got out. She tried to reach for him with her mind, to see if she could hurt him that way . . . but it was like running up against an obsidian wall. She could feel nothing of Thierry in the contact, just smooth black hardness. Forget about that, the cool wind voice said. And don't faint; you've got to stay conscious. Think about your room. You need wood; you need a weapon. Where†¦ The desk. Even as she thought it, Thierry's grip on her was shifting. He was forcing her to turn so she faced away from him, still holding her in an iron grip with one arm. She had no idea what he was doing with the other arm until he spoke again. â€Å"I have to give you back something for what I took.† And then the other arm was in front of Hannah, wrist pressing to her mouth. She still didn't really understand-she was dazed with pain and loss of blood-until she felt warm liquid trickling into her mouth and tasted a strange exotic taste. Oh, God-no. It's his blood. You're drinking vampire blood. She tried not to swallow, but the liquid kept flowing in, choking her. It didn't taste at all like blood. It was rich and wild and burned slightly-and she could almost feel it changing her. You've got to stop this, the cool wind voice told her. New. With a violent wrench that almost dislocated her shoulder, Hannah got one arm free. Then she started to fight hard, not because she wanted to get away, but because she wanted to keep Thierry occupied in holding her. While they were struggling, she surreptitiously reached out with her free hand. I can't feel it. She threw her body back and forth, trying to get Thierry to move closer to the desk. Just a little farther†¦ there. There! Her fingers were on her desk. She stomped on Thierry's foot to keep him distracted. She heard a snarl of pain and Thierry shook her, but her fingers kept groping across the desk until they found something smooth and long, with a pointed graphite end. A pencil. Hannah curled her fingers, gathering the pencil into her fist. She was gasping with effort, which meant more of the strange blood was flowing into her mouth. Now think. Visualize his hand. Picture the pencil going right in, all the way through. And now strike. Hannah brought the pencil up with all her strength, driving it into the back of Thierry's hand. She heard a yelp of pain and outrage-and at the same instant she felt a stab of pain herself. She'd driven the pencil all the way through his hand and jabbed her own cheek. She didn't spend time worrying about it. The iron grip on her had loosened. She slammed a foot into Thierry's shin and spun away as he jerked back. The desk! You need another weapon! Even as the voice was telling her, Hannah was teaching for her desk, gathering a random handful of pens and pencils. Thank God for her habit of losing pencils, which was the reason she had to keep so many. As soon as she had them, she twisted to dart across the room, getting her back to a wall. She faced Thierry, panting. â€Å"This next one goes right into your heart,† she told him, pulling one pencil out of the handful and holding it in her fist. Her voice was soft and ragged, but absolutely deadly in its conviction. â€Å"You hurt me!† Thierry had pulled the pencil out and was staring at the wound. His face was contorted, his eyes blazing with animal pain and fury. He looked like a stranger. â€Å"Right,† Hannah said, panting. â€Å"And if you come close to me again, I'll kill you. That's a promise. Now get the hell out of my house and out of my life!† Thierry stared back and forth from her to his hand. Then he snarled-really snarled, his upper lip lifting, his teeth bared. Hannah had never seen a human face look so bestial. â€Å"You'll be sorry,† he said, like a child in a temper tantrum. â€Å"And if you tell anybody about this, I'll kill them. I will. It's Night World law.† Then he did the fade-out thing. Hannah blinked and he wasn't there. He must have backed up down the hall, but she didn't hear a door open or close. It was several minutes before she could loosen her grip on her pencil or step away from the wall. When she could, it was to stumble toward the phone. She pressed the speed dial for Chess's number. Busy. Hannah dropped the phone. She was swaying on her feet, feeling sick and giddy, but she headed for the dining room. There, keeping one of the windows shut, was a wooden dowel, the remnant of some long-past safety craze of her mother's. Hannah broke it over her knee and carried one splinter-ended piece with her to the garage. The dusty old Ford was parked there, the one her father had driven before he died. Hannah found the keys and started for Chess's house. She could think of only one thing: she didn't want to be alone. Gray spots danced in front of her eyes as she drove. She kept imagining things rushing at her from the prairie. Stay awake. Just stay awake, she told herself, biting her lip hard enough to draw blood. There! There's the house up ahead. You can see the light. All you have to do is get there. She stepped on the accelerator. And then everything went gray. Thierry looked around the resort lobby, then glanced at his watch. He'd been doing that every five minutes for about the last twelve hours, and his nerves were starting to fray. He didn't like leaving Hannah alone. Of course, the ring would protect her when she was away from the house, and the amulet he'd buried in her backyard would protect the house itself. It was a strong amulet, made for him by Grandma Harman, the oldest and most powerful witch in the world, the Crone of the Inner Circle. It set wards around the house, so that no Night Person could enter without a direct invitation from somebody who lived inside. He still didn't like leaving Hannah alone. Only a little while longer, he told himself. It had ‘taken him most of last night and all of today to call in enough of his own people to set up a plan for watching over Hannah. She'd told him to go away, and he had. Her word was law to him. But that didn't mean he couldn't have her guarded. She need never realize that there were Night People around her, watching and waiting in the shadows-and ready to fight to the death if any danger appeared. Lupe had been right. He couldn't deal with this alone. And now he was going to have to rely on other people to keep Hannah safe. Thierry looked at his watch again. It was nine o'clock at night, and he was almost tempted to give up on Circe. But only a witch of her power could set up the kind of heavy-duty wards that would protect Hannah wherever she went in Amador County. He kept waiting. As he did, he stared at a gun rack on the wall and tried to keep his brain turned off. It didn't work. Ever since he'd awoken Hannah from her hypnotic trance, he'd been trying very hard not to think about the old days. But now, he found himself being irresistibly drawn back-not only thinking about them, but reliving them. Traveling back in his mind to the stupid young man he had been†¦. He hadn't been the first vampire. He didn't have that distinction. He had only been the second. He'd grown up in the tribe of Maya and Hellewise. The Maya and Hellewise, the twin daughters of Hecate Witch Queen. The Maya and Hellewise who would go down as the two greatest figures in Night World history; Hellewise Hearth-Woman as the ancestress of the Harman family, the most famous of the living witches, and Maya as the ancestress of both the lamia and the made vampires. But of course he knew nothing about that at the time. All he knew was that they were both pretty girls. Beautiful. Hellewise had long yellow hair and deep brown eyes. Maya had long black hair and eyes that glittered in different colors like the changing lights in a glacier. He liked both sisters very much. Maybe that was his downfall. He'd been a very ordinary fellow, with a good throwing arm, a delicate touch in carving ivory, and a vague longing to see the world. He'd taken it for granted that his tribe was special, that they could influence the weather and summon animals from the forest. They were the witch people, they'd been granted special powers, and that was all. It wasn't anything to worry about. And, like everyone else, he knew that Maya was doing experiments in the forest, using her powers to try and become immortal. But that didn't worry him particularly either†¦. I was very young and very, very stupid, Thierry thought. That had been the real downfall of the tribe. Maya's desire to become immortal. Because she'd been willing to pay any price for it, even to the point of becoming a monster and leaving a curse on all her descendants. Maybe if Thierry and the other witch people had realized that, they could have stopped her before it happened. Because Maya had finally found the right spell to achieve immortality. The problem was that to do it, she had to steal the babies of the tribe. All four of them. She took them out to the forest, did the spell, and drank their blood. Thierry and the rest of the tribe found the four little bled-out bodies later. Hellewise had cried all night. Thierry, who couldn't understand how the pretty girl he liked could have done something so awful, cried, too. Maya herself had disappeared completely. But a few nights later she came to Thierry. He was keeping watch outside the cave when she appeared silently beside him. She had changed. She wasn't the pretty girl he knew anymore. She was stunningly, dazzlingly beautiful. But she was different. She moved with the grace of a nighttime predator, and her eyes reflected the firelight. She was very pale, but that only made her more lovely. Her mouth, which had always been soft and inviting, seemed red as blood. And when she smiled at him, he saw her long pointed teeth. â€Å"Hello, Theory,† she said-that was his name back then. â€Å"I want to make you immortal.† Thierry was scared out of his mind. He had no idea what she'd become-some weird creature with unnatural teeth. But he knew he had no desire at all to be like her. â€Å"I really think it's unfair, the way you go back and forth between me and Hellewise,† she said casually, sitting down on the bare earth. â€Å"So I've decided to resolve the question. You're going to be mine, now and forever.† She reached out and took his hand. Her fingers were very slender and very cold-and unbelievably strong. Thierry couldn't pull away. He stared at his hand with his mouth open like the idiot he was. This was the time he should have started yelling, thrashing, doing anything to attract attention and get away. But Maya seemed to hold him with her eyes like a snake holding a bird. She was unnatural and evil†¦ but she was so beautiful. It was the first and the last time that Thierry would be fascinated by the beauty of pure evil-but it was enough. He was doomed from that moment. He'd doomed himself. An instant of hesitation. He would pay for it for unimaginable years in the future. â€Å"It's not so bad,† Maya was saying, still fixing him with her terrible and lovely eyes. â€Å"There are a few things I had to figure out-a few things I didn't expect. I thought drinking the blood of the babies would be the end of it, but no.† Thierry felt sick. â€Å"I've got these teeth for a reason, apparently. It seems I have to drink the blood of a mortal creature every day, or I die. It's inconvenient, but I can live with it.† Thierry whispered something beginning with, â€Å"Oh, Hecate, Dark Mother-â€Å" â€Å"Now, stop that!† Maya made a sharp gesture. â€Å"No praying, please, and especially not to that old harridan. I'm not a witch anymore. I'm something completely new-I suppose I should think of a name for myself. Night-hunter†¦ blood-drinker †¦ I don't know, the possibilities are endless. I'm going to start a new race, Theorn. We'll be better than the witches, stronger, faster-and we'll live forever. We'll never die, so we'll rule everyone. And you're going to be my first convert.† â€Å"No,† Thierry said. He still thought he had a choice. â€Å"Yes. I'm going to have a baby-not with you, I'm afraid; I don't think you'll be able to-and the baby will have my blood. And I'm going to give my blood to other people the way I'll give it to you now. Someday there won't be anyone in the world who won't have my blood. It's a nice thought, isn't it?† She rested her chin on a fist and her eyes glittered. â€Å"Hellewise will stop you,† Thierry said flatly. â€Å"My sister? No, I don't think so. Especially not since I'll have you to help me. She likes you, you know. It will be hard for her to kill somebody she likes so much.† â€Å"She won't have to. I'll kill you,† Thierry snarled. Maya laughed out loud. â€Å"You? You? Don't you know yourself yet? You're not a killer-you don't have the guts for it. That will change, of course, after I give you my blood. But you won't want to kill me then. You'll join me-and be happy. You'll see.† She dusted off her hands as if a difficult negotiation had been accomplished and terms had been reached. â€Å"Now. Let's do it.† He was strong. He had that good throwing arm-he was dead accurate with a spear or a killing stick. But she was so much stronger that she could handle him like a baby. The first thing she did was clamp a hand across his mouth-because by this time it had occurred even to stupid Thierry that he was in very bad trouble, and that he needed help. There was no sound of a struggle as she dragged him off into the bushes. â€Å"I'm afraid this is going to hurt,† she said. She was lying on top of him, her eyes glittering into his. She was excited. â€Å"At least, all the animals I've caught seem to have found it very unpleasant. But it's for your own good.† Then she ripped his throat out. That was what it felt like. And that was when he realized what those long canine teeth were for. Like any lynx or cave lion or wolf, she needed teeth to tear. Through the black waves of shock and pain, he heard her drinking. It lasted a long time. But finally, mercifully, he realized that he was dying. He took comfort in the thought that the horror would soon be over. He couldn't have been more wrong. The horror was just beginning. When Maya lifted her head, her mouth was scarlet with his blood. Dripping. She wasn't beautiful any longer, she was simply fiendish. â€Å"Now,† she said. â€Å"I'm going to give you something that will make it all better.† She pulled back and placed a fire-hardened splinter of wood at her own throat. She smiled at him. Maya had always been physically brave. And then, with a gesture almost of ecstasy, she plunged the splinter in, sending blood spurting and spilling. Then she fell on top of him again. He didn't mean to swallow the blood that filled his mouth. But everything was so gray and unreal-and he still had enough survival reflex left to not want to drown in it. The warm, strange-tasting liquid went down his throat. It burned like fermented-berry wine. After she made him drink, he realized to his relief that he was still dying. He didn't know that he wasn't going to stay dead. He felt her carrying him farther into the forest-he was completely limp now and didn't put up any resistance-and then everything went black. When he woke up, he'd been buried. He clawed himself up out of the shallow grave and found himself looking into the astonished face of his brother Conlan. The tribe had buried him in the traditional way-in the soft dirt at the back of the cave. In the minute before his brother could yell in surprise, Thierry was at his throat. It was animal instinct. A thirst inside of him like nothing he had ever known. A pain that was like being underwater-being strangled-gasping for air. It made him desperate, made him insane. He didn't think at all. He simply tried, mindlessly, to tear at his brother's throat. What stopped him was someone calling his name. Calling it over and over, in great pain. When he looked around, he saw Hellewise, her brown eyes huge and spilling with tears, her mouth trembling. The expression on her face would haunt him forever. He ran out of the cave and kept running. Behind him, just faintly, he could hear Hellewise's voice, â€Å"Theorn, I'll stop her. I swear to you, I'll stop her.† He realized later that it was all Hellewise could offer him. She knew that his curse was permanent. What he was now, he would be forever. There wasn't a name for it then, but he was the first made vampire. Maya, who would have a son just as she promised, was the first of the lamia, the family vampires who could grow up and have children. And her son, Red Fern, would be the ancestor of the Redfern family, the most powerful lamia family in the Night World. Thierry didn't know any of that as he ran. He only knew he had to get away from people, or he would hurt them. Maya caught up with him while he was frantically trying to quench his thirst by drinking from a stream. â€Å"You're going to make yourself sick,† she said, inspecting him critically. â€Å"You can't drink that. It's blood you need.† Thierry jumped up, shaking with fury and hatred and weakness all mixed together. â€Å"What about yours?† he snarled. Maya laughed. â€Å"How sweet. But it won't do. You need the blood of living creatures.† She wasn't at all afraid of him, and he remembered how strong she had been. He was no match for her. He turned and began to stumble off. Maya called after him, â€Å"You can't do it, you know. You can't get away from me. I've chosen you, Theorn. You're mine, now and forever. And in the end you'll realize that and join me.† Thierry kept going. He could hear her laughing as he went. He lived on the steppes for several weeks, wandering across the high windswept grasslands. He was more an animal than anything resembling a person. The thirst inside him made him desperate-until he stumbled over a rabbit. The next instant he found that he was holding it, biting into its throat. His teeth were like Maya's now-long, sensitive, and perfect for tearing or puncturing. And she was right, only the blood of a living creature could help the burning, suffocating feeling inside him. He didn't catch food very often. Every time he drank it reminded him of what he was. He was starving when he finally came to the Three Rivers. He didn't see the little girl out picking spring greens until he was on top of her. He burst out of a pile of brush, panting with thirst like a wounded deer-and there she was, looking up at him. And then everything went dark for a while. When he came to himself, he stopped drinking. He needed the food, he would die in terrible agony without it-but he dropped the girl and ran. Hana's people found him a little while later. And they did exactly what he'd expected any tribe to do-they saw that he was an abomination and brandished spears at him. He expected them to kill him at any minute. He didn't realize yet-and neither did they-that a creature like him took some killing. And then he saw Hana.