Education: College and Recharge Academic Battery Essay

Taking a year off after finishing form six before approaching further tertiary education has been a much debated issue over the past few years. While some see it as an opportunity for the school leavers to know more about the world, there is another party that says it will be time wasted if the school leavers end up without planning anything during the time. After all, the school leavers still have to put their consideration on this issue. Point 1 Recharge academic battery – After spending a quarter of life as a student, it is a chance for the school leavers to take a break off. -Taking a year off before returning to school will provide you the chance to approach the next phase of your education with a fresh start and renewed vigor while staving off academic burnout. -During that time, they can also have some preparation on the further tertiary education by conducting an exhaustive college or university search. Point 2 Decision time – Take a year off will allow school leavers to decide on their major. -They can obtain an internship in the area that they are interested in studying, or in the career field they would like to pursue. -This will help them brings practical, real-world experience into their tertiary education, and it can get them some career contacts to contact after you graduate. Point 3 A chance to mature before entering tertiary education -Perfection is acquired through error and trial. -After the school leavers walked out from the school, they will undergo much hardship in the reality just to know themselves in the shape of perfection. -At the same time, they can learn to be mature by sorting things out around them. -By taking this opportunity, the environment in the society can help in building up their self confidence. Point 4 Earn some money -School leavers can earn extra money to help defray their upcoming college or university costs and expenditure in college or university. -Work experience can provide them with ‘soft skills,’ such as interpersonal, communication and leadership skills which is typically lacking in our previous education. – This is able to add a valuable notch to the resume which will help them when they enter the work force after earning their degree. Taking a year off from school can be a disaster without a proper plan. Therefore, the school leavers have to think long and hard about how they are going to spend their time. They have to ensure that their decision will bring a unique contribution to their future lives.

Black House Chapter Twenty

20 AROUND THE TIME Mouse and Beezer first fail to see the little road and the NO TRESPASSING sign beside it, Jack Sawyer answers the annoying signal of his cell phone, hoping that his caller will turn out to be Henry Leyden with information about the voice on the 911 tape. Although an identification would be wonderful, he does not expect Henry to I.D. the voice; the Fisherman?CBurnside is Potsie's age, and Jack does not suppose the old villain has much of a social life, here or in the Territories. What Henry can do, however, is to apply his finely tuned ears to the nuances of Burnside's voice and describe what he hears in it. If we did not know that Jack's faith in his friend's capacity to hear distinctions and patterns inaudible to other people was justified, that faith would seem as irrational as the belief in magic: Jack trusts that a refreshed, invigorated Henry Leyden will pick up at least one or two crucial details of history or character that will narrow the search. Anything that Henry picks up will interest Jack. If someone else is calling him, he intends to get rid of whoever it is, fast. The voice that answers his greeting revises his plans. Fred Marshall wants to talk to him, and Fred is so wound up and incoherent that Jack must ask him to slow down and start over. â€Å"Judy's flipping out again,† Fred says. â€Å"Just . . . babbling and raving, and getting crazy like before, trying to rip through the walls oh God, they put her in restraints and she hates that, she wants to help Ty, it's all because of that tape. Christ, it's getting to be too much to handle, Jack, Mr. Sawyer, I mean it, and I know I'm running off at the mouth, but I'm really worried.† â€Å"Don't tell me someone sent her the 911 tape,† Jack says. â€Å"No, not . . . what 911 tape? I'm talking about the one that was delivered to the hospital today. Addressed to Judy. Can you believe they let her listen to that thing? I want to strangle Dr. Spiegleman and that nurse, Jane Bond. What's the matter with these people? The tape comes in, they say, oh goody, here's a nice tape for you to listen to, Mrs. Marshall, hold on, I'll be right back with a cassette player. On a mental ward? They don't even bother to listen to it first? Look, whatever you're doing, I'd be eternally grateful if you'd let me pick you up, so I could drive you over there. You could talk to her. You're the only person who can calm her down.† â€Å"You don't have to pick me up, because I'm already on the way. What was on the tape?† â€Å"I don't get it.† Fred Marshall has become considerably more lucid. â€Å"Why are you going there without me?† After a second of thought, Jack tells him an outright lie. â€Å"I thought you would probably be there already. It's a pity you weren't.† â€Å"I would have had the sense to screen that tape before letting her hear it. Do you know what was on that thing?† â€Å"The Fisherman,† Jack says. â€Å"How did you know?† â€Å"He's a great communicator,† Jack says. â€Å"How bad was it?† â€Å"You tell me, and then we'll both know. I'm piecing it together from what I gathered from Judy and what Dr. Spiegleman told me later.† Fred Marshall's voice begins to waver. â€Å"The Fisherman was taunting her. Can you believe that? He said, Your little boy is very lonely. Then he said something like, He's been begging and begging to call home and say hello to his mommy. Except Judy says he had a weird foreign accent, or a speech impediment, or something, so he wasn't easy to understand right away. Then he says, Say hello to your mommy, Tyler, and Tyler . . .† Fred's voice breaks, and Jack can hear him stifling his agony before he begins again. â€Å"Tyler, ah, Tyler was apparently too distressed to do much but scream for help.† A long, uncertain inhalation comes over the phone. â€Å"And he cried, Jack, he cried.† Unable to contain his feelings any longer, Fred weeps openly, unguardedly. His breath rattles in his throat; Jack listens to all the wet, undignified, helpless noises people make when grief and sorrow cancel every other feeling, and his heart moves for Fred Marshall. The sobbing relents. â€Å"Sorry. Sometimes I think they'll have to put me in restraints.† â€Å"Was that the end of the tape?† â€Å"He got on again.† Fred breathes noisily for a moment, clearing his head. â€Å"Boasting about what he was going to do. Dere vill be morrr mur-derts, and morrr afder dat, Choo-dee, we are all goink zu haff sotch fun Spiegleman quoted this junk to me! The children of French Landing will be harvested like wheat. Havv-uz-ted like wheed. Who talks like that? What kind of person is this?† â€Å"I wish I knew,† Jack says. â€Å"Maybe he was putting on an accent to sound even scarier. Or to disguise his voice.† He'd never disguise his voice, Jack thinks, he's too delighted with himself to hide behind an accent. â€Å"I'll have to get the tape from the hospital and listen to it myself. And I'll call you as soon as I have some information.† â€Å"There's one more thing,† Marshall says. â€Å"I probably made a mistake. Wendell Green came over about an hour ago.† â€Å"Anything involving Wendell Green is automatically a mistake. So what happened?† â€Å"It was like he knew all about Tyler and just needed me to confirm it. I thought he must have heard from Dale, or the state troopers. But Dale hasn't made us public yet, has he?† â€Å"Wendell has a network of little weasels that feed him information. If he knows anything, that's how he heard about it. What did you tell him?† â€Å"More or less everything,† Marshall says. â€Å"Including the tape. Oh, God, I'm such a dope. But I thought it'd be all right I thought it would all get out anyhow.† â€Å"Fred, did you tell him anything about me?† â€Å"Only that Judy trusts you and that we're both grateful for your help. And I think I said that you would probably be going in to see her this afternoon.† â€Å"Did you mention Ty's baseball cap?† â€Å"Do you think I'm nuts? As far as I'm concerned, that stuff is between you and Judy. If I don't get it, I'm not going to talk about it to Wendell Green. At least I got him to promise to stay away from Judy. He has a great reputation, but I got the feeling he isn't everything he's cracked up to be.† â€Å"You said a mouthful,† Jack says. â€Å"I'll be in touch.† When Fred Marshall hangs up, Jack punches in Henry's number. â€Å"I may be a little late, Henry. I'm on my way to French County Lutheran. Judy Marshall got a tape from the Fisherman, and if they'll let me have it, I'll bring it over. There's something strange going on here on Judy's tape, I guess he has some kind of foreign accent.† Henry tells Jack there is no rush. He has not listened to the first tape yet, and now will wait until Jack comes over with the second one. He might hear something useful if he plays them in sequence. At least, he could tell Jack if they were made by the same man. â€Å"And don't worry about me, Jack. In a little while, Mrs. Morton is coming by to take me over to KDCU. George Rathbun butters my bread today, baby six or seven radio ads. ‘Even a blind man knows you want to treat your honey, your sweetheart, your lovey-dovey, your wife, your best friend through thick and thin, to a mm-mmm fine dinner tonight, and there's no better place to show your appreciation to the old ball and chain than to take her to Cousin Buddy's Rib Crib on South Wabash Street in beautiful downtown La Riviere!' â€Å" † ‘The old ball and chain'?† â€Å"You pay for George Rathbun, you get George Rathbun, warts and all.† Laughing, Jack tells Henry he will see him later that day, and pushes the Ram up to seventy. What is Dale going to do, give him a speeding ticket? He parks in front of the hospital instead of driving around to the parking lot, and trots across the concrete with his mind filled with the Territories and Judy Marshall. Things are hurtling forward, picking up pace, and Jack has the sense that everything converges on Judy no, on Judy and him. The Fisherman has chosen them more purposefully than he did his first three victims: Amy St. Pierre, Johnny Irkenham, and Irma Freneau were simply the right age any three children would have done but Tyler was Judy Marshall's son, and that set him apart. Judy has glimpsed the Territories, Jack has traveled through them, and the Fisherman lives there the way a cancer cell lives in a healthy organism. The Fisherman sent Judy a tape, Jack a grisly present. At Tansy Freneau's, he had seen Judy as his key and the door it opened, and where did that door lead but into Judy's Faraway? Faraway. God, that's pretty. Beautiful, in fact. Aaah . . . the word evokes Judy Marshall's face, and when he sees that face, a door in his mind, a door that is his and his alone, flies open, and for a moment Jack Sawyer stops moving altogether, and in shock, dread, and joyous expectation, freezes on the concrete six feet from the hospital's entrance. Through the door in his mind pours a stream of disconnected images: a stalled Ferris wheel, Santa Monica cops milling behind a strip of yellow crime-scene tape, light reflected off a black man's bald head. Yes, a bald man's black head, that which he really and truly, in fact most desperately, had not wished to see, so take a good look, kiddo, here it is again. There had been a guitar, but the guitar was elsewhere; the guitar belonged to the magnificent demanding comforting comfortless Speedy Parker, God bless him God damn his eyes God love him Speedy, who touched its strings and sang Travelin' Jack, ole Travelin' Jack, Got a far long way to go, Longer way to come back. Worlds spin around him, worlds within worlds and other worlds alongside them, separated by a thin membrane composed of a thousand thousand doors, if only you know how to find them. A thousand thousand red feathers, tiny ones, feathers from a robin redbreast, hundreds of robin redbreasts, flew through one of those doors, Speedy's. Robin, as in robin's-egg blue, thank you, Speedy, and a song that said Wake up, wake up, you sleepyhead. Or: Wake up, wake up, you DUNDERHEAD! Crazily, Jack hears George Rathbun's now-not-so genial roar: Eeeven a BLIIIND MAAAN coulda seen THIS one coming, you KNOTHEAD! â€Å"Oh, yeah?† Jack says out loud. It is a good thing Head Nurse Jane Bond, Warden Bond, Agent OO Zero, cannot hear him. She's tough, but on the other hand, she's unfair, and if she were to appear beside him now, she would probably clap him in irons, sedate him, and drag him back to her domain. â€Å"Well, I know something you don't know, old buddy: Judy Marshall has a Twinner, and the Twinner has been whispering through the wall for a considerable old time now. It's no surprise she finally started to shout.† A red-haired teenager in an ARDEN H.S. BASEBALL T-shirt shoves open the literal door six feet from Jack and gives him a wary, disconcerted look. Man, grown-ups are weird, the look says; aren't I glad I'm a kid? Since he is a high school student and not a mental-health professional, he does not clap our hero in irons and drag him sedated away to the padded room. He simply takes care to steer a wide course around the madman and keeps walking, albeit with a touch of self-conscious stiffness in his gait. It is all about Twinners, of course. Rebuking his stupidity, Jack raps his knuckles against the side of his head. He should have seen it before; he should have understood immediately. If he has any excuse, it is that at first he refused to think about the case despite Speedy's efforts to wake him up, then became so caught up in concentrating on the Fisherman that until this morning, while watching his mother on the Sand Bar's big TV, he had neglected to consider the monster's Twinner. In Judy Marshall's childhood, her Twinner had spoken to her through that membrane between the two worlds; growing more and more alarmed over the past month, the Twinner had all but thrust her arms through the membrane and shaken Judy senseless. Because Jack is single-natured and has no Twinner, the corresponding task fell to Speedy. Now that everything seems to make sense, Jack cannot believe it has taken him so long to see the pattern. And this is why he has resented everything that kept him from standing before Judy Marshall: Judy is the doorway to her Twinner, to Tyler, and to the destruction of both the Fisherman and his opposite number in the Territories, the builder of the satanic, fiery structure a crow named Gorg showed Tansy Freneau. Whatever happens on Ward D today, it is going to be world-altering. Heart thrumming in anticipation, Jack passes from intense sunlight into the vast ocher space of the lobby. The same bathrobed patients seem to occupy the many chairs; in a distant corner, the same doctors discuss a troublesome case or, who knows, that tricky tenth hole at Arden Country Club; the same golden lilies raise their luxuriant, attentive heads outside the gift shop. This repetition reassures Jack, it hastens his step, for it surrounds and cushions the unforeseeable events awaiting him on the fifth floor. The same bored clerk responds to the proffer of the same password with an identical, if not the same, green card stamped VISITOR. The elevator surprisingly similar to one in the Ritz H?tel on the Place Vend?me obediently trembles upward past floors two, three, and four, in its dowager-like progress pausing to admit a gaunt young doctor who summons the memory of Roderick Usher, then releases Jack on five, where the beautiful ocher light seems a shade or two darker than down there in the huge lobby. From the elevator Jack retraces the steps he took with his guide Fred Marshall down the corridor, through the two sets of double doors and past the way stations of Gerontology and Ambulatory Ophthalmology and Records Annex, getting closer and closer to the unforeseen unforeseeable as the corridors grow narrower and darker, and emerges as before into the century-old room with high, skinny windows and a lot of walnut-colored wood. And there the spell breaks, for the attendant seated behind the polished counter, the person currently the guardian of this realm, is taller, younger, and considerably more sullen than his counterpart of the day before. When Jack asks to see Mrs. Marshall, the young person glances in disdain at his VISITOR card and inquires if he should happen to be a relative or another glance at the card a medical professional. Neither, Jack admits, but if the young person could trouble himself to inform Nurse Bond that Mr. Sawyer wishes to speak to Mrs. Marshall, Nurse Bond is practically guaranteed to swing open the forbidding metal doors and wave him inward, since that is more or less what she did yesterday. That is all well and good, if it happens to be true, the young person allows, but Nurse Bond is not going to be doing any door opening and waving in today, for today Nurse Bond is off duty. Could it be that when Mr. Sawyer showed up to see Mrs. Marshall yesterday he was accompanied by a family member, say Mr. Marshall? Yes. And if Mr. Marshall were to be consulted, say via the telephone, he would urge the young fellow presently discussing the matter in a commendably responsible fashion with Mr. Sawyer to admit the gentleman promptly. That may be the case, the young person grants, but hospital regulations require that nonmedical personnel in positions such as the young person's obtain authorization for any outside telephone calls. And from whom, Jack wishes to know, would this authorization be obtained? From the acting head nurse, Nurse Rack. Jack, who is growing a little hot, as they say, under the collar, suggests in that case that the young person seek out the excellent Nurse Rack and obtain the required authorization, so that things might progress in the manner Mr. Marshall, the patient's husband, would wish. No, the young person sees no reason to pursue such a course, the reason being that doing so would represent a pitiful waste of time and effort. Mr. Sawyer is not a member of Mrs. Marshall's family; therefore the excellent Nurse Rack would under no circumstances grant the authorization. â€Å"Okay,† Jack says, wishing he could strangle this irritating pip-squeak, â€Å"let's move a step up the administrative ladder, shall we? Is Dr. Spiegleman somewhere on the premises?† â€Å"Could be,† the young person says. â€Å"How'm I supposed to know? Dr. Spiegleman doesn't tell me everything he does.† Jack points to the telephone at the end of the counter. â€Å"I don't expect you to know, I expect you to find out. Get on that phone now.† The young man slouches down the counter to the telephone, rolls his eyes, punches two numbered keys, and leans against the counter with his back to the room. Jack hears him muttering about Spiegleman, sigh, then say, â€Å"All right, transfer me, whatever.† Transferred, he mutters something that includes Jack's name. Whatever he hears in response causes him to jerk himself upright and sneak a wide-eyed look over his shoulder at Jack. â€Å"Yes, sir. He's here now, yes. I'll tell him.† He replaces the receiver. â€Å"Dr. Spiegleman'll be here right away.† The boy he is no more than twenty steps back and shoves his hands in his pockets. â€Å"You're that cop, huh?† â€Å"What cop?† Jack says, still irritated. â€Å"The one from California that came here and arrested Mr. Kinderling.† â€Å"Yes, that's me.† â€Å"I'm from French Landing, and boy, that was some shock. To the whole town. Nobody would have guessed. Mr. Kinderling? Are you kidding? You'd never believe that someone like that would . . . you know, kill people.† â€Å"Did you know him?† â€Å"Well, in a town like French Landing, everybody sort of knows everybody, but I didn't really know Mr. Kinderling, except to say hi. The one I knew was his wife. She used to be my Sunday school teacher at Mount Hebron Lutheran.† Jack cannot help it; he laughs at the incongruity of the murderer's wife teaching Sunday school classes. The memory of Wanda Kinderling radiating hatred at him during her husband's sentencing stops his laughter, but it is too late. He sees that he has offended the young man. â€Å"What was she like?† he asks. â€Å"As a teacher.† â€Å"Just a teacher,† the boy says. His voice is uninflected, resentful. â€Å"She made us memorize all the books of the Bible.† He turns away and mutters, â€Å"Some people think he didn't do it.† â€Å"What did you say?† The boy half-turns toward Jack but looks at the brown wall in front of him. â€Å"I said, Some people think he didn't do it. Mr. Kinderling. They think he got put in jail because he was a small-town guy who didn't know anybody out there.† â€Å"That's too bad,† Jack says. â€Å"Do you want to know the real reason Mr. Kinderling went to prison?† The boy turns the rest of the way and looks at Jack. â€Å"Because he was guilty of murder, and he confessed. That's it, that's all. Two witnesses put him at the scene, and two other people saw him on a plane to L.A. when he told everyone he was flying to Denver. After that, he said, Okay, I did it. I always wanted to know what it was like to kill a girl, and one day I couldn't stand it anymore, so I went out and killed two whores. His lawyer tried to get him off on an insanity plea, but the jury at his hearing found him sane, and he went to prison.† The boy lowers his head and mumbles something. â€Å"I couldn't hear that,† Jack says. â€Å"Lots of ways to make a guy confess.† The boy repeats the sentence just loud enough to be heard. Then footsteps ring in the hallway, and a plump, white-coated man with steel-rimmed glasses and a goatee comes striding toward Jack with his hand out. The boy has turned away. The opportunity to convince the attendant that he did not beat a confession out of Thornberg Kinderling has slipped away. The smiling man with the white jacket and the goatee seizes Jack's hand, introduces himself as Dr. Spiegleman, and declares it a pleasure to meet such a famous personage. (Personage, persiflage, Jack thinks.) From one step behind the doctor, a man unnoticed until this moment steps fully into view and says, â€Å"Hey, Doctor, do you know what would be perfect? If Mr. Famous and I interview the lady together. Twice the information in half the time perfect.† Jack's stomach turns sour. Wendell Green has joined the party. After greeting the doctor, Jack turns to the other man. â€Å"What are you doing here, Wendell? You promised Fred Marshall you'd stay away from his wife.† Wendell Green holds up his hands and dances back on the balls of his feet. â€Å"Are we calmer today, Lieutenant Sawyer? Not inclined to use a sucker punch on the hardworking press, are we? I have to say, I'm getting a little tired of being assaulted by the police.† Dr. Spiegleman frowns at him. â€Å"What are you saying, Mr. Green?† â€Å"Yesterday, before that cop knocked me out with his flashlight, Lieutenant Sawyer here punched me in the stomach for no real reason at all. It's a good thing I'm a reasonable man, or I'd have filed lawsuits already. But, Doctor, you know what? I don't do things that way. I believe everything works out better if we cooperate with each other.† Halfway through this self-serving speech, Jack thinks, Oh hell, and glances at the young attendant. The boy's eyes burn with loathing. A lost cause: now Jack will never persuade the boy that he did not mistreat Kinderling. By the time Wendell Green finishes congratulating himself, Jack has had a bellyful of his specious, smarmy affability. â€Å"Mr. Green offered to give me a percentage of his take, if I let him sell photographs of Irma Freneau's corpse,† he tells the doctor. â€Å"What he is asking now is equally unthinkable. Mr. Marshall urged me to come here and see his wife, and he made Mr. Green promise not to come.† â€Å"Technically, that may be true,† Green says. â€Å"As an experienced journalist, I know that people often say things they don't mean and will eventually regret. Fred Marshall understands that his wife's story is going to come out sooner or later.† â€Å"Does he?† â€Å"Especially in the light of the Fisherman's latest communication,† Green says. â€Å"This tape proves that Tyler Marshall is his fourth victim, and that, miraculously, he is still alive. How long do you think that can be kept from the public? And wouldn't you agree that the boy's mother should be able to explain the situation in her own words?† â€Å"I refuse to be badgered like this.† The doctor scowls at Green and gives Jack a look of warning. â€Å"Mr. Green, I am very close to ordering you out of this hospital. I wish to discuss several matters with Lieutenant Sawyer, in private. If you and the lieutenant can work out some agreement between the two of you, that is your affair. I am certainly not going to permit a joint interview with my patient. I am in no way certain that she should talk to Lieutenant Sawyer, either. She is calmer than she was this morning, but she is still fragile.† â€Å"The best way to deal with her problem is to let her express herself,† Green says. â€Å"You will be quiet now, Mr. Green,† Dr. Spiegleman says. The double chins that fold under his goatee turn a warm pink. He glares at Jack. â€Å"What specifically is it that you request, Lieutenant?† â€Å"Do you have an office in this hospital, Doctor?† â€Å"I do.† â€Å"Ideally, I'd like to spend about half an hour, maybe less, talking to Mrs. Marshall in a safe, quiet environment where our conversation would be completely confidential. Your office would probably be perfect. There are too many people on the ward, and you can't talk without being interrupted or having other patients listen in.† â€Å"My office,† Spiegleman says. â€Å"If you're willing.† â€Å"Come with me,† the doctor says. â€Å"Mr. Green, you will please stand back next to the counter while Lieutenant Sawyer and I step into the hallway.† â€Å"Anything you say.† Green executes a mocking bow and moves lightly, with a suggestion of dance steps, to the counter. â€Å"In your absence, I'm sure this handsome young man and I will find something to talk about.† Smiling, Wendell Green props his elbows on the counter and watches Jack and Dr. Spiegleman leave the room. Their footsteps click against the floor tiles until it sounds as though they have gone more than halfway down the corridor. Then there is silence. Still smiling, Wendell about-faces and finds the attendant openly staring at him. â€Å"I read you all the time,† the boy says. â€Å"You write real good.† Wendell's smile becomes beatific. â€Å"Handsome and intelligent. What a stunning combination. Tell me your name.† â€Å"Ethan Evans.† â€Å"Ethan, we do not have much time here, so let's make this snappy. Do you think responsible members of the press should have access to information the public needs?† â€Å"You bet.† â€Å"And wouldn't you agree that an informed press is one of our best weapons against monsters like the Fisherman?† A single, vertical wrinkle appears between Ethan Evans's eyebrows. â€Å"Weapons?† â€Å"Let me put it this way. Isn't it true that the more we know about the Fisherman, the better chance we have of stopping him?† The boy nods, and the wrinkle disappears. â€Å"Tell me, do you think the doctor is going to let Sawyer use his office?† â€Å"Prob'ly, yeah,† Evans says. â€Å"But I don't like the way that Sawyer guy works. He's a police brutality. Like when they hit people to make them confess. That's brutality.† â€Å"I have another question for you. Two questions, really. Is there a closet in Dr. Spiegleman's office? And is there some way you could take me there without going through that corridor?† â€Å"Oh.† Evans's dim eyes momentarily shine with understanding. â€Å"You want to listen.† â€Å"Listen and record.† Wendell Green taps the pocket that contains his cassette recorder. â€Å"For the good of the public at large, God bless 'em one and all.† â€Å"Well, maybe, yeah,† the boy says. â€Å"But Dr. Spiegleman, he . . .† A twenty-dollar bill has magically appeared folded around the second finger of Wendell Green's right hand. â€Å"Act fast, and Dr. Spiegleman will never know a thing. Right, Ethan?† Ethan Evans snatches the bill from Wendell's hand and motions him back behind the counter, where he opens a door and says, â€Å"Come on, hurry.† Low lights burn at both ends of the dark corridor. Dr. Spiegleman says, â€Å"I gather that my patient's husband told you about the tape she received this morning.† â€Å"He did. How did it get here, do you know?† â€Å"Believe me, Lieutenant, after I saw the effect that tape had on Mrs. Marshall and listened to it myself, I tried to learn how it reached my patient. All of our mail goes through the hospital's mailroom before being delivered, all of it, whether to patients, medical staff, or administrative offices. From there, a couple of volunteers deliver it to the addressees. I gather that the package containing the tape was in the hospital mailroom when a volunteer looked in there this morning. Because the package was addressed only with my patient's name, the volunteer went to our general information office. One of the girls brought it up.† â€Å"Shouldn't someone have consulted you before giving the tape and a cassette player to Judy?† â€Å"Of course. Nurse Bond would have done so immediately, but she is not on duty today. Nurse Rack, who is on duty, assumed that the address referred to a childhood nickname and thought that one of Mrs. Marshall's old friends had sent her some music to cheer her up. And there is a cassette player in the nurses' station, so she put the tape in the player and gave it to Mrs. Marshall.† In the gloom of the corridor, the doctor's eyes take on a sardonic glint. â€Å"Then, as you might imagine, all hell broke loose. Mrs. Marshall reverted to the condition in which she was first hospitalized, which takes in a range of alarming behaviors. Fortunately, I happened to be in the hospital, and when I heard what had happened, I ordered her sedated and placed in a secure room. A secure room, Lieutenant, has padded walls Mrs. Marshall had reopened the wounds to her fingers, and I did not want her to do any more damage to herself. Once the sedative had taken effect, I went in and talked to her. I listened to the tape. Perhaps I should have called the police immediately, but my first responsibility is to my patient, and I called Mr. Marshall instead.† â€Å"From where?† â€Å"From the secure room, with my cell phone. Mr. Marshall of course insisted on speaking to his wife, and she wanted to speak to him. She became very distraught during their conversation, and I had to give her another mild sedative. When she calmed down, I went out of the room and called Mr. Marshall again, to tell him more specifically about the contents of the tape. Do you want to hear it?† â€Å"Not now, Doctor, thanks. But I do want to ask you about one aspect of it.† â€Å"Then ask.† â€Å"Fred Marshall tried to imitate the way you had reproduced the accent of the man who made the tape. Did it sound like any recognizable accent to you? German, maybe?† â€Å"I've been thinking about that. It was sort of like a Germanic pronunciation of English, but not really. If it sounded like anything recognizable, it was English spoken by a Frenchman trying to put on a German accent, if that makes sense to you. But really, I've never heard anything like it.† From the start of this conversation, Dr. Spiegleman has been measuring Jack, assessing him according to standards Jack cannot even begin to guess. His expression remains as neutral and impersonal as that of a traffic cop. â€Å"Mr. Marshall informed me that he intended to call you. It seems that you and Mrs. Marshall have formed a rather extraordinary bond. She respects your skill at what you do, which is to be expected, but she also seems to trust you. Mr. Marshall asks that you be allowed to interview his wife, and his wife tells me that she must talk to you.† â€Å"Then you should have no problems with letting me see her in private for half an hour.† Dr. Spiegleman's smile is gone as soon as it appears. â€Å"My patient and her husband have demonstrated their trust in you, Lieutenant Sawyer, but that is not the issue. The issue is whether or not I can trust you.† â€Å"Trust me to do what?† â€Å"A number of things. Primarily, to act in the best interest of my patient. To refrain from unduly distressing her, also from giving her false hopes. My patient has developed a number of delusions centered on the existence of another world somehow contiguous to ours. She thinks her son is being held captive in this other world. I must tell you, Lieutenant, that both my patient and her husband believe you are familiar with this fantasy-world that is, my patient accepts this belief wholly, and her husband accepts it only provisionally, on the grounds that it comforts his wife.† â€Å"I understand that.† There is only one thing Jack can tell the doctor now, and he says it. â€Å"And what you should understand is that in all of my conversations with the Marshalls, I have been acting in my unofficial capacity as a consultant to the French Landing Police Department and its chief, Dale Gilbertson.† â€Å"Your unofficial capacity.† â€Å"Chief Gilbertson has been asking me to advise him on his conduct of the Fisherman investigation, and two days ago, after the disappearance of Tyler Marshall, I finally agreed to do what I could. I have no official status whatsoever. I'm just giving the chief and his officers the benefit of my experience.† â€Å"Let me get this straight, Lieutenant. You have been misleading the Marshalls as to your familiarity with Mrs. Marshall's delusional fantasy-world?† â€Å"I'll answer you this way, Doctor. We know from the tape that the Fisherman really is holding Tyler Marshall captive. We could say that he is no longer in this world, but in the Fisherman's.† Dr. Spiegleman raises his eyebrows. â€Å"Do you think this monster inhabits the same universe that we do?† asks Jack. â€Å"I don't, and neither do you. The Fisherman lives in a world all his own, one that operates according to fantastically detailed rules he has made up or invented over the years. With all due respect, my experience has made me far more familiar with structures like this than the Marshalls, the police, and, unless you have done a great deal of work with psychopathic criminals, even you. I'm sorry if that sounds arrogant, because I don't mean it that way.† â€Å"You're talking about profiling? Something like that?† â€Å"Years ago, I was invited into a special VICAP profiling unit run by the FBI, and I learned a lot there, but what I'm talking about now goes beyond profiling.† And that's the understatement of the year, Jack says to himself. Now it's in your court, Doctor. Spiegleman nods, slowly. The distant glow flashes in the lenses of his glasses. â€Å"I think I see, yes.† He ponders. He sighs, crosses his arms over his chest, and ponders some more. Then he raises his eyes to Jack's. â€Å"All right. I'll let you see her. Alone. In my office. For thirty minutes. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of advanced investigative procedure.† â€Å"Thank you,† Jack says. â€Å"This will be extremely helpful, I promise you.† â€Å"I have been a psychiatrist too long to believe in promises like that, Lieutenant Sawyer, but I hope you succeed in rescuing Tyler Marshall. Let me take you to my office. You can wait there while I get my patient and bring her there by another hallway. It's a little quicker.† Dr. Spiegleman marches to the end of the dark corridor and turns left, then left again, pulls a fat ball of keys from his pocket, and opens an unmarked door. Jack follows him into a room that looks as though it had been created by combining two small offices into one. Half of the room is taken up by a long wooden desk, a chair, a glass-topped coffee table stacked with journals, and filing cabinets; the other half is dominated by a couch and the leather recliner placed at its head. Georgia O'Keeffe posters decorate the walls. Behind the desk stands a door Jack assumes opens into a small closet; the door directly opposite, behind the recliner and at the midpoint between the two halves of the office, looks as though it leads into an adjoining room. â€Å"As you see,† Dr. Spiegleman says, â€Å"I use this space as both an office and a supplementary consulting room. Most of my patients come in through the waiting room, and I'll bring Mrs. Marshall in that way. Give me two or three minutes.† Jack thanks him, and the doctor hurries out through the door to the waiting room. In the little closet, Wendell Green slides his cassette recorder from the pocket of his jacket and presses both it and his ear to the door. His thumb rests on the RECORD button, and his heart is racing. Once again, western Wisconsin's most distinguished journalist is doing his duty for the man in the street. Too bad it's so blasted dark in that closet, but being stuffed into a black hole is not the first sacrifice Wendell has made for his sacred calling; besides, all he really needs to see is the little red light on his tape recorder. Then, a surprise: although Doctor Spiegleman has left the room, here is his voice, asking for Lieutenant Sawyer. How did that Freudian quack get back in without opening or closing a door, and what happened to Judy Marshall? Lieutenant Sawyer, I must speak to you. Pick up the receiver. You have a call, and it sounds urgent. Of course he is on the intercom. Who can be calling Jack Sawyer, and why the urgency? Wendell hopes that Golden Boy will push the telephone's SPEAKER button, but alas Golden Boy does not, and Wendell must be content with hearing only one side of the conversation. â€Å"A call?† Jack says. â€Å"Who's it from?† â€Å"He refused to identify himself,† the doctor says. â€Å"Someone you told you'd be visiting Ward D.† Beezer, with news of Black House. â€Å"How do I take the call?† â€Å"Just punch the flashing button,† the doctor says. â€Å"Line one. I'll bring in Mrs. Marshall when I see you're off the line.† Jack hits the button and says, â€Å"Jack Sawyer.† â€Å"Thank God,† says Beezer St. Pierre's honey-and-tobacco voice. â€Å"Hey man, you gotta get over to my place, the sooner the better. Everything got messed up.† â€Å"Did you find it?† â€Å"Oh yeah, we found Black House, all right. It didn't exactly welcome us. That place wants to stay hidden, and it lets you know. Some of the guys are hurting. Most of us will be okay, but Mouse, I don't know. He got something terrible from a dog bite, if it was a dog, which I doubt. Doc did what he could, but Hell, the guy is out of his mind, and he won't let us take him to the hospital.† â€Å"Beezer, why don't you take him anyway, if that's what he needs?† â€Å"We don't do things that way. Mouse hasn't stepped inside a hospital since his old man croaked in one. He's twice as scared of hospitals as of what's happening to his leg. If we took him to La Riviere General, he'd probably drop dead in the E.R.† â€Å"And if he didn't, he'd never forgive you.† â€Å"You got it. How soon can you be here?† â€Å"I still have to see the woman I told you about. Maybe an hour not much longer than that, anyhow.† â€Å"Didn't you hear me? Mouse is dying on us. We got a whole lot of things to say to each other.† â€Å"I agree,† Jack says. â€Å"Work with me on this, Beez.† He hangs up, turns to the door near the consulting-room chair, and waits for his world to change. What the hell was that all about? Wendell wonders. He has squandered two minutes' worth of tape on a conversation between Jack Sawyer and the dumb SOB who spoiled the film that should have paid for a nice car and a fancy house on a bluff above the river, and all he got was worthless crap. Wendell deserves the nice car and the fancy house, has earned them thrice over, and his sense of deprivation makes him seethe with resentment. Golden Boys get everything handed to them on diamond-studded salvers, people fall all over themselves to give them stuff they don't even need, but a legendary, selfless working stiff and gentleman of the press like Wendell Green? It costs Wendell Green twenty bucks to hide in a dark, crowded little closet just to do his job! His ears tingle when he hears the door open. The red light burns, the faithful recorder passes the ready tape from spool to spool, and whatever happens now is going to change everything: Wendell's gut, that infallible organ, his best friend, warms with the assurance that justice will soon be his. Dr. Spiegleman's voice filters through the closet door and registers on the spooling tape: â€Å"I'll leave you two alone now.† Golden Boy: â€Å"Thank you, Doctor. I'm very grateful.† Dr. Spiegleman: â€Å"Thirty minutes, right? That means I'll be back at, umm, ten past two.† Golden Boy: â€Å"Fine.† The soft closing of the door, the click of the latch. Then long seconds of silence. Why aren't they talking to each other? But of course . . . the question answers itself. They're waiting for fat-ass Spiegleman to move out of hearing range. Oh, this is just delicious, that's what this is! The whisper of Golden Boy's footsteps moving toward that door all but confirms the sterling reporter's intuition. O gut of Wendell Green, O Instrument Marvelous and Trustworthy, once more you come through with the journalistic goods! Wendell hears, the machine records, the inevitable next sound: the click of the lock. Judy Marshall: â€Å"Don't forget the door behind you.† Golden Boy: â€Å"How are you?† Judy Marshall: â€Å"Much, much better, now that you're here. The door, Jack.† Another set of footsteps, another unmistakable sliding into place of a metal bolt. Soon-To-Be-Ruined Boy: â€Å"I've been thinking about you all day. I've been thinking about this.† The Harlot, the Whore, the Slut: â€Å"Is half an hour long enough?† Him With Foot In Bear Trap: â€Å"If it isn't, he'll just have to bang on the doors.† Wendell barely restrains himself from crowing with delight. These two people are actually going to have sex together, they are going to rip off their clothes and have at it like animals. Man, talk about your pay-backs! When Wendell Green is done with him, Jack Sawyer's reputation will be lower than the Fisherman's. Judy's eyes look tired, her hair is limp, and her fingertips wear the startling white of fresh gauze, but besides registering the depth of her feeling, her face glows with the clear, hard-won beauty of the imaginative strength she called upon to earn what she has seen. To Jack, Judy Marshall looks like a queen falsely imprisoned. Instead of disguising her innate nobility of spirit, the hospital gown and the faded nightdress make it all the more apparent. Jack takes his eyes from her long enough to lock the second door, then takes a step toward her. He sees that he cannot tell her anything she does not already know. Judy completes the movement he has begun; she moves before him and holds out her hands to be grasped. â€Å"I've been thinking about you all day,† he says, taking her hands. â€Å"I've been thinking about this.† Her response takes in everything she has come to see, everything they must do. â€Å"Is half an hour long enough?† â€Å"If it isn't, he'll just have to bang on the doors.† They smile; she increases the pressure on his hands. â€Å"Then let him bang.† With the smallest, slightest tug, she pulls him forward, and Jack's heart pounds with the expectation of an embrace. What she does is far more extraordinary than a mere embrace: she lowers her head and, with two light, dry brushes of her lips, kisses his hands. Then she presses the back of his right hand against her cheek, and steps back. Her eyes kindle. â€Å"You know about the tape.† He nods. â€Å"I went mad when I heard it, but sending it to me was a mistake. He pushed me too hard. Because I fell right back into being that child who listened to another child whispering through a wall. I went crazy and I tried to rip the wall apart. I heard my son screaming for my help. And he was there on the other side of the wall. Where you have to go.† â€Å"Where we have to go.† â€Å"Where we have to go. Yes. But I can't get through the wall, and you can. So you have work to do, the most important work there could be. You have to find Ty, and you have to stop the abbalah. I don't know what that is, exactly, but stopping it is your job. Am I saying this right: you are a coppiceman?† â€Å"You're saying it right,† Jack says. â€Å"I am a coppiceman. That's why it's my job.† â€Å"Then this is right, too. You have to get rid of Gorg and his master, Mr. Munshun. That's not what his name really is, but it's what it sounds like: Mr. Munshun. When I went mad, and I tried to rip through the world, she told me, and she could whisper straight into my ear. I was so close!† What does Wendell Green, ear and whirling tape recorder pressed to the door, make of this conversation? It is hardly what he expected to hear: the animal grunts and moans of desire busily being satisfied. Wendell Green grinds his teeth, he stretches his face into a grimace of frustration. â€Å"I love that you've let yourself see,† says Jack. â€Å"You're an amazing human being. There isn't a person in a thousand who could even understand what that means, much less do it.† â€Å"You talk too much,† Judy says. â€Å"I mean, I love you.† â€Å"In your way, you love me. But you know what? Just by coming here, you made me more than I was. There's this sort of beam that comes out of you, and I just locked on to that beam. Jack, you lived there, and all I could do was peek at it for a little while. That's enough, though. I'm satisfied. You and Ward D, you let me travel.† â€Å"What you have inside you lets you travel.† â€Å"Okay, three cheers for a well-examined spell of craziness. Now it's time. You have to be a coppiceman. I can only come halfway, but you'll need all your strength.† â€Å"I think your strength is going to surprise you.† â€Å"Take my hands and do it, Jack. Go over. She's waiting, and I have to give you to her. You know her name, don't you?† He opens his mouth, but cannot speak. A force that seems to come from the center of the earth surges into his body, rolling electricity through his bloodstream, tightening his scalp, sealing his trembling fingers to Judy Marshall's, which also tremble. A feeling of tremendous lightness and mobility gathers within all the hollow spaces of his body; at the same time he has never been so aware of his body's obduracy, its resistance to flight. When they leave, he thinks, it'll be like a rocket launch. The floor seems to vibrate beneath his feet. He manages to look down the length of his arms to Judy Marshall, who leans back with her head parallel to the shaking floor, eyes closed, smiling in a trance of accomplishment. A band of shivery white light surrounds her. Her beautiful knees, her legs shining beneath the hem of the old blue garment, her bare feet planted. That light shivers around him, too. All of this comes from her, Jack thinks, and from A rushing sound fills the air, and the Georgia O'Keeffe prints fly off the walls. The low couch dances away from the wall; papers swirl up from the jittering desk. A skinny halogen lamp crashes to the ground. All through the hospital, on every floor, in every room and ward, beds vibrate, television sets go black, instruments rattle in their rattling trays, lights flicker. Toys drop from the gift-shop shelves, and the tall lilies skid across the marble in their vases. On the fifth floor, light bulbs detonate into showers of golden sparks. The hurricane noise builds, builds, and with a great whooshing sound becomes a wide, white sheet of light, which immediately vanishes into a pinpoint and is gone. Gone, too, is Jack Sawyer; and gone from the closet is Wendell Green. Sucked into the Territories, blown out of one world and sucked into another, blasted and dragged, man, we're a hundred levels up from the simple, well-known flip. Jack is lying down, looking up at a ripped white sheet that flaps like a torn sail. A quarter of a second ago, he saw another white sheet, one made of pure light and not literal, like this one. The soft, fragrant air blesses him. At first, he is conscious only that his right hand is being held, then that an astonishing woman lies beside him. Judy Marshall. No, not Judy Marshall, whom he does love, in his way, but another astonishing woman, who once whispered to Judy through a wall of night and has lately drawn a great deal closer. He had been about to speak her name when Into his field of vision moves a lovely face both like and unlike Judy's. It was turned on the same lathe, baked in the same kiln, chiseled by the same besotted sculptor, but more delicately, with a lighter, more caressing touch. Jack cannot move for wonder. He is barely capable of breathing. This woman whose face is above him now, smiling down with a tender impatience, has never borne a child, never traveled beyond her native Territories, never flown in an airplane, driven a car, switched on a television, scooped ice ready-made from the freezer, or used a microwave: and she is radiant with spirit and inner grace. She is, he sees, lit from within. Humor, tenderness, compassion, intelligence, strength, glow in her eyes and speak from the curves of her mouth, from the very molding of her face. He knows her name, and her name is perfect for her. It seems to Jack that he has fallen in love with this woman in an instant, that he enlisted in her cause on the spot, and at last he finds he can speak her perfect name: Sophie.

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Literary Elements of a movie of your choice - Essay Example so included, albeit with blatantly racist overtones, a historical narrative that explored the racial tensions that occurred during the pre and the post-Civil War period in American history. Through an examination of these elements, this essay explores the literary qualities in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation. While Birth of a Nation is undoubtedly a landmark and influential work of art my personal response to it is less than one of great admiration or enjoyment. It’s clear that its depiction of the blacks during the Reconstruction period as terrorizing the South and preying on the Cameron girl is a highly biased interpretation of events. I believe that the film’s overarching intention is entertainment, but I also recognize that there is a strong racist subtext that characterizes the narrative and makes the film’s true meaning one of glorifying racism and the Ku Klux Klan. Indeed, the necessity of the Klan during the Reconstruction period comes to represent the film’s central moral and theme. I ultimately appreciated the film for its significance to the evolution of film, but was only moved by the film negatively in response to its racist themes. At the time of the film’s release filmmakers weren’t certain that audiences would be able to grasp the complexity of the storyline if it were muddied by techniques that disrupted the linearity of the narrative (Everson 1978). This editing style had long been a literary technique and was a mainstay in novels; its implementation in Birth of a Nation gave the film a literary quality that led critics to proclaim it a masterpiece. In Birth of a Nation, D.W. Griffith uses parallel editing, or intercutting, to great effect during the climatic encounter between the Ku Klux Klan and Silas Lynch. After Gus is depicted as causing Flora to fall off a cliff, because of her fear of his advances, the Klan decide to take measures into their own hands and set out to seek revenge. They find Gus and murder him and then leave

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Federal Republic Essay Example for Free

Federal Republic Essay First , there was a â€Å" Indias Ninth Five-Year Plan† projects generation of 54 million new jobs during the Plan period (1997-2002). But performance has always fallen short of target in the past, and few believe that the current Plan will be able to meet its target. The Indian youth also get problems in finding job: â€Å" If the unemployment rate observed during 1993-94 continues, the number of unemployed youth in terms of usual status was of 6. 2 million in 2001 . † ( Pravin Visaria 2000:n. p. ) Indias labor force is growing at a rate of 2. 5 percent annually, but employment is growing at only 2. 3 per cent. Thus, the country is faced with the challenge of not only absorbing new entrants to the job market (estimated at seven million people every year), but also clearing the backlog. Sixty percent of Indias workforce is self-employed, many of whom remain very poor. Nearly 30 per cent are casual workers (i. e. they work only when they are able to get jobs and remain unpaid for the rest of the days). Only about 10 per cent are regular employees, of which two-fifths are employed by the public sector. Now, the Indian economy starts recovering but the it’s hard to say that unemployment will be eliminated soon. In the table below the expected level of employment till 2012 is given(which is a very low one). Population and Labour Force: 1997 – 2012 (million 1st April) 1997 2002 2007 2012 Population 951. 18 1028. 93 1112. 86 1196. 41 Labor Force 397. 22 449. 62 507. 94 562. 91 The growing unemployment in India caused a lot of trouble what has been worsening the economical situation since 1980s. It produces the hole in the turnover of the goods as people can’t buy the necessary quantity of products not having enough earnings. Political instability in the late 1980s and oil price shocks resulting from the Persian Gulf War (1991) led to an economic crisis in early 1991, but swift reform measures taken by the newly elected government proved highly successful. Inflation declined from 13.1% in 1991 and 1992 to 8. 6% in 1993 and 1994. However, inflation stood at 14% in 1998. So, as we see, such concern as unemployment influences a lot the whole economical picture of the country. Besides, person that is out of working can’t develop himself and that reflects in a considerable way in the demographic structure of the country. All over the world history the notion of unemployment is associated with the crisis in the economy of any country. Biblioghraphy. 1. No author. 2005. Of economies policies http://www.ilo.org

Seven Steps to Project Planning Essay Example for Free

Seven Steps to Project Planning Essay Seven Steps of Project Planning April Willochell Project Management Every project is an opportunity to produce something new, to make a real difference. You can introduce change, increase productivity, enhance capabilities of your company or of a client or build new relationships. Seven steps are essential to success in organizations that simultaneously manage multiple initiatives. Effectiveness begins with good pre-project planning plus an understanding of what a project is and what can be at stake. Consistently following these seven key steps can directly improve a company’s operations, profitability and sanity. The first step is a setting goals phase. â€Å"During this stage the teams responsible for the project are assigned and a brief is provided containing information on what the project hopes to achieve and what approach will be taken to complete various actions required. Additionally, this stage usually leads to the appointed of a project manager and executive in charge who with the help of the team start to plan the next step. † (7 Steps, 2013) In this stage all stakeholders should state their needs and how they would like them to be fulfilled. Ultimately, this is the goal setting phase. The next step would be initiating the process. This means that a team would be assembled and the overall project is outlined to detailed specifications. This includes strategic planning, like how long the project will take, how many steps will take place, and what tools will be needed to execute the project. Deciding how the project will be controlled is the third step. This step is also called directing the project. This means that the organization that is controlling the project is defined. Also, all organizations within the company that will be involved are determined. This part of the planning process will determine who receives reports and makes final decisions in the planning process. â€Å"This step is about developing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) that identifies the low-level tasks and activities required for doing project work and producing the deliverables. The WBS is a critical piece of the project planning process because it defines how tasks will be structured and what dependencies will be created. It is also used for setting up urations, task assignments, resource requirements, and cost estimates. † (The Planning Process, 2013) The control stage is the fourth stage. â€Å"You must develop a project strategy that follows the mission and outlines the high-level actions for implementing the project objectives. You must develop a project strategy that follows the mission and outlines the high-level actions for implementing the project objectives. â⠂¬  (The Planning Process, 2013) This process will let the team know who will need to sign off for what processes in the project. This stage will also let the team know where potential problems may arise and if they do how they should be dealt with. This stage is very important in the planning process. The fifth stage of project planning is setting up boundaries for each stage of the project. This is basically setting up deadlines for each stage of the project. If a stage is not met, there also needs to be backup plan on how the plan will play out in this event. This stage also determines how each stage will close and the steps following that closing. â€Å"The penultimate stage is the management of product delivery. In this step the project manager works with team managers to ensure that a set of formal requirements are created for every piece of work contained in the project. Essentially if this is done correctly all of the work should be delivered on time and to a suitable standard. † (7 Steps, 2013) This sixth stage is to make sure that all paperwork is in order, the project and its product follow all regulations, and all parts are in working order. This is basically, a quality control stage. The seventh and final stage is the closing stage. This step is the risk management assessment part of the planning process. Project managers and their teams must identify all the risks in their project and discuss the alternatives. The plan will be reviewed, discussed, and any potential changes will be made. Once all seven steps are followed accurately a project plan should be planned perfectly and executed just as well. Resources 7 Steps to Project Planning. Retrieved on January 17, 2013 from http://EzineArticles. com/4767743 The Planning Process. Retrieved on January 18, 2013 from

The Principle Of Duality States Computer Science Essay

The Principle Of Duality States Computer Science Essay To simplify a SOP for a Boolean expression using a K map, first identify all the input combinations that produce an output of logic level 1 and place them in their appropriate K map cell. Consequently, all other cells must contain zero (0). Second, group the adjacent cells that contain 1 in a manner that maximizes the size of the groups but also minimizes the total number of groups. All 1s in the output must be included in a group even if the group is only one cell. Third, as each SOP term represents an AND expression, each (AND) grouping is written with only the input variables that are common to the group. Finally, the simplified expression is formed by ORing each of the (AND) groups. To illustrate let us consider the function X =ABC+ABC+ABC whose truth table and K map are illustrated below: Truth table specifications for a logic function may not to include all possible combinations of the input binary digits for the input variables, yet they may still be complete specifications of the logic function for the prescribed application. In these situations certain input combinations will not occur due to the nature of the application. When the input combinations are irrelevant or cannot occur, the output states are in the Truth table and the K map are filled with an X and are referred to as dont care states. When simplifying K maps with dont care states, the contents of the undefined cells (1 or 0) are chosen according to preference. The aim is to enlarge group sizes thereby eliminating as many input variables from the simplified expression as possible. Only those Xs that assist in simplifying the function should be included in the groupings. No additional Xs should be added that would result in additional terms in the expression. THE TABULATION METHOD The K-map method is convenient as long as the number of variables does not exceed five or six, but when the number increases it becomes difficult to use this method. The tabulation method overcomes this difficulty, besides it is suitable for computer mechanisation. It was first formulated by Quine and later improved by McCluskey. It is also known as the Quine-McCluskey method. The tabular method of simplification consits of two parts: Determination of Prime Implicants. Selection of Essential Prime Implicants. The first part is covered in the software provided, the second part is not. Each minterm and its combined cells are included in the Minterm record, and linked lists techniques are used. Linked lists are the best way to manage unknown amount of data at run time instead of using a large array which is a waste of memory. The record used is: Pminterm = ^Minterm; Minterm = Record Number : Word; {This is to hold the decimal equivalent of the minterm} NumberOfOnes : Byte; {This is to hold the no. of 1s in the field Number} Selected : Boolean; {used as a tick when this term is selected} CellStr : String; { a string to hold all minterms that form a cell with this term } DashPlaceStr : String {a string to hold the place of the dash } Next : Pminterm { a pointer to the next record to form a linked list} End; The software procedure summarise as follows: The user enters the minterms in decimal equivalent. The program sorts minterms in the number of ones included in the binary equivalent (SortMinTerms). Any two minterms that differ from each other by only one variable are combined (done in FirstTabulation procedure), two minterms fit into this category if the number in the lower group is greater than that in the upper one, and the two numbers differ by a power of 2 e.g. ( 2d = 0010b and 10d = 1010b the difference is 8d which is a power of 2). Then the two numbers are copied to the second linked list ( First, Second, Vertex : Pminterm;). This procedure is carried for all the minterms. Matching groups are copied to second linked list while first one deleted. Then a second tabulation is carried in the SecondTabulation procedure, here each cell contained in the CellStr field of the Minterm record are compared together, a matching is found if the numbers in one cell are greater than the other one and they differs by a power of 2 e.g. (0,2 and 8,10 differs by 8 which is a power of two) . This procedure is carried for all the records in the second linked list and matching cells are copied to the first linked list, and any incomparable cells are copied to the Vertex linked list. Then the second linked list is deleted. The step 4 is repeated m 1 time where m is the number of inputs, transferring cells between first and second linked lists. The last linked list and the vertex linked list prime implicants are printed in the ABC equivalent using the WMterm procedure. My program architecture can be used to simplify any number of inputs, but practical limitations are in the Number field in the Minterm record which is a word i.e. 16 bits (16 inputs). Bearing in mind as well the simplified expression is contained in a string which is only 255 characters. Some inputs and corresponding outputs to try on the program: Boolean Expression Simplified Boolean Expression F(A,B,C) = S(0,6,7) ABC + AB F(A,B,C) = S(0,4,6,7) BC + AB + AC F(A,B,C,D,E,F) = S(4,5,6,7,36,37,38,39) BCD F(A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H) = S(16,17 up to 31,144,145 up to 159) BCD VARIABLE ENTERED METHOD (VEM) The conventional logic minimization is time consuming easy only for 4-5 variables. It becomes difficult to solve using conventional K-map method when number of variables goes on increasing. In that case Variable Entered Method will be good idea to use. It represents values of functions in terms of its variables called map entered variables. A new method for obtaining a compact subsumptive general solution of a system of Boolean equations is presented. The method relies on the use of the variable-entered Karnaugh map (VEKM) to achieve successive elimination through successive map folding. It is superior in efficiency and simplicity to methods employing Marquand diagrams or Conventional Karnaugh maps; it requires the construction of significantly smaller maps and produces such maps in a minimization-ready form. Moreover, the method is applicable to general Boolean equations and is not restricted to the two-valued case. Combinational Sequential Circuits Combinational logic circuits implement Boolean functions. Boolean functions are mappings of input bitstrings to output bitstrings. These circuits are functions of input only. What does that mean? It means that if you feed in an input to a circuit, say, 000, then look at its output, and discover it is, say, 10, then the output will always be 10 for that circuit, if 000 is the input. 000 is mapped to 10. If that value were not the same every single time, then the output must not completely depend on 000. Something else must be affecting the output. Combinational logic circuits always depend on input. Another way to define something that is a function of input is to imagine that you are only allowed to use input variables xk-1,,x0, i.e. data inputs, cm-1,,c0, i.e., control inputs, to write the function. This function can not depend on global variables or other variables. Like combinational logic circuits, a sequential logic circuit has inputs (labelled with x with subscripts) and outputs (labelled with z with subscripts). Unike combinational logic circuits, a sequential logic circuit uses a clock. Also, there is a box inside the circuit called State. This box contains flip flops. Assume it has k flip flops. The flip flops basically store a k-bit number representing the current state. The output z is computed based on the inputs (x with subscripts) and the state coming out of the state box (q with subscripts). The state may be updated at each positive clock edge. When theres not a positive clock edge, the state remains unchanged. The information needed to update to the state (called the next state) comes from the current state (the current value of q) and the input, which is fed through combinational logic, and fed back into the state box, telling the state box how to update itself. A sequential circuit uses flip flops. Unlike combinational logic, sequential circuits have state, which means basically, sequential circuits have memory. The main difference between sequential circuits and combinational circuits is that sequential circuits compute their output based on input and state, and that the state is updated based on a clock. Combinational logic circuits implement Boolean functions, so they are functions only of their inputs, and are not based on clocks. The S-R Latch A bistable multivibrator has two stable states, as indicated by the prefix bi in its name. Typically, one state is referred to as set and the other as reset. The simplest bistable device, therefore, is known as a set-reset, or S-R, latch. To create an S-R latch, we can wire two NOR gates in such a way that the output of one feeds back to the input of another, and vice versa, like this: http://sub.allaboutcircuits.com/images/04173.png The Q and not-Q outputs are supposed to be in opposite states. I say supposed to because making both the S and R inputs equal to 1 results in both Q and not-Q being 0. For this reason, having both S and R equal to 1 is called an invalid or illegal state for the S-R multivibrator. Otherwise, making S=1 and R=0 sets the multivibrator so that Q=1 and not-Q=0. Conversely, making R=1 and S=0 resets the multivibrator in the opposite state. When S and R are both equal to 0, the multivibrators outputs latch in their prior states. The Clocked D-Latch Since the enable input on a gated S-R latch provides a way to latch the Q and not-Q outputs without regard to the status of S or R, we can eliminate one of those inputs to create a multivibrator latch circuit with no illegal input states. Such a circuit is called a D latch, and its internal logic looks like this: http://sub.allaboutcircuits.com/images/04181.png Note that the R input has been replaced with the complement (inversion) of the old S input, and the S input has been renamed to D. As with the gated S-R latch, the D latch will not respond to a signal input if the enable input is 0 it simply stays latched in its last state. When the enable input is 1, however, the Q output follows the D input. Since the R input of the S-R circuitry has been done away with, this latch has no invalid or illegal state. Q and not-Q are always opposite of one another. Master-Slave Flip-Flops A master-slave flip-flop is constructed from two seperate flip-flops. One circuit serves as a master and the other as a slave. The logic diagram of an SR flip-flop is shown in figure below. The master flip-flop is enabled on the positive edge of the clock pulse CP and the slave flip-flop is disabled by the inverter. The information at the external R and S inputs is transmitted to the master flip-flop. When the pulse returns to 0, the master flip-flop is disabled and the slave flip-flop is enabled. The slave flip-flop then goes to the same state as the master flip-flop. http://wearcam.org/ece385/lectureflipflops/flipflops/fig9.gif Logic diagram of a master-slave flip-flop The timing relationship is shown in Figure below and is assumed that the flip-flop is in the clear state prior to the occurrence of the clock pulse. The output state of the master-slave flip-flop occurs on the negative transition of the clock pulse. Some master-slave flip-flops change output state on the positive transition of the clock pulse by having an additional inverter between the CP terminal and the input of the master. http://wearcam.org/ece385/lectureflipflops/flipflops/fig10.gif Timing relationship in a master slave flip-flop Edge Triggered Devices Another type of flip-flop that synchronizes the state changes during a clock pulse transition is the edge-triggered flip-flop. When the clock pulse input exceeds a specific threshold level, the inputs are locked out and the flip-flop is not affected by further changes in the inputs until the clock pulse returns to 0 and another pulse occurs. Some edge-triggered flip-flops cause a transition on the positive edge of the clock pulse (positive-edge-triggered), and others on the negative edge of the pulse (negative-edge-triggered). The logic diagram of a D-type positive-edge-triggered flip-flop is shown in figure below: http://wearcam.org/ece385/lectureflipflops/flipflops/fig11.gif D-type positive-edge triggered flip-flop When using different types of flip-flops in the same circuit, one must ensure that all flip-flop outputs make their transitions at the same time, ie., during either the negative edge or the positive edge of the clock pulse.

motivation :: essays research papers

I once had an interesting conversation with the owner/manager of a clothing manufacturing company. He operated a large and successful business, principally supplying uniforms for the corporate market. He was surprised by some of his workers. They worked on a piece work rate (paid per item) and some of the very efficient staff did not produce as much as they were capable of. They worked hard at the start of the pay period, but then they tapered off. He expected them to work hard the whole time, as they were paid by what they produced - the harder they worked, the more they were paid. He expected that the extra money reward would motivate them. Motivation is a complex concept. Remuneration is also complex. Individuals react in different ways to pay schemes. A simple explanation for the clothing worker behaviour is that they did not work just for the money. They enjoyed the working environment and the social interaction it provided. They liked to have work, to be employed, and yes they needed a certain level of income. But once they achieved that, the pressure to work hard was reduced. Given that the actual work task was quite monotonous and repetitious, it was not surprising that they exhibited this behaviour. Drastic work design was required. People think that money is a motivator. It does have an effect, but motivation involves far more. Sales people are the classic example. Most are on performance based schemes. But what is one of the main themes sales and marketing consultants write about? You guessed it - how to motivate your sales team! Consultants would not need to write motivation articles if financial reward alone worked. Equity in compensation practices Positive effects come from good financial and non-financial rewards. It is very important to have a well managed remuneration system in place. Fair and reasonable reward is essential and very important for good morale. I believe strongly in the equity theory of motivation. Simply put, the theory states that people have to believe that their pay is equitable with others. When they compare their salary and benefits with their colleagues and co-workers, they must believe that they are being fairly compensated. If they believe their compensation is not equitable, they become very de-motivated and their work performance suffers. Financial and nonfinancial rewards I subscribe to the theory that states it is the nature of the work that is important.

Understanding the Atkins Diet Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet Exercise

Understanding the Atkins Diet   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Atkins diet is strictly regimented with a carbohydrate controlled and protein abundant regime. It is because of the promotion of protein consumption that the Atkins diet represents significant health risks. The diet requires strict adherence to a protein rich plan in order to achieve the desired results. The potential health problems resulting from this diet could be seveer simply because too much protein raises saturated fat levels. Such levels can lead to heart disease, osteoporosis, or kidney disease. The Atkins diet is examined below in relation to these health risks in order to evaluate the damage that it represents.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Atkins diet proceeds in a set of phases. As guidance, the way these phases are presented indicates the potential for unhealthy consequences. The first phase of the Atkins diet allows the dieter to eat three meals a day. The dieter can à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“eat liberally of combinations of fat and protein in the form of poultry, fish, shellfish, eggs and red meat, as well as pure, natural fat in the form of butter, mayonnaise, olive oil, safflower, sunflower and other vegetable oils...à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ (Atkins.com). This is the only place in the diet description where animal protein consumption is addressed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second phase of the diet requires an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“incrementally increasing of the dieterà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s carbohydrate intake... and this may be as low as 25 grams or as high as 50 grams if you are exceptionally activeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ (Atkins.com). However, it is still recommended that the dieter keep protein and fat as the mainstay of the nutritional regimen. This statement does not state whether the dieter should, for example, eat extra lean turkey or ... ... tailor his/her diet in order to lose weight while maintaining a healthy level of cholesterol as well as a healthy heart and kidneys. Such guidelines, however, are clearly not within the agenda of an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“all the meat you can eatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ dietary program.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because there are no guidelines for protein in take, the dangers posed by over consumption of protein are ignored by the Atkins diet plan. The requirement encouraging over consumption of meat proteins clearly promotes known health risks. These health risks are widely recognized by the medical community. Avoidance of elevated levels of protein consumption is clearly an important part of a life style that is healthy for the heart, bones, and kidneys. It is more than unfortunate that the Atkins program promotes such a dangerously unbalanced diet. The healthy choice is to avoid the Atkins diet.

Autobiographical Essay Essay

As far back as I can remember no one in my family talked about heritage or when and how we came to America. When I would ask questions the only answers that I ever received were, we are Indian, and that was from my fathers side of the family. My mother’s side of the family however was a different story. I have been told that I am part German and I am going to give as much information that I have of both sides of my Mother and Fathers families. After talking to my mother and learning where my ancestors came from I have a better understanding of my own culture, beliefs and biases. To begin my story I will tell about my 2x grandfather on my Mothers side who according to www.cohrs.de â€Å"came to America from Germany he sailed from Bremen Germany to Galveston Texas on in 1853†. He met and married my 2x great grandmother in 1853 and together they had seven children of whom my great grandfather was one. My great grandfather moved to Arizona where he met and married my great grand mother and they had four Children of whom my grandfather was the youngest. My grandfather met and married my grandmother in 1929, and together they had eight children in which my mother is one of the three youngest. For my grandmother the only information that I have is that she was born in Alabama, and from everything that I have heard from my mother, aunt, and my uncles, my ancestors were hard working people who taught their children good morals and values. They loved all people regardless of their race, religion, or color. However they believed that races did not go outside of their race to marry and have children. They believed that god and family came first and they would help anyone who needed help. This leads me to my ancestors on my father’s side of my family the only information that I have been able to find is, that my grandfather was Native-American his mother, my great grandmother passed away when he was just a baby and family members had to take care of him. He met and married my grandmother and together they had twelve children in which my father is one of the oldest. While I do not have a lot of information about my father’s ancestor I do know that they were and are a very loving hard  working family that put God and family first. However they can be very closed minded when it comes to people of different race, gender, and culture. They can be very opinionated and while they will be nice to all people they are very cautious around people that are not family. I believe that ancestors past and present have help to shape the person that I ma today. I have learned to use my critical thinking to form my own beliefs and I am so proud to be living in America where I can make the right choses for me. I want to be able to give my future student the best education that I can and from what I have learned about my culture I know that I will be able to help my students make the right choses in getting to know all cultures and traditions before making the wrong decisions of treating others badly. References Descendants of Karl August Riefkohl, Retrieved 11-27-13 from, http://www.cohrs.de/gene/riefkohl/pedigrees/5a.html

Associates Capstone Essay

Executive Summary In going through some of things regarding buying the business I think Mike should make sure that the coffee shop is up to code. He should talk to officials about required standards, for running a coffee shop, licenses; the different laws for having the shop in Sunnydale, Illinois, all of will be needed and will help to keep the restaurant running properly inside and out. It is also important that he reviews each file for all employees making sure all documents that are needed for hire are there, reading through and seeing the difference in their duties and the performance prior to him buying the shop and respond accordingly and whatever decisions he makes with each one or if hiring new document all that is done to cover himself within the law. Going through the business files and reading the comments given by customers is important for this will help to give him proper information on what is liked and dislike about the coffee shop and making a plan to change things or get new things to keep them satisfied and coming back, for ex: as accepting credit cards for payments as well as cash. Going more into the business files checking on the finances and accounting is important to be sure all is accounted for, profits are being make and what the next plan would be according to what is found. This will also help in what they are spending for supplies and necessities and where he can save money and use it for other things needed, also go over the income part to see where they can change prices and get better ideas compare the coffee shop to the competitors place and prices. Also make sure all appliances are up to date and properly handle according to code. After reviewing all of these things an going forward making a proper business plan and procedures of moving forward will give Mike a properly ran business with happy customers coming in and employees glad to keep it running and making profits. Regulations In reviewing some of the personnel files on the employees it seems you will have to definitely put together a company/employee/personnel manual. This will help with the government regulations for the State in which the coffee shop is in and it will also spell out what the Company will expect of the employees and what they expect in terms of benefits and other topics related to employment. (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business, page 203). Be sure that when creating this manual you have included all the necessary rules that you want and intend to enforce, (no drinking on the job, no smoking in the workplace, excessive tardiness, or absenteeism, no sexual harassment, no discrimination in the workplace, no stealing and all other rules that will be enforced, then have a meeting with the current employees and any new employee to review before getting started and have them each sign it to keep in their personnel files. This will let them know that you intend to en force these rules and if not followed the consequences could be termination. Management First thing I would do is create a business plan, Mike is considered the Strategic Manager for the coffee shop and he will need to create a plan, organize it, lead it and control the outcome of all that will happen within the business. He will need to focus on the long term goals of the shop and once he has these can move forward in communicating with the employees. He will then need to meet with each of the employees individually to go over their files, be sure to update them with all proper paperwork and they are legal to work. When discussing things with them do not bring up personal topics: marital status, race, religion, etc. for this would be a violation and is not permitted during any type of interview or meeting with an existing employee or new employee. You can let them know the good things about working for you at the shop and even some things that are not so good, make sure the employee knows what work they will be doing and agrees to it and they will be able to perform these duties, you can also see if they have questions regarding the manual and take care of it at that moment have them sign indicating they have read and understand it. I think he should also review the break room and clean it up putting up the proper documents on the board and take down all that unnecessary stuff on it. He needs to have posted the proper documents of the law with minimum wage and health. The only other thing up there could be the schedule and notes of reminders of what needs to be done. He then should take care of the stock room and office to have them both properly cleaned up things in right places. Once all these things have been accomplished it will make for a better organized area and easier for him to control and lead his employees and have a well established running coffee shop. Finance and Accounting Reviewing the finances is important; it seems they have a very high salary expense (for a coffee shop) and supplies expense that needs attending to. This means checking with other suppliers and their prices. As for the salaries we would need to go over everyone’s positions held and the salary they are being paid and make sure it fits with their positions and pay scale. As I continued going through the files I noticed the income tax/employment tax and other forms were still from 2006, need to get all those updated from previous owner or get them taken care of and all financial and payroll taxes to date. Not filing properly for state taxes/employment/unemployment is a violation and subject to penalties. I would also review the loan that was taken out on the freezer and be sure all payments had been made previously on time and see what the payoff is, he may be able to save monies on paying it off then paying the extra interest each month. Once all of these are reviewed and items that need attention either corrected or forms filled out and all things brought to date, Mike will have a better understanding of the numbers and all within in the business to get him started and ready to go. Make the decisions on what actions need to be taken to achieve these goals. This is part of the strategic planning of the long term goals for the company; it covers major portions of the company. Organizing, Joe will have to get organize the departments, get the right people in place, create the proper systems needed to properly run the company, bring together all resources needed to have it run properly. Now he will have to take these and lead his employees under him to want to be there and work and give there all, with motivation and communication. He will maintain good contact with them to give them what they need to keep the company running properly with all he has organized. Proper leading of employees will help to give more of themselves to produce quality work by giving guidance and inspiration to them. Leading takes place in many areas of the business not just from the top, also from teams, divisions and departments. He will also set values and mission with his leading. Now the last part of the management function is controlling, taking all of the planning, organizing and leading and controlling it to keep it functional. All the other functions isn’t the success of the company it is the monitoring the performance and make changes where necessary. He needs to make sure the plans are being used and goals are being met within the company, also needs feedback in all areas so that he can make changes, to processes, procedures where needed. Financial Statements Checking to be sure all the financial statements have been done and balanced is very important. In checking the business files it seems they balanced but not all were completed, this will help to know where the business stands and where changes could be made. There are 4 parts to the financial statements, income statement, balance sheet, cash flows and owner’s equity. I only noticed 2 of the 4 mentioned in the business files each one of these statements has its own meaning that should be understood even if Mike plans to have someone else handle it, income statement will let him know whether or not the business is profitable, it totals the revenue and then subtracts the expenses associated with making that revenue; results being the pretax profit and after taxes are paid net income. These statements can be done monthly, yearly, quarterly or year to date, I think for Mike monthly would be good for it will show how much he has sold and what it cost to create the sales each month. The balance sheet is a snapshot of how things are at a particular moment, shows the amount of assets and liabilities at a particular point and time, where his income statement shows the flow of money in and out of the company in a specific time frame. His cash flow statement could be the most important for it will tell him whether or not he has enough cash to pay the bills. This statement will reflect investments, borrowing, etc. and other balance sheet changes. The key challenge is that he will need to keep more cash coming in than going out especially with just starting out. His owner’s equity will be the portion of the balance sheet which shows what is left over when all liabilities are subtracted from all assets. This is the number he wants to maximize because it can reflect th e book value of his company. Once Mike has reviewed all of these and are updated he will know what changes will need to be made within the coffee shop from many points. Problem Solving Problem solving and decision making are very important factors in every managers or persons within their business, even in the Coffee Shop for Mike. He will have things that happen or a daily basis and even on an hourly basis in which his skills as the owner and manger are in demand. He may at first with many as a reaction to things react against it, which can cause a downward spiral. He may look at the past and use the old way to fix a current problem and that usually doesn’t work. Mike will need to have a planned approach and then execute it. By doing this he will avoid having the same problem over and over again and use doesn’t continually solve a different problem the same way as the other. There are a few approaches he can take, he can define the problem, look at the potential causes, find different ways to solving the problem, choose which solution is best, make the action plan and then monitor and verify the solution. By doing these things it will help to ensure all is working properly as it should after the solution has been decided. Mike can use these basic steps in his new role as Owner/Manager of the Coffee Shop, making this plan to solve a problem and the decision will make for a better team in the Coffee Shop. Reference(s) Management, Bateman and Snell, Chapter 1 and Chapter 4, 2010 http://ezinearticles.com/?Top-Level-of-Management&id=20181389 The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Starting Your Own Business, Fourth Edition by Edward Paulson http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/article/87158.aspx