Tuesday, December 24, 2019

The Rise Of The Chinese Revolution - 1166 Words

â€Å"Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.† This statement was once said by Napoleon Bonaparte, a French military and political leader, indicating that China was a resting giant. During the past decades, China had lacked development on some aspects such as governance and it seemed that its movement were backwards. Corruptions, injustices, lack of efficiency and productivity; these are the objects and reasons that hindered China from growing and being united. There had been an abundant number of revolts, wars and uprisings that took place in China during its revolution years and the product of these can be classified as positive or negative outcome depending on one’s point of view. The Chinese revolutionaries made a gigantic impact on their history and they have proven that the power of the people is stronger than the people in power. This paper presents an overview of the circumstances after the revolution took place, the abolishment of the imperi al China, the rise of the Republic and the conflict between the Nationalist and Communist Party. The main discussion of the topics will be started by a brief discussion during the late Qing dynasty. The revolutionaries, led by Sun Yatsen and Huang xing revolted against the Qing due to the endless corruption and its efficiency as an empire. One of the uprising was the Wuchang Uprising, it took place on 10 October 1911 in Hubei province. The southern provinces subsequently declared their independence from the QingShow MoreRelatedChinese Revolution Of 1911 Essay1743 Words   |  7 Pagestwo revolutions (one in 1911 and one in 1949) and a civil war. From these events, a new China rose; governed not by its traditional Imperial system, but under the iron grip of communism. While the Chinese Communist Revolution is the most well known, in order to more clearly understand the series of events that took place and their causes, one must go deeper. The conditions that made the communist revolution possible were set up in the in the prior revolution and beyond. Leading to Revolution TheRead MoreCauses And Effects Of Revolutions1237 Words   |  5 PagesCauses and Effects of Revolutions Revolutions have occurred throughout history and continue to arise even in the present day. Many revolution happens because of the miscommunication between the government and its citizens. In the end, the outcome of revolutions are usually good but, sometimes it might not be what people want. In the following paragraphs, examples of the general causes and effects that creates a revolution will be discussed in order to illustrate how revolutions are mainly caused byRead MoreMongol Empire1679 Words   |  7 PagesConrad-Demarest Model of an empire is a basic guideline that all of the empires are said to have to follow. In the Mongols, case they followed this model in the reasons for its fall and in the fact that it had militaristic and political preconditions in its rise, but it did not follow the Conrad-Demarest model in its necessary agricultural preconditions. Like every empire before and after the Mongols, it eventually came to its ultimate demise; but it could have been saved if the Mongols stayed together asRead MoreWorld History Research Paper1505 Words   |  7 Pages4/26/11 Global 4 A New World For China China is in a state of foreign dominance. Europeans and Japanese are taking over its territory. The people have lost faith in their government and they want to start a new one. Revolutionary parties begin to rise and expand. They want their government to get rid of the Europeans and Japanese but they aren’t able to. They have to take matters into their own hands. The people are started to learn from the westerners and they want to modernize. They want theRead MoreWomen During The Imperial Period Essay1638 Words   |  7 PagesDespite having numerous powerful women leaders throughout Chinese history, China has been a traditionally patriarchal society. A society where women have long been charged with upholding society’s values in their roles as wives and mothers. However, radical changes in China’s political, economic and social structures have changed the expected values of women from the imperial period to the Communist revolution to the modern day. This paper aims to examine how these changes in the political, economicRead MorePost Korean War Relations And The Rise Of The People s Republic Of China922 Words   |  4 PagesPost Korean War Relations and the Rise of the People’s Republic of China The Korean War was able to develop the People’s Republic of China as a major up and coming nation. The mid 1950s saw the rise of Chinese agricultural collectivization, making them an influential power in the world. With the country improving every year that passes, Mao wanted to move in the direction of Socialism, but was worried that those in the CCP were restricting him on making that leap. In a statement in 1957, Mao claimedRead MoreMao Zedong : Chinese Cultural Revolution868 Words   |  4 Pages In 1966 Mao Zedong started the Chinese Cultural Revolution that would change the economic climate of China for generations to come. Mao’s goal for the Cultural Revolution was to create a clever organization of the masses that would in turn lead to increased productivity starting with the youth. Unfortunately this mobilization of the masses led to massive destruction as things spiraled out of control at a very fast rate due to Mao’s creation the Red Guard- an army of youths that would seek outRead MoreThe Construction Of Early Chinese Housing1700 Words   |  7 PagesEarly Chinese housing was much like that of the rest of the world: cave dwellings. Where caves were not available or the geology could not support such dwellings, nest dwellings were an alternative. Until resources and building techniques were improved, the caves provided superior protection from the elements during the winter with nest dwellings providing a better ventilated area during the hotter summer days. Permanent dwellings began to emerge with the introduction of earth pounding techniquesRead MoreMao Zedong Of The Peasant Movement1005 Words   |  5 Pagestyrants and gentry, and how they became powerful in rural areas. Finally, Mao gave his own definition of â€Å"It’s terrible!† and â€Å"It’s fine!†. Main Points: 1. The surge of China’s peasant movement was inevitable, and it would be extremely influential on Chinese revolutionary. There are â€Å"three alternatives† for revolutionary parties and comrade to deal with the trend. 2.The development of Hunan’s peasant movement could be divided into two periods. The first one was from January to September in 1926, whichRead More The Ming Dynasty Essay1273 Words   |  6 PagesThe Ming Dynasty The Chinese Empire was large and controlled most of Asia at one point in time. One of the dynasties that ruled the empire was the Ming Family. Ruling from 1368-1644, almost three hundred years, the Ming Dynasty impacted Chinese history very much. The purpose of this paper is to tell the history of the Ming Dynasty’s impact on the Chinese Empire, and to explain why the Chinese Empire was in fact an empire. The Ming Dynasty had created an empire. They had the government

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Book Paper Brave New World Free Essays

His character is an outsider, even more so than Bernard Marx. However, with clear understanding and analyses of Shakespeare arena works and themes, John is able to put his complicated feelings into words. The values he takes from it also gives him a solid foundation on which to base his criticisms of the World State. We will write a custom essay sample on Book Paper Brave New World or any similar topic only for you Order Now It also enables him to ask good questions and SST ND his ground during his deep discussion of God with Mustache Mood (Huxley 2 02). ; John rejects the society values. He acts boldly in calling the Deltas to rebellion n and in throwing out the soma (Huxley 204). Finally, he faces the powerful Mustache Mood deliberately and intelligently and sets out on his own to create life for himself, which ends in tragedy (Huxley 286). John is held back by his o destructive tendencies toward violence and selenologist. Although John despise conditioning, Huxley reveals that John has been conditioned, too. Because of t he reverie conditions of his life in Mammals, John associates sex with humiliation a ND pain and character with suffering, and this destructive view gains further pop John’s response to the poetry of Shakespeare. John’s conditioning limits his a ability to act freely, making him a deeply flawed potential hero. His death is the result t of his own imperfect understanding as well as the inhuman forces of the brave n ewe world. The scene that best exemplifies this character is likely the taking of his own life (Huxley 310). This was ultimately a breaking point. Because of who John is, an he â€Å"nature† of his own personality and beliefs and feelings, suicide is the cacti on he was finally reduced to taking. 3. Mustache Mood Only Mood’s extraordinary power keeps him safe from whispers of his dangerous knowledge and collection of unorthodox books. He is untouched able but not unreachable. With Hellholes and John, Mood discusses the unspoken assume options of the society they find so constricting, even confessing his own youthful experiment s In challenging authority (Huxley 169). Mood knows the nature Of the malcontent (he once was one of them) but he is committed to keeping the society stable. He uses his power for others’ happiness, he explains, not his own. During his lectures, Mood express sees his unique views on the themes of freedom, happiness, civilization, and heroism. His dry delivery contributes not only to the satiric tone of the novel, but to John and h is thought processes through their intellectual discussions. 4. The central conflict lies between John the Savage whom Bernard Marx brings from the savages’ Reservation and the New World. As a representative of humans as t hey once were before babies were â€Å"decanted,† John does not understand the lack of lit ratter and he arts; nor, does he understand that â€Å"everyone belongs to everyone else†the promiscuity of the New World. In general, the demutualization of the resided TTS of the New World who engage in gratuitous sex and who are repulsed by death and who escape any troubling feelings by using soma troubles him. This conflict of John the Savage with the New World represents the larger conflict of humanity vs.. Scientific techno struggle which man appears to be losing. John the Savage fights to retain his f redeem to feel emotions, to suffer, to age, to fail; in short, he struggles to remain human. For,he realizes that he will no longer be a real man if he becomes socially stable in the e New World because this stability depends upon soma, and regression, and his relinquishing of individual thought. 5. The year is OAF 632. (OAF means After Ford, or after the Model T). After doing the e math, We conclude that the setting Of this novel is 2540 A. D. In London, England and New Mexico, USA. 6. Theme: The government of Brave New World retains control by making its cit sense so happy and superficially fulfilled that they don’t care about their personal free doom. In Brave New World, ONE theme is that the consequences of state control are a I joss of dignity, morals, values, and emotions-?in short, a loss of humanity. . Symbol: The drug soma is a symbol of the use of instant gratification to control the Woo RL State’s populace. It is also a symbol of the powerful influence of science and techno gay on society. How to cite Book Paper Brave New World, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Tradegy in Greek Literature Essay Example For Students

Tradegy in Greek Literature Essay Tragedy in Greek LiteratureWhen one hears the word tragedy, they might think of someone dying in a car wreck, being killed in a plane crash, or even a massive tsunami that wipes out nations. This type of tragedy is the most common, but when referring to Greek literature, a tragedy is an outstanding piece of drama originating in Ancient Greece. Greek tragedy originated in honor of the god of wine, Dionysus, the patron god of tragedy. The performance took place in an open-air theater. The work tragedy is derived from the word tragedia or goat song. Aristotle said, Tragedy is largely based on lifes pity and splendor (Lucas).Greek tragedy would not be complete with out a tragic hero. Sophocles, the great writer of tragedy, wrote of noble and courageous heroes with specific tragic flaws that lead the hero to his downfall. In Aristotles analysis of Greek tragedy he states, Greek tragedy has an effect on the audience called catharsis, or purging of the emotions (Mcavoy). The two specific emotions that Sophocles provokes are pity and fear. Sophocles wrote Antigone with a specific character in mind for this noble hero. Creon fits the image of the hero with the tragic flaw. Creon is significant because he is the king. The hard decisions that Creon is faced with, is what makes him fit Aristotles image of a tragic hero. Creon faced decisions that lead to a no-win situation. He believes that Polyneices should not be buried because he was a traitor to his family. This decision affected Antigone greatly, and Creon knew that the decision would be hard on some people. Family and burials are very important in society, and Creon is asking Antigone to not consider them, to only consider that Polyneices was a traitor to his home city. Creon is then faced with the knowledge that Antigone went against his will and law, and buried her brother. Again, Creon is faced with a hard decision. He must choose to kill his own family member and uphold the law, or punish her less severely and show that he is not serious about death as a punishment to his law. Creon doesnt want to show weakness, even for family, but he doesnt want to kill Antigone, who is not only his niece and sister, but engaged to his son. The final decision that Creon must make is whether or not to revoke his death sentence on Antigone. Creon would be doing the right thing, but it would show that he was wrong in a previous decision and he does not want to admit that he was wrong. Unfortunately, Creon does not always make the correct decisions. When he sentences Antigone to death, he is wrong. This decision is one of Creons downfalls the he unwillingly possesses. He is excessively prideful and believes that his choice is the only correct one. Creon eventually realizes that his decision to sentence Antigone to death was wrong, but it is too late. This makes the audience feel pity for him. Creons character fits the image that Aristotle portrays for the tragic hero (McAvoy). The same characteristics that are portrayed by the Ancient Greek tragic hero, are living in the lives of many people we interact with in todays world. Some may say that the president possesses the traits of a tragic hero. He is in a powerful position and many hard decisions have to be made that have great consequences. The president of the United States is put in many difficult positions and most of his decisions affect the well being of the citizens abiding in our country. .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .postImageUrl , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:hover , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:visited , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:active { border:0!important; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:active , .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350 .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uda21436372ea050c7aed9e9b5d784350:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Minimal Art Essay The same principles of tragedy are the same in todays society, but the minute details are different. There are many other examples of tragic heroes living in todays world. Tragic heroes dont just die because they are good or bad, they die because of a flaw. In a lot of stories, tragic heroes die because of pride and stubbornness. In real life there are many people who die because of their flaws, so many people surrounding us may fit in the category of a tragic hero.

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Pepsi Coke Challenge Lab Report Essay Example

Pepsi Coke Challenge Lab Report Paper The second one was hat there is no difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your teeth, within the last thirty minutes, in their ability to distinguish between Pepsi and Coke. After doing the test and performing the necessary calculations on the chi-squared test, I found out that a greater amount of people who brushed were able to correctly identify the cola products. INTRODUCTION: If you were given a blind taste test and asked to distinguish between two products, how confident do you think you are in telling the products apart? In my Biology 141 class, we did the Pepsi/Coke Challenge and that challenge was simply about vying individuals a blind taste test, and asking them to distinguish between Pepsi and Coke. There are many reasons why reasons people perform blind test. These test can be sent, smell, feel or taste. In marketing, a blind taste test is used as a tool for companies to see how they can improve their product. It is also used as a tool for companies to develop their brand. For example, many restaurants select random people to taste their food, so that they would know which dish needs more improvement. We will write a custom essay sample on Pepsi Coke Challenge Lab Report specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Pepsi Coke Challenge Lab Report specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Pepsi Coke Challenge Lab Report specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The results of these tests are not always the same. This is because there are some people who may use those products very frequently, so they are more likely to tell the difference between the two products. On the other hand there are those people rarely use the product, so they will have a harder time distinguishing between the product and they are more likely to get it wrong. Then there are those people who are stuck between the two extremes who uses the product often enough, but they are unsure. However, I know that brushing your teeth and drinking or eating right after causes whatever you are eating or drinking to taste funny. Knowing this, the question I ask is, Is there a difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your teeth, within the last thirty minutes, affect their ability to distinguish between the Cola products Pepsi and Coke? HI : There is a difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your teeth, within the last thirty minutes, in their ability to distinguish between Pepsi and Coke. H2O: There is no difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your teeth, within the last thirty minutes, in their ability to distinguish between Pepsi and Coke. If there is a difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your and Coke, then there will be a difference in the percent that each group correctly identifies the colas in a blind test. METHODS: In order to get accurate results in our Pepsi/Coke Challenge blind test, the Biology 141 class disguised each can by wrapping aluminum foil over the entire can. We then decided to only ask fifteen students who attend the University of the Virgin Island on SST. Thomas campus to participate in our challenge. Before leaving the lab, the class was split into two groups, Comparison or Single Cola (which was Pepsi). The Comparison group gathered thirty cups, so that the participants wouldnt reuse the same cup and alter the taste by mixing the two products, fifteen questionnaire forms, an ice bag, ice three Coke cans and three Pepsi cans. The Single Cola group gathered fifteen cups, fifteen questionnaire forms, an ice bag, ice, and three Pepsi cans. We placed the cans that werent being used as yet into the ice bag until the one can being used was empty. Before giving the students the products to taste, we had them fill out the questionnaire that had questions such as, Did you take this test today? Have you eaten anything recently? Have you brushed your teeth within the last thirsty minutes? Which cola product do you like best out of Pepsi and Coke? How confident are you in distinguishing between the two cola products? If any student reported that they had taken the report earlier that day, we eliminated them and selected someone else who hadnt to fill their position. After asking the fifteen students, we then went back to the lab to record our finding on a spreadsheet. RESULTS: For our Pepsi/Coke Challenge, there were two hundred and thirty six people who did the test. Of he two hundred and thirty six people, fifty six people who brushed and seventy people who didnt brush identified the Cola products correctly. Everyone in the people who brushed section correctly identified the product, but one hundred and ten people in the didnt brush section got the test wrong. This represents 100% of the people who did brush and 38% of the people who didnt brush. After performing a Chi Square test, we saw that there was a greater percentage of people who couldve identified the product were the ones who brushed (SD 64. 1, chi-square = 3. 841, 1 degree of freedom). Figurer: A greater percent of people who brushed correctly identified the products. DISCUSSION: A greater amount of people who brushed were able to correctly identify the cola products. From the values given from the chi- squared test, this implicates that there is a difference between brushing your teeth and not brushing your teeth, within the last thirty minutes, in their ability to distinguish between Pepsi and Coke. Knowing this, I know that my second hypothesis, There is no difference , is incorrect and can be eliminated. The differences found in this test may be that the people who brushed may eave a cleaner mouth so they were more capable to tell which product was Pepsi and which one was coke. Most participants were able to tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi because they probably drink these cola products frequently. There were other people who knew the difference because they only drank Coke since they did not like the taste of Pepsi and vice-versa. Other people were able to tell the difference just by smelling it because they said that Pepsi had a sweeter scent. Since we only tested VI students, the results may vary if we were to do this challenge on another set of individuals.

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Free Essays on Gita ( Hinduism)

The Historical Context of The Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to Indian Religious Doctrines Soumen De The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the most famous, and definitely the most widely-read, ethical text of ancient India. As an episode in India's great epic, the Mahabharata, The Bhagavad Gita now ranks as one of the three principal texts that define and capture the essence of Hinduism; the other two being the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. Though this work contains much theology, its kernel is ethical and its teaching is set in the context of an ethical problem. The teaching of The Bhagavad Gita is summed up in the maxim "your business is with the deed and not with the result." When Arjuna, the third son of king Pandu (dynasty name: Pandavas) is about to begin a war that became inevitable once his one hundred cousins belonging to the Kaurava dynasty refused to return even a few villages to the five Pandava brothers after their return from enforced exile, he looks at his cousins, uncles and friends standing on the other side of the battlefield and wonders whether he is morally pre! pared and justified in killing his blood relations even though it was he, along with his brother Bhima, who had courageously prepared for this war. Arjuna is certain that he would be victorious in this war since he has Lord Krishna (one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu) on his side. He is able to visualize the scene at the end of the battle; the dead bodies of his cousins lying on the battlefield, motionless and incapable of vengeance. It is then that he looses his nerve to fight. The necessity for the arose because the one hundred cousins of the Panadavas refused to return the kingdom to the Pandavas as they had originally promised. The eldest of the Pandav brothers, Yudhisthir, had lost his entire kingdom fourteen years ago to the crafty Kaurava brothers in a game of dice, and was ordered by his cousins to go on a fourteen-year exile. The co... Free Essays on Gita ( Hinduism) Free Essays on Gita ( Hinduism) The Historical Context of The Bhagavad Gita and Its Relation to Indian Religious Doctrines Soumen De The Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the most famous, and definitely the most widely-read, ethical text of ancient India. As an episode in India's great epic, the Mahabharata, The Bhagavad Gita now ranks as one of the three principal texts that define and capture the essence of Hinduism; the other two being the Upanishads and the Brahma Sutras. Though this work contains much theology, its kernel is ethical and its teaching is set in the context of an ethical problem. The teaching of The Bhagavad Gita is summed up in the maxim "your business is with the deed and not with the result." When Arjuna, the third son of king Pandu (dynasty name: Pandavas) is about to begin a war that became inevitable once his one hundred cousins belonging to the Kaurava dynasty refused to return even a few villages to the five Pandava brothers after their return from enforced exile, he looks at his cousins, uncles and friends standing on the other side of the battlefield and wonders whether he is morally pre! pared and justified in killing his blood relations even though it was he, along with his brother Bhima, who had courageously prepared for this war. Arjuna is certain that he would be victorious in this war since he has Lord Krishna (one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu) on his side. He is able to visualize the scene at the end of the battle; the dead bodies of his cousins lying on the battlefield, motionless and incapable of vengeance. It is then that he looses his nerve to fight. The necessity for the arose because the one hundred cousins of the Panadavas refused to return the kingdom to the Pandavas as they had originally promised. The eldest of the Pandav brothers, Yudhisthir, had lost his entire kingdom fourteen years ago to the crafty Kaurava brothers in a game of dice, and was ordered by his cousins to go on a fourteen-year exile. The co...

Friday, November 22, 2019

Ancient Roman Government Notes

The â€Å"common-people† assembly which helped give the citizens more political power Empire- A dominating nation with extensive territories and a powerful ruler Laws of the 12 Tables- Guidelines for citizen’s behavior; a list of Roman customs about property and punishment Mercenary- A soldier who is hired for service in a foreign country Patrician- Member of Rome’s richest and most important families who served on the Senate for life Plebeian- The common person or lower-class citizen Roman Senate- One of the two houses of the early Roman republic Republic- A country run by the elected representatives of its people Tribune- A leader within the Concillum Plebus In 500 B. C the Roman government was forming into a republic; in which the people have the freedom to vote for their leaders. There were two parts, or two houses, to the Roman Republic: the Citizen Assembly and the Senate. The elected officials headed the two councils and they served one-year terms. The republic was established in 509B.C and lasted 500 years. Differences between the Greek and Roman governments: In Greece all men were allowed to vote In Rome only men with money/property could vote The Senate was the most powerful part of the government; all senators were patricians. To obtain political rights, the common people (Plebeians) formed their own assembly, the Concillum Plebus and named their leaders tribunes. Establishing peace and order gave Rome stability: Rome’s first code of law was established in 450B. C. On ten tablets, ten legal experts wrote down a list of Roman customs about property and punishment. However, due to plebeian pressure, two more tablets were added to satisfy them. The final code was called the Laws of the Twelve Tables. By the end of the third century Roman law covered issues dealing with foreigners and eventually covered magisterial law to strengthen and correct existing law. The Roman Empire took its first steps of dominance in 27B. C when the law’s development was taken over by the emperors, who added and revised freely. As the law got more complex, the government had to literally train jurists who could understand and interpret the laws. The stability of the law, the military, and financial standing of Rom kept it powerful. Rome successfully battled the Carthaginians, the Celtics(British), the Etruscans, and the Samnites. The Roman Empire was established around 27B. C. The empire spanned three continents. The empire was divided into states that were ruled by governors who collected taxes and sent money back to Rome.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Would children be better served by a program devised by Texas for Essay

Would children be better served by a program devised by Texas for TEXAS - Essay Example The education system hence has roots in the federal controlled program. According to some activist and politicians, some people prefer the education system to be run at the state level rather than at the government level (James & Kevin 17). Education should be managed and controlled at the state local level since different communities have corresponding different needs. Employing a similar curriculum in all may sideline some community’s important aspects of their culture. For example, if examinations show that a certain school is poor in mathematics, it is quite easy to adjust to change this deficit. The parents and the community of Texas at large are well conversant with the educational needs in the society than someone else in California. If the students of Texas are more interested in a certain career than the other, then this passion should be exploited for mass output of human brains. Education controlled at the state level would allocate schools the flexibility they requ ire particularly in managerial and teaching practice. Different populations of our children face different obstacles in learning. Additionally, these children learn in a different manner due to different upbringing, peer influence and cultural activity. We have to recognize this and react by offering schools much freedom to change with circumstances (James & Kevin 77). This will minimize wasteful allocations made from the current federal government which has little use locally. The flexibility will allow schools to and states to plan and implement their timetables and annual calendars appropriately in favor of their other activities and climatic conditions. For instance, when it is too hot in Texas, it may be apparently too cold I another state making education for children not favorable. Hence, having education managed at the local stage will allow the state of Texas to implement a new curriculum and education annual c calendar specifically suiting economic, climatic and political activities in Texas. In accordance to an article in New York Times by Kate Taylor on 6th March, 2012, entailing school funds allocation being reduced by the government to schools, if states had taken excellent control of school, such a thing could not be affect them. According to the interview by John on education, this leadership structure would promote more co-operations between school boards and city/municipality/county governments in district control. Funding resolutions would be completed by a working group consisting of board members in Texas and potentially extra mayor-selected members while curriculum decisions and instruction would be exclusively dealt with by the school board. This has the benefit of allowing school boards on focusing on what they do or can do best as far as education is concerned and allows voters to command the school board in terms of performance regular observation (Robert 78). School superintendents would proceed as the unifying oblige between the sta te and the federal government and a countenance to the public. It will be easier for parents to reach the local administration, monitor their children educational systems and contribute to any reforms and procedures required. For instance, if parents are complaining about a certain issue concerning education, they will not have to travel all the way to the federal government educational headquarters to be addressed on their demands. They will instead visit the educational board managing education here in Texas and have their problem solved by the board. This will enhance a bit of democracy and time consciousness in Texas community (Sheppard 88). This is because the educational system will run on its own as a

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Representations of Nature or the Nonhuman Animal World in Poetry Essay

Representations of Nature or the Nonhuman Animal World in Poetry - Essay Example As the report declares animal characters and attributes have formed the basis of metaphors for a long time. In other poems, the animal characters mentioned are actual animals because they do not have any deeper meaning than what appears superficially. Some pets highlight different natural conditions to add sense to their themes. Others will choose to present a detailed description of the landscape serving as the setting of the poem. All these serve to augment the ideas of the poet and enable the reader to establish a full connection with the theme of the poem. This discussion stresses that the title of the poem is a metaphorical expression that refers to an animal character, the mouse. The first line of the first stanza highlights that the mouse is caged and is extending its pleas to be accorded freedom. The ‘mouse’ represents the woman in society. Over time, society shunned the cognitive expressions of women and deemed them as lesser individuals with defective cranial capacities. The poet develops an analogy between the infringement done to a mouse through caging and women in society. In the last stanza, the poet mentions destruction as a factor that both mice and men may share. It becomes evident that the use of the ‘mouse’s is both a metaphor and an analogue. Just as the mouse on a cage would virtually be making pleas of freedom, women in the society have often found themselves in a similar situation. In the third stanza, the poet gives the mouse an adjective ‘free-born mouse’ suggesting that durin g birth it was a free creature. Similarly, all human were created free and with certain common gifts. The poet urges society’s oppressive units to refrain from detaining other free creatures. In the ninth stanza of the poem, the poet introduces a different member of the animal kingdom when he says ‘beware, lest in the worm you crush’. The aspect of the worm in this sentence becomes clear after the examination of the second line in the stanza ‘a brother’s soul you may find’. The poet uses the expression of the crushing a worm to represent the despised individuals in society. This expression warns society that it should not consider crushing certain individuals simply because they consider them of minimal value in society (Barbauld 1). William Wordsworth’s â€Å"Tintern Abbey† From the title of the poem, it becomes evident that the poet adored nature and exhibited a deep sense of appreciation for the beautiful scenarios described i n the poem. The poem is a monologue of a narrator expressing the effect of his understanding of nature. For a period of five years, the narrator had not experienced the sight and sound of ‘waters†¦.from Mountain springs. Moreover, he had not seen the ‘steep and lofty cliffs’ (Wordsworth 1). The author goes further to describe his thoughts concerning the ‘the landscape with the quiet of the sky’ and mentions trees such as sycamore, and orchard-tufts. The narrator gives full details of the scenario surrounding him highlighting the numerous ‘hedge-rows’, ‘sportive wood’, ‘houseless woods’ and ‘hermit’s curve’. All these phrases refer to nature and serve to define the landscape as the narrator sees it. The second stanza begins with a focus on the feelings that the memories of nature evoke in the narrator. He describes the sensations, emotions, and

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Individual Assignment and Chart Essay Example for Free

Individual Assignment and Chart Essay Curriculum history is important to educators just as the general history of a country is important to historians and politicians. Much can be learned from the successes and the failures of the past. Traditional education in Japan follows societal norms in stressing respect for order and for group goals. The schools stress self-evaluation, hard work, and organization. Schools actively teach morals and values in order to develop individuals of character that will function in society as educated and moral. Japanese formal education in began with adherence to Buddhism and Confucianism. Later, studies in sciences were added, and Japan slowly began to adopt more western styles of education. Briefly, the schools were used as military and nationalistic training grounds during WWI and WWII (Hood, 2001). Over the last fifty years, schools in Japan have been evolving further. After WWII, a call to return to leadership and societal welfare in education was initiated. Schools were strictly centered around community goals and common curriculums. In the 1980s, unfortunately, an increase in youth violence began to worry Japanese citizens about their future. Focus turned to the morals based education of centuries before. In the late 1990s, the cold war era was over. The Ministry felt as if they could relax the six day long weeks and long days (Japan, 2006). Part of this change in philosophy could be due to changes in competition for universities. Previously, competition for admission into Japanese universities was cutthroat, but now, with a reduction in the number of children being born, schools are competing for students (Hood, 2001). In a way, this has given students more power to seek the types of education they most need. In addition, Japan is also loosening its governmental hold on curriculum and allowing from more flexibility in curriculum through site-based decision-making (Komatsu, 2002). Schools are now able to select textbooks from a group of sources. Recently, controversy has arisen as to which history textbooks to choose. In 1997, a group was formed to create and market a revision of Japanese history for incorporation into school history textbooks. This group was primarily interested in revising the presentation of Japan’s execution of militaristic procedures. Unfortunately, even with its widespread promotion efforts, the revised textbook failed to gain a foothold in Japanese schools. Only a few private schools in one small area of Tokyo was willing to give the book a chance (Masalksi, 2002). Not all things in Japan’s educational system are open to change. Before, Japanese teachers had very little autonomy in determining what they would teach even though they held positions of high respect in the community. Now, individual schools and teachers will be able to decide on curriculum issues that best meet the needs of their students. â€Å"The general principle of curriculum organisation is changing from the idea of providing a common education for all children to one of providing different education for various children† (Komatsu, 2002, p. 53). The 2002 Rainbow Plan mirrors the change in philosophy towards more democratic ideals. The government is continuing to relinquish more control to the schools’ local administrations (Japan, 2006). In the future, Japanese education will continue to follow Western trends. One such trend will be in technology and information. While Japan is a world leader in electronics technology, its individual and student use of the internet lags behind. This is primarily because 80% of the internet content is in English. As a result, Japanese students need to be learning both spoken and written English and how to use the internet at younger ages (McCarty, 2000). Clearly, Japanese education will begin to include more intensive English and computer technology classes in early education for its students. Another trend in Japanese education must certainly be increased funding for higher education. Even though the number of teenagers in Japan is lower, over 40 % of them do attend universities. However, government funding for universities is low. Dr. Akito Arima, former Minister of Education, notes that while the United States spends about one percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on educational funding, Japan spends less than half of one percent in the same manner. However, Japan is second only to the United States in the number of students who attend college. The funding for private universities is even lower, even though 75% of college students attend private universities. â€Å"In this respect, one should note the contradiction between the high proportion of people who move on to higher education, and the low public expenditure ratio. This demonstrates that university education in Japan is seriously under-funded† (Arima, 2002). If college education remains under-funded, many secondary students may turn away from it, thinking that it has less to offer than before. If birth rates should rise in the future, this burden will become more pronounced. Funding will definitely have to be initiated in order to keep young students setting college educations as their goal. Ironically, the US and Japan seem to be crossing each other in the middle of the curriculum spectrum. While Japan is recognizing the individuality of each student and allowing him to seek his own educational goals with flexible programs of study, the US is getting much more rigid with the enactment of NCLB and strict state testing plans and pacing guides. One might wonder if the US will notice a similar increase in youth discontent as a result.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Searching Game :: Internet Computers Essays

The Searching Game In today's ever increasingly technological world, the Internet is playing a crucial role. This network has the capability to store and make public a wealth of information. Organizing this information and making it easily accessible is a daunting job, but there are many Internet search engines out there that are trying to do just that. A few of the more popular search engines includeYahoo, AltaVista, and Lycos. In comparing these, the most important criteria would be the effectiveness in obtaining information. However, these web sites also have many added perks to keep users on the page. One thing can be certain, web search engines are a much needed service. The First Impression The first time one surfs on to a site's homepage is a critical stage. The page must convey to the user that it is useful, yet not too complicated. These web sites have different approaches to the first impression. One of the first things that jumps out to a user is the page layout. This would include colors, graphics, and the general layout of the links on the page. Yahoo's homepage does not contain a lot of color. It consists of a simple blue background with the traditional blue links. There are a few graphics and the page is sectioned off into different areas. This may be so as not to distract the user and give the impression that Yahoo is a simple, yet effective search engine. Lycos' homepage is also on a simple white background. This page has a few more colors and graphics present to draw the users attention to certain things. One thing that is noticeable is that the search box is outlined with a bold blue. This box is the most important part to a search engine, so it seems only fitting that it be highlighted. AltaVista's web page used a bold color combination for the homepage. The search box is also highlighted here, but this time with a bright yellow. The header is a deep blue which compliments the yellow search box as well as the yellow side bar. Although aesthetics is important for all web sites, they must also be functional. The most important part of a search engine is the search box. For these three search engines, this is always located at the top of the page, for easy access. Some sites bring more attention to this than the others, but it is usually the focal point of the page.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Important for an organization

Why Is It Important for an organization to undergo this type of transformation? It Is essential for an organization to modernize and change In to the way It does business when business needs change and when the political and social aspects change. Transformation in an organization covers a vast variety of needs and activity, this is generally aimed at improving performance CE and productivity for an organization to survive. This can be achieved in many ways, from growth , innovation, skills development, as well as through downsizing, layoffs and replacement as well as haft in assets resources or market shares.In Moses cases organizations have little chance but to change. As the global world move faster mans faster mans shift unpredictably organizational transformations Is needed and required. Conventional thinking suggest that when there Is a right business structures In place It will provide suffuse cent amount of innovation, and agility for an organization to succeed and sustain. I n most cases the business decisions that were once clear and knowing are becoming more complicated and ambiguous. This leads to skilled individuals with very good track record to fail in c elaboration.They are unable to work together to understand challenges, and form a game plan to resolve them. They continue to be falling back to traditional foundries and turf wars. When collaboration with others and coordinate across supply chain remains elusive. Innovation is stalled mans customer focus is uncoordinated and uneven implementation. Change Is the only constant In the world today. To have a successfully translator or change In an organization It to first engage the people who will help make the change append.Its not change that causes failure but the translation process. Some organizational change is small like a department but others are large that in voles an entire organization. Regardless of the change there will always be resistant to change even if the old way is outside and u nproductive. Transition process has 3 places Letting go of the old Natural zone Embracing new normal Take prattle approach toward the upcoming change. This Is best accomplish by forming a change management ream to help prepare he organization.Inshore, when n organization Is stuck when frustrated executive work hard and long with Limited success, staff at all level are overwhelmed, guarded and cynical that is when employ to successfully manager through this transition? Define roles – managers who initiates the dead of change and points out the need, the managers who coordinates the transition, the managers who rallies the company to get behind the change and the managers responsible for seeing the chase through Identify need-?an organizations change can only happen when the organization feels the change is added.Change in leadership/management/employees bring in new to re-energize Get out side help via consultations and cooperate resources – a team to implement change f rom the old to new The ability to integrate systems collaborate await prairies and coordinate across the supply chain remain elusive. Innovation is hampered and stilled. Customer focused strategies ay uncoordinated and implementation is uneven. Organizational transformation is a process that no existing organization will miss in the organizational life cycle.Digitization that sis not go through transformation have probably ceased to exist because organizations that do not grandson to match with the external environment will onto survive the wave of change forgiven by external environment. Organizational transformation should be viewed as a holistic approach to a radical change which covers the entire context of an organization from ecological to humanist aspect. Every organization has some ability to stretch to adapt to changer, however at times organization are stretch t their limits and will lose the elasticity to spoon to changer.This is the time where transformation needs to tak e place to redesign the organization fro new challenges. Leadership as the criteria of cusses in organization, more so in the time of organization transition. The breaking of organizations culture, the values vision mans mission changes, the leadership changes , organization restructuring or even the organization members' internal value reformation will push an organization beyond its limits and trigger the transformation process. The forces that are external to the organization or beyond he control of the organization or beyond the control of the organization.Some are technologicaladvancement, economy condition, political and social reformation, changes in legal requirement and industry revolution. The factories influencing the success of organization transformation goes hand -in -hand with the internal forces; they are organization strategies, structure, leadership, values, culture and organizations monomers spirit. The success in manipulating these factors stated will help the or ganization successfully transform into a more agile and powerful entity hat is able to withstand both external and internal forces.Every organization operate as a system, either an efficient one or one that is in efficient. Organization transformation was needed because the system in an organization is falling apart, due to its inefficiency. When the system is broken, members of the organization will not be able or see themselves as part of the organization. There is no clarity of their positions and functions in the system. New leaders of the organization need to reestablish the system. The systems thinking before, during and after the

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Black House Chapter Seventeen

17 GEORGE POTTER is sitting on the bunk in the third holding cell down a short corridor that smells of piss and disinfectant. He's looking out the window at the parking lot, which has lately been the scene of so much excitement and which is still full of milling people. He doesn't turn at the sound of Jack's approaching footfalls. As he walks, Jack passes two signs. ONE CALL MEANS ONE CALL, reads the first. A.A. MEETINGS MON. AT 7 P.M., N.A. MEETINGS THURS. AT 8 P.M., reads the second. There's a dusty drinking fountain and an ancient fire extinguisher, which some wit has labeled LAUGHING GAS. Jack reaches the bars of the cell and raps on one with his house key. Potter at last turns away from the window. Jack, still in that state of hyperawareness that he now recognizes as a kind of Territorial residue, knows the essential truth of the man at a single look. It's in the sunken eyes and the dark hollows beneath them; it's in the sallow cheeks and the slightly hollowed temples with their delicate nestles of veins; it's in the too sharp prominence of the nose. â€Å"Hello, Mr. Potter,† he says. â€Å"I want to talk to you, and we have to make it fast.† â€Å"They wanted me,† Potter remarks. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"Maybe you should have let 'em take me. Another three-four months, I'm out of the race anyway.† In his breast pocket is the Mag-card Dale has given him, and Jack uses it to unlock the cell door. There's a harsh buzzing as it trundles back on its short track. When Jack removes the key, the buzzing stops. Downstairs in the ready room, an amber light marked H.C. 3 will now be glowing. Jack comes in and sits down on the end of the bunk. He has put his key ring away, not wanting the metallic smell to corrupt the scent of lilies. â€Å"Where have you got it?† Without asking how Jack knows, Potter raises one large gnarled hand a carpenter's hand and touches his midsection. Then he lets it drop. â€Å"Started in the gut. That was five years ago. I took the pills and the shots like a good boy. La Riviere, that was. That stuff . . . man, I was throwing up ever'where. Corners and just about ever'where. Once I threw up in my own bed and didn't even know it. Woke up the next morning with puke drying on my chest. You know anything about that, son?† â€Å"My mother had cancer,† Jack says quietly. â€Å"When I was twelve. Then it went away.† â€Å"She get five years?† â€Å"More.† â€Å"Lucky,† Potter says. â€Å"Got her in the end, though, didn't it?† Jack nods. Potter nods back. They're not quite friends yet, but it's edging that way. It's how Jack works, always has been. â€Å"That shit gets in and waits,† Potter tells him. â€Å"My theory is that it never goes away, not really. Anyway, shots is done. Pills is done, too. Except for the ones that kill the pain. I come here for the finish.† â€Å"Why?† This is not a thing Jack needs to know, and time is short, but it's his technique, and he won't abandon what works just because there are a couple of State Police jarheads downstairs waiting to take his boy. Dale will have to hold them off, that's all. â€Å"Seems like a nice enough little town. And I like the river. I go down ever' day. Like to watch the sun on the water. Sometimes I think of all the jobs I did Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and then sometimes I don't think about much of anything. Sometimes I just sit there on the bank and feel at peace.† â€Å"What was your line of work, Mr. Potter?† â€Å"Started out as a carpenter, just like Jesus. Progressed to builder, then got too big for my britches. When that happens to a builder, he usually goes around calling himself a contractor. I made three-four million dollars, had a Cadillac, had a young woman who hauled my ashes Friday nights. Nice young woman. No trouble. Then I lost it all. Only thing I missed was the Cadillac. It had a smoother ride than the woman. Then I got my bad news and come here.† He looks at Jack. â€Å"You know what I think sometimes? That French Landing's close to a better world, one where things look and smell better. Maybe where people act better. I don't go around with folks I'm not a friendly type person but that doesn't mean I don't feel things. I got this idea in my head that it's not too late to be decent. You think I'm crazy?† â€Å"No,† Jack tells him. â€Å"That's pretty much why I came here myself. I'll tell you how it is for me. You know how if you put a thin blanket over a window, the sun will still shine through?† George Potter looks at him with eyes that are suddenly alight. Jack doesn't even have to finish the thought, which is good. He has found the wavelength he almost always does, it's his gift and now it's time to get down to business. â€Å"You do know,† Potter says simply. Jack nods. â€Å"You know why you're here?† â€Å"They think I killed that lady's kid.† Potter nods toward the window. â€Å"The one out there that was holdin' up the noose. I didn't. That's what I know.† â€Å"Okay, that's a start. Listen to me, now.† Very quickly, Jack lays out the chain of events that has brought Potter to this cell. Potter's brow furrows as Jack speaks, and his big hands knot together. â€Å"Railsback!† he says at last. â€Å"I shoulda known! Nosy goddamn old man, always askin' questions, always askin' do you want to play cards or maybe shoot some pool or, I dunno, play Parcheesi, for Christ's sake! All so he can ask questions. Goddamn nosey parker . . .† There's more in this vein, and Jack lets him go on with it for a while. Cancer or no cancer, this old fellow has been ripped out of his ordinary routine without much mercy, and needs to vent a little. If Jack cuts him off to save time, he'll lose it instead. It's hard to be patient (how is Dale holding those two assholes off ? Jack doesn't even want to know), but patience is necessary. When Potter begins to widen the scope of his attack, however (Morty Fine comes in for some abuse, as does Andy Railsback's pal Irv Throneberry), Jack steps in. â€Å"The point is, Mr. Potter, that Railsback followed someone to your room. No, that's the wrong way to put it. Railsback was led to your room.† Potter doesn't reply, just sits looking at his hands. But he nods. He's old, he's sick and getting sicker, but he's four counties over from stupid. â€Å"The person who led Railsback was almost certainly the same person who left the Polaroids of the dead children in your closet.† â€Å"Yar, makes sense. And if he had pictures of the dead kiddies, he was prob'ly the one who made 'em dead.† â€Å"Right. So I have to wonder â€Å" Potter waves an impatient hand. â€Å"I guess I know what you got to wonder. Who there is around these parts who'd like to see Chicago Potsie strung up by the neck. Or the balls.† â€Å"Exactly.† â€Å"Don't want to put a stick in your spokes, sonny, but I can't think of nobody.† â€Å"No?† Jack raises his eyebrows. â€Å"Never did business around here, built a house or laid out a golf course?† Potter raises his head and gives Jack a grin. â€Å"Course I did. How else d'you think I knew how nice it is? Specially in the summer? You know the part of town they call Libertyville? Got all those ‘ye olde' streets like Camelot and Avalon?† Jack nods. â€Å"I built half of those. Back in the seventies. There was a fella around then . . . some moke I knew from Chicago . . . or thought I knew Was he in the business?† This last seems to be Potter addressing Potter. In any case, he gives his head a brief shake. â€Å"Can't remember. Doesn't matter, anyway. How could it? Fella was gettin' on then, must be dead now. It was a long time ago.† But Jack, who interrogates as Jerry Lee Lewis once played the piano, thinks it does matter. In the usually dim section of his mind where intuition keeps its headquarters, lights are coming on. Not a lot yet, but maybe more than just a few. â€Å"A moke,† he says, as if he has never heard the word before. â€Å"What's that?† Potter gives him a brief, irritated look. â€Å"A citizen who . . . well, not exactly a citizen. Someone who knows people who are connected. Or maybe sometimes connected people call him. Maybe they do each other favors. A moke. It's not the world's best thing to be.† No, Jack thinks, but moking can get you a Cadillac with that nice smooth ride. â€Å"Were you ever a moke, George?† Got to get a little more intimate now. This is not a question Jack can address to a Mr. Potter. â€Å"Maybe,† Potter says after a grudging, considering pause. â€Å"Maybe I was. Back in Chi. In Chi, you had to scratch backs and wet beaks if you wanted to land the big contracts. I don't know how it is there now, but in those days, a clean contractor was a poor contractor. You know?† Jack nods. â€Å"The biggest deal I ever made was a housing development on the South Side of Chicago. Just like in that song about bad, bad Leroy Brown.† Potter chuckles rustily. For a moment he's not thinking about cancer, or false accusations, or almost being lynched. He's living in the past, and it may be a little sleazy, but it's better than the present the bunk chained to the wall, the steel toilet, the cancer spreading through his guts. â€Å"Man, that one was big, I kid you not. Lots of federal money, but the local hotshots decided where the dough went home at night. And me and this other guy, this moke, we were in a horse race â€Å" He breaks off, looking at Jack with wide eyes. â€Å"Holy shit, what are you, magic?† â€Å"I don't know what you mean. I'm just sitting here.† â€Å"That guy was the guy who showed up here. That was the moke!† â€Å"I'm not following you, George.† But Jack thinks he is. And although he's starting to get excited, he shows it no more than he did when the bartender told him about Kinderling's little nose-pinching trick. â€Å"It's probably nothing,† Potter says. â€Å"Guy had plenty of reasons not to like yours truly, but he's got to be dead. He'd be in his eighties, for Christ's sake.† â€Å"Tell me about him,† Jack says. â€Å"He was a moke,† Potter repeats, as if this explains everything. â€Å"And he must have got in trouble in Chicago or somewhere around Chicago, because when he showed up here, I'm pretty sure he was using a different name.† â€Å"When did you swink him on the housing-development deal, George?† Potter smiles, and something about the size of his teeth and the way they seem to jut from the gums allows Jack to see how fast death is rushing toward this man. He feels a little shiver of gooseflesh, but he returns the smile easily enough. This is also how he works. â€Å"If we're gonna talk about mokin' and swinkin', you better call me Potsie.† â€Å"All right, Potsie. When did you swink this guy in Chicago?† â€Å"That much is easy,† Potter says. â€Å"It was summer when the bids went out, but the hotshots were still bellerin' about how the hippies came to town the year before and gave the cops and the mayor a black eye. So I'd say 1969. What happened was I'd done the building commissioner a big favor, and I'd done another for this old woman who swung weight on this special Equal Opportunity Housing Commission that Mayor Daley had set up. So when the bids went out, mine got special consideration. This other guy the moke I have no doubt that his bid was lower. He knew his way around, and he musta had his own contacts, but that time I had the inside track.† He smiles. The gruesome teeth appear, then disappear again. â€Å"Moke's bid? Somehow gets lost. Comes in too late. Bad luck. Chicago Potsie nails the job. Then, four years later, the moke shows up here, bidding on the Libertyville job. Only that time when I beat him, everything was square-john. I pulled no strings. I met him in the bar at the Nelson Hotel the night after the contract was awarded, just by accident. And he says, ‘You were that guy in Chicago.' And I say, ‘There are lots of guys in Chicago.' Now this guy was a moke, but he was a scary moke. He had a kind of smell about him. I can't put it any better than that. Anyway, I was big and strong in those days, I could be mean, but I was pretty meek that time. Even after a drink or two, I was pretty meek. † ‘Yeah,' he says, ‘there are a lot of guys in Chicago, but only one who diddled me. I still got a sore ass from that, Potsie, and I got a long memory.' â€Å"Any other time, any other guy, I might have asked how good his memory stayed after he got his head knocked on the floor, but with him I just took it. No more words passed between us. He walked out. I don't think I ever saw him again, but I heard about him from time to time while I was working the Libertyville job. Mostly from my subs. Seems like the moke was building a house of his own in French Landing. For his retirement. Not that he was old enough to retire back then, but he was gettin' up a little. Fifties, I'd say . . . and that was in '72.† â€Å"He was building a house here in town,† Jack muses. â€Å"Yeah. It had a name, too, like one of those English houses. The Birches, Lake House, Beardsley Manor, you know.† â€Å"What name?† â€Å"Shit, I can't even remember the moke's name, how do you expect me to remember the name of the house he built? But one thing I do remember: none of the subs liked it. It got a reputation.† â€Å"Bad?† â€Å"The worst. There were accidents. One guy cut his hand clean off on a band saw, almost bled to death before they got him to the hospital. Another guy fell off a scaffolding and ended up paralyzed . . . what they call a quad. You know what that is?† Jack nods. â€Å"Only house I ever heard of people were calling haunted even before it was all the way built. I got the idea that he had to finish most of it himself.† â€Å"What else did they say about this place?† Jack puts the question idly, as if he doesn't care much one way or the other, but he cares a lot. He has never heard of a so-called haunted house in French Landing. He knows he hasn't been here anywhere near long enough to hear all the tales and legends, but something like this . . . you'd think something like this would pop out of the deck early. â€Å"Ah, man, I can't remember. Just that . . .† He pauses, eyes distant. Outside the building, the crowd is finally beginning to disperse. Jack wonders how Dale is doing with Brown and Black. The time seems to be racing, and he hasn't gotten what he needs from Potter. What he's gotten so far is just enough to tantalize. â€Å"One guy told me the sun never shone there even when it shone,† Potter says abruptly. â€Å"He said the house was a little way off the road, in a clearing, and it should have gotten sun at least five hours a day in the summer, but it somehow . . . didn't. He said the guys lost their shadows, just like in a fairy tale, and they didn't like it. And sometimes they heard a dog growling in the woods. Sounded like a big one. A mean one. But they never saw it. You know how it is, I imagine. Stories get started, and then they just kinda feed on themselves . . .† Potter's shoulders suddenly slump. His head lowers. â€Å"Man, that's all I can remember.† â€Å"What was the moke's name when he was in Chicago?† â€Å"Can't remember.† Jack suddenly thrusts his open hands under Potter's nose. With his head lowered, Potter doesn't see them until they're right there, and he recoils, gasping. He gets a noseful of the dying smell on Jack's skin. â€Å"What . . . ? Jesus, what's that?† Potter seizes one of Jack's hands and sniffs again, greedily. â€Å"Boy, that's nice. What is it?† â€Å"Lilies,† Jack says, but it's not what he thinks. What he thinks is The memory of my mother. â€Å"What was the moke's name when he was in Chicago?† â€Å"It . . . something like beer stein. That's not it, but it's close. Best I can do.† â€Å"Beer stein,† Jack says. â€Å"And what was his name when he got to French Landing three years later?† Suddenly there are loud, arguing voices on the stairs. â€Å"I don't care!† someone shouts. Jack thinks it's Black, the more officious one. â€Å"It's our case, he's our prisoner, and we're taking him out! Now!† Dale: â€Å"I'm not arguing. I'm just saying that the paperwork â€Å" Brown: â€Å"Aw, fuck the paperwork. We'll take it with us.† â€Å"What was his name in French Landing, Potsie?† â€Å"I can't † Potsie takes Jack's hands again. Potsie's own hands are dry and cold. He smells Jack's palms, eyes closed. On the long exhale of his breath he says: â€Å"Burnside. Chummy Burnside. Not that he was chummy. The nickname was a joke. I think his real handle might have been Charlie.† Jack takes his hands back. Charles â€Å"Chummy† Burnside. Once known as Beer Stein. Or something like Beer Stein. â€Å"And the house? What was the name of the house?† Brown and Black are coming down the corridor now, with Dale scurrying after them. There's no time, Jack thinks. Damnit all, if I had even five minutes more And then Potsie says, â€Å"Black House. I don't know if that's what he called it or what the subs workin' the job got to calling it, but that was the name, all right.† Jack's eyes widen. The image of Henry Leyden's cozy living room crosses his mind: sitting with a drink at his elbow and reading about Jarndyce and Jarndyce. â€Å"Did you say Bleak House?† â€Å"Black,† Potsie reiterates impatiently. â€Å"Because it really was. It was â€Å" â€Å"Oh dear to Christ,† one of the state troopers says in a snotty look-what-the-cat-dragged-in voice that makes Jack feel like rearranging his face. It's Brown, but when Jack glances up, it's Brown's partner he looks at. The coincidence of the other trooper's name makes Jack smile. â€Å"Hello, boys,† Jack says, getting up from the bunk. â€Å"What are you doing here, Hollywood?† Black asks. â€Å"Just batting the breeze and waiting for you,† Jack says, and smiles brilliantly. â€Å"I suppose you want this guy.† â€Å"You're goddamn right,† Brown growls. â€Å"And if you fucked up our case â€Å" â€Å"Gosh, I don't think so,† Jack says. It's a struggle, but he manages to achieve a tone of amiability. Then, to Potsie: â€Å"You'll be safer with them than here in French Landing, sir.† George Potter looks vacant again. Resigned. â€Å"Don't matter much either way,† he says, then smiles as a thought occurs to him. â€Å"If old Chummy's still alive, and you run across him, you might ask him if his ass still hurts from that diddling I gave him back in '69. And tell him old Chicago Potsie says hello.† â€Å"What the hell are you talking about?† Brown asks, glowering. He has his cuffs out, and is clearly itching to snap them on George Potter's wrists. â€Å"Old times,† Jack says. He stuffs his fragrant hands in his pockets and leaves the cell. He smiles at Brown and Black. â€Å"Nothing to concern you boys.† Trooper Black turns to Dale. â€Å"You're out of this case,† he says. â€Å"Those are words of one syllable. I can't make it any simpler. So tell me once and mean it forever, Chief: Do you understand?† â€Å"Of course I do,† Dale said. â€Å"Take the case and welcome. But get off the tall white horse, willya? If you expected me to simply stand by and let a crowd of drunks from the Sand Bar take this man out of Lucky's and lynch him â€Å" â€Å"Don't make yourself look any stupider than you already are,† Brown snaps. â€Å"They picked his name up off your police calls.† â€Å"I doubt that,† Dale says quietly, thinking of the doper's cell phone borrowed out of evidence storage. Black grabs Potter's narrow shoulder, gives it a vicious twist, then thrusts him so hard toward the door at the end of the corridor that the man almost falls down. Potter recovers, his haggard face full of pain and dignity. â€Å"Troopers,† Jack says. He doesn't speak loudly or angrily, but they both turn. â€Å"Abuse that prisoner one more time in my sight, and I'll be on the phone to the Madison shoofly-pies the minute you leave, and believe me, Troopers, they will listen to me. Your attitude is arrogant, coercive, and counterproductive to the resolution of this case. Your interdepartmental cooperation skills are nonexistent. Your demeanor is unprofessional and reflects badly upon the state of Wisconsin. You will either behave yourselves or I guarantee you that by next Friday you will be looking for security jobs.† Although his voice remains even throughout, Black and Brown seem to shrink as he speaks. By the time he finishes, they look like a pair of chastened children. Dale is gazing at Jack with awe. Only Potter seems unaffected; he's gazing down at his cuffed hands with eyes that could be a thousand miles away. â€Å"Go on, now,† Jack says. â€Å"Take your prisoner, take your case records, and get lost.† Black opens his mouth to speak, then shuts it again. They leave. When the door closes behind them, Dale looks at Jack and says, very softly: â€Å"Wow.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"If you don't know,† Dale says, â€Å"I'm not going to tell you.† Jack shrugs. â€Å"Potter will keep them occupied, which frees us up to do a little actual work. If there's a bright side to tonight, that's it.† â€Å"What did you get from him? Anything?† â€Å"A name. Might mean nothing. Charles Burnside. Nicknamed Chummy. Ever heard of him?† Dale sticks out his lower lip and pulls it thoughtfully. Then he lets go and shakes his head. â€Å"The name itself seems to ring a faint bell, but that might only be because it's so common. The nickname, no.† â€Å"He was a builder, a contractor, a wheeler-dealer in Chicago over thirty years ago. According to Potsie, at least.† â€Å"Potsie,† Dale says. The tape is peeling off a corner of the ONE CALL MEANS ONE CALL sign, and Dale smoothes it back down with the air of a man who doesn't really know what he's doing. â€Å"You and he got pretty chummy, didn't you?† â€Å"No,† Jack says. â€Å"Burnside's Chummy. And Trooper Black doesn't own the Black House.† â€Å"You've gone dotty. What black house?† â€Å"First, it's a proper name. Black, capital B, house, capital H. Black House. You ever heard of a house named that around here?† Dale laughs. â€Å"God, no.† Jack smiles back, but all at once it's his interrogation smile, not his I'm-discussing-things-with-my-friend smile. Because he's a coppice-man now. And he has seen a funny little flicker in Dale Gilbertson's eyes. â€Å"Are you sure? Take a minute. Think about it.† â€Å"Told you, no. People don't name their houses in these parts. Oh, I guess old Miss Graham and Miss Pentle call their place on the other side of the town library Honeysuckle, because of the honeysuckle bushes all over the fence in front, but that's the only one in these parts I ever heard named.† Again, Jack sees that flicker. Potter is the one who will be charged for murder by the Wisconsin State Police, but Jack didn't see that deep flicker in Potter's eyes a single time during their interview. Because Potter was straight with him. Dale isn't being straight. But I have to be gentle with him, Jack tells himself. Because he doesn't know he's not being straight. How is that possible? As if in answer, he hears Chicago Potsie's voice: One guy told me the sun never shone there even when it shone . . . he said the guys lost their shadows, just like in a fairy tale. Memory is a shadow; any cop trying to reconstruct a crime or an accident from the conflicting accounts of eyewitnesses knows it well. Is Potsie's Black House like this? Something that casts no shadow? Dale's response (he has now turned full-face to the peeling poster, working on it as seriously as he might work on a heart attack victim in the street, administering CPR right out of the manual until the ambulance arrives) suggests to Jack that it might be something like just that. Three days ago he wouldn't have allowed himself to consider such an idea, but three days ago he hadn't returned to the Territories. â€Å"According to Potsie, this place got a reputation as a haunted house even before it was completely built,† Jack says, pressing a little. â€Å"Nope.† Dale moves on to the sign about the A.A. and N.A. meetings. He examines the tape studiously, not looking at Jack. â€Å"Doesn't ring the old chimeroo.† â€Å"Sure? One man almost bled to death. Another took a fall that paralyzed him. People complained listen to this, Dale, it's good according to Potsie, people complained about losing their shadows. Couldn't see them even at midday, with the sun shining full force. Isn't that something?† â€Å"Sure is, but I don't remember any stories like that.† As Jack walks toward Dale, Dale moves away. Almost scutters away, although Chief Gilbertson is not ordinarily a scuttering man. It's a little funny, a little sad, a little horrible. He doesn't know he's doing it, Jack's sure of that. There is a shadow. Jack sees it, and on some level Dale knows he sees it. If Jack should force him too hard, Dale would have to see it, too . . . and Dale doesn't want that. Because it's a bad shadow. Is it worse than a monster who kills children and then eats selected portions of their bodies? Apparently part of Dale thinks so. I could make him see that shadow, Jack thinks coldly. Put my hands under his nose my lily-scented hands and make him see it. Part of him even wants to see it. The coppiceman part. Then another part of Jack's mind speaks up in the Speedy Parker drawl he now remembers from his childhood. You could push him over the edge of a nervous breakdown, too, Jack. God knows he's close to one, after all the goin's-ons since the Irkenham boy got took. You want to chance that? And for what? He didn't know the name, about that he was bein' straight. â€Å"Dale?† Dale gives Jack a quick, bright glance, then looks away. The furtive quality in that quick peek sort of breaks Jack's heart. â€Å"What?† â€Å"Let's go get a cup of coffee.† At this change of subject, Dale's face fills with glad relief. He claps Jack on the shoulder. â€Å"Good idea!† God-pounding good idea, right here and now, Jack thinks, then smiles. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one way to find a Black House. It's been a long day. Best, maybe, to let this go. At least for tonight. â€Å"What about Railsback?† Dale asks as they clatter down the stairs. â€Å"You still want to talk to him?† â€Å"You bet,† Jack replies, heartily enough, but he holds out little hope for Andy Railsback, a picked witness who saw exactly what the Fisherman wanted him to see. With one little exception . . . perhaps. The single slipper. Jack doesn't know if it will ever come to anything, but it might. In court, for instance . . . as an identifying link . . . This is never going to court and you know it. It may not even finish in this w His thoughts are broken by a wave of cheerful sound as they step into the combination ready room and dispatch center. The members of the French Landing Police Department are standing and applauding. Henry Leyden is also standing and applauding. Dale joins in. â€Å"Jesus, guys, quit it,† Jack says, laughing and blushing at the same time. But he won't lie to himself, try to tell himself he takes no pleasure in that round of applause. He feels the warmth of them; can see the light of their regard. Those things aren't important. But it feels like coming home, and that is. When Jack and Henry step out of the police station an hour or so later, Beezer, Mouse, and Kaiser Bill are still there. The other two have gone back to the Row to fill in the various old ladies on tonight's events. â€Å"Sawyer,† Beezer says. â€Å"Yes,† Jack says. â€Å"Anything we can do, man. Can you dig that? Anything.† Jack looks at the biker thoughtfully, wondering what his story is . . . other than grief, that is. A father's grief. Beezer's eyes remain steady on his. A little off to one side, Henry Leyden stands with his head raised to smell the river fog, humming deep down in his throat. â€Å"I'm going to look in on Irma's mom tomorrow around eleven,† Jack says. â€Å"Do you suppose you and your friends could meet me in the Sand Bar around noon? She lives close to there, I understand. I'll buy youse a round of lemonade.† Beezer doesn't smile, but his eyes warm up slightly. â€Å"We'll be there.† â€Å"That's good,† Jack says. â€Å"Mind telling me why?† â€Å"There's a place that needs finding.† â€Å"Does it have to do with whoever killed Amy and the other kids?† â€Å"Maybe.† Beezer nods. â€Å"Maybe's good enough.† Jack drives back toward Norway Valley slowly, and not just because of the fog. Although it's still early in the evening, he is tired to the bone and has an idea that Henry feels the same way. Not because he's quiet; Jack has become used to Henry's occasional dormant stretches. No, it's the quiet in the truck itself. Under ordinary circumstances, Henry is a restless, compulsive radio tuner, running through the La Riviere stations, checking KDCU here in town, then ranging outward, hunting for Milwaukee, Chicago, maybe even Omaha, Denver, and St. Louis, if conditions are right. An appetizer of bop here, a salad of spiritual music there, perhaps a dash of Perry Como way down at the foot of the dial: hot-diggity, dog-diggity, boom what-ya-do-to-me. Not tonight, though. Tonight Henry just sits quiet on his side of the truck with his hands folded in his lap. At last, when they're no more than two miles from his driveway, Henry says: â€Å"No Dickens tonight, Jack. I'm going straight to bed .† The weariness in Henry's voice startles Jack, makes him uneasy. Henry doesn't sound like himself or any of his radio personae; at this moment he just sounds old and tired, on the way to being used up. â€Å"I am, too,† Jack agrees, trying not to let his concern show in his voice. Henry picks up on every vocal nuance. He's eerie that way. â€Å"What do you have in mind for the Thunder Five, may I ask?† â€Å"I'm not entirely sure,† Jack says, and perhaps because he's tired, he gets this untruth past Henry. He intends to start Beezer and his buddies looking for the place Potsie told him about, the place where shadows had a way of disappearing. At least way back in the seventies they did. He had also intended to ask Henry if he's ever heard of a French Landing domicile called Black House. Not now, though. Not after hearing how beat Henry sounds. Tomorrow, maybe. Almost certainly, in fact, because Henry is too good a resource not to use. Best to let him recycle a little first, though. â€Å"You have the tape, right?† Henry pulls the cassette with the Fisherman's 911 call on it partway out of his breast pocket, then puts it back. â€Å"Yes, Mother. But I don't think I can listen to a killer of small children tonight, Jack. Not even if you come in and listen with me.† â€Å"Tomorrow will be fine,† Jack says, hoping he isn't condemning another of French Landing's children to death by saying this. â€Å"You're not entirely sure of that.† â€Å"No,† Jack agrees, â€Å"but you listening to that tape with dull ears could do more harm than good. I am sure of that.† â€Å"First thing in the morning. I promise.† Henry's house is up ahead now. It looks lonely with only the one light on over the garage, but of course Henry doesn't need lights inside to find his way. â€Å"Henry, are you going to be all right?† â€Å"Yes,† Henry says, but to Jack he doesn't seem entirely sure. â€Å"No Rat tonight,† Jack tells him firmly. â€Å"No.† â€Å"Ditto the Shake, the Shook, the Sheik.† Henry's lips lift in a small smile. â€Å"Not even a George Rathbun promo for French Landing Chevrolet, where price is king and you never pay a dime of interest for the first six months with approved credit. Straight to bed.† â€Å"Me too,† Jack says. But an hour after lying down and putting out the lamp on his bedside table, Jack is still unable to sleep. Faces and voices revolve in his mind like crazy clock hands. Or a carousel on a deserted midway. Tansy Freneau: Bring out the monster who killed my pretty baby. Beezer St. Pierre: We'll have to see how it shakes out, won't we George Potter: That shit gets in and waits. My theory is that it never goes away, not really. Speedy, a voice from the distant past on the sort of telephone that was science fiction when Jack first met him: Hidey-ho, Travelin' Jack . . . as one coppiceman to another, son, I think you ought to visit Chief Gilbertson's private bathroom. Right now. As one coppiceman to another, right. And most of all, over and over again, Judy Marshall: You don't just say, I'm lost and I don't know how to get back you keep on going . . . Yes, but keep on going where? Where? At last he gets up and goes out onto the porch with his pillow under his arm. The night is warm; in Norway Valley, where the fog was thin to begin with, the last remnants have now disappeared, blown away by a soft east wind. Jack hesitates, then goes on down the steps, naked except for his underwear. The porch is no good to him, though. It's where he found that hellish box with the sugar-packet stamps. He walks past his truck, past the bird hotel, and into the north field. Above him are a billion stars. Crickets hum softly in the grass. His fleeing path through the hay and timothy has disappeared, or maybe now he's entering the field in a different place. A little way in, he lies down on his back, puts the pillow under his head, and looks up at the stars. Just for a little while, he thinks. Just until all those ghost voices empty out of my head. Just for a little while. Thinking this, he begins to drowse. Thinking this, he goes over. Above his head, the pattern of the stars changes. He sees the new constellations form. What is that one, where the Big Dipper was a moment before? Is it the Sacred Opopanax? Perhaps it is. He hears a low, pleasant creaking sound and knows it's the windmill he saw when he flipped just this morning, a thousand years ago. He doesn't need to look at it to be sure, any more than he needs to look at where his house was and see that it has once more become a barn. Creak . . . creak . . . creak: vast wooden vanes turning in that same east wind. Only now the wind is infinitely sweeter, infinitely purer. Jack touches the waistband of his underpants and feels some rough weave. No Jockey shorts in this world. His pillow has changed, too. Foam has become goosedown, but it's still comfortable. More comfortable than ever, in truth. Sweet under his head. â€Å"I'll catch him, Speedy,† Jack Sawyer whispers up at the new shapes in the new stars. â€Å"At least I'll try.† He sleeps. When he awakens, it's early morning. The breeze is gone. In the direction from which it came, there's a bright orange line on the horizon the sun is on its way. He's stiff and his ass hurts and he's damp with dew, but he's rested. The steady, rhythmic creaking is gone, but that doesn't surprise him. He knew from the moment he opened his eyes that he's in Wisconsin again. And he knows something else: he can go back. Any time he wants. The real Coulee Country, the deep Coulee Country, is just a wish and a motion away. This fills him with joy and dread in equal parts. Jack gets up and barefoots back to the house with his pillow under his arm. He guesses it's about five in the morning. Another three hours' sleep will make him ready for anything. On the porch steps, he touches the cotton of his Jockey shorts. Although his skin is damp, the shorts are almost dry. Of course they are. For most of the hours he spent sleeping rough (as he spent so many nights that autumn when he was twelve), they weren't on him at all. They were somewhere else. â€Å"In the Land of Opopanax,† Jack says, and goes inside. Three minutes later he's asleep again, in his own bed. When he wakes at eight, with the sensible sun streaming in through his window, he could almost believe that his latest journey was a dream. But in his heart, he knows better.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Clay essays

Clay essays On July 2, 1881, two shots were fired into the back of President Garfield as he walked through the waiting room of the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Washington. The president lingered for seventy-nine days, succumbing finally on September 29. The assassin, a megalomaniac politician named Charles Julius Guiteau, had been disappointed at not getting the consulship he expected as the reward for a speech written during Garfield's campaign. GuOn July 2, 1881, two shots were fired into the back of President Garfield as he walked through the waiting room of the Baltimore and Potomac depot in Washington. The president lingered for seventy-nine days, succumbing finally on September 29. The assassin, a megalomaniac politician named Charles Julius Guiteau, had been disappointed at not getting the consulship he expected as the reward for a speech written during Garfield's campaign. Guiteau pleaded insanity at his noisily sensational trial, but was found guilty and hanged in the early afternoon of June 20, 1882. The ugly revelations of political jobbery made during Guiteau's trial are credited by the historian Charles Beard with having prompted the creation of the Civil Service Commission. Guiteau's goodnight is based on a New York broadside, "The Lamentation of James Rodgers," a murderer executed on November 12, 1858.... A popular goodnight of the 1870s, "My Name It Is John T. Williams," also borrowed lines and motives from the Rodgers piece. Writers unfamiliar with the goodnight conventions have suggested that Guiteau himself wrote the ballad bearing his name. It happens that Guiteau did write verses in prison, but they were more religiose and belligerent than the ballad that keeps his notoriety alive. No broadside copy of "Charles Guiteau" survives, though such a sheet may well have been the ancestor of the versions collected from oral tradition in the South and Midwest. iteau pleaded insanity at his noisily sensational trial, but was fo...

Monday, November 4, 2019

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and the Politics at Play Essay

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and the Politics at Play - Essay Example The Associated Press recently published an article on the same, in which they indicated an estimated rate of flow of oil from these Taylor wells at 20 times higher than what previous estimates indicated. In an attempt to estimate the impact of this oil spill, Rice observes that there is a significant decrease in the number of sperm whales seen in this area, which implies that there is no food within this area for the whales to feed on, hence their disappearance. The truth is that this phenomenon points to the fact that the ecosystem within this area is slowly disappearing, and the few whales often seen are just on a hunting spree.The core of this issue is that while the government seems to be passive about tackling this issue, a great chunk of marine life is under threat in the Gulf of Mexico. My concern, as an environmentalist, is not only directed to the ocean life, but to the health of the people whose lives depend on fishing from the water around this place. The economic effects of this pollution are immense. While cleaning this mess would have been cheaper and easier say 10 years ago, the water expanse covered by this spilled oil this far is big, and the value of oil lost to date is also much.Additionally, the studies and results available so far on the effects of this oil spillage is still a fragment of the actual impact. Complete details about the level of environmental degradation may never get to the public very soon, and the long-term effects on the health of the Gulf are still a mystery.

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Comoany Report Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Comoany Report - Research Paper Example Edwin Good who was then a merchant in New York, came to Manhattan to work as an apprentice for Bergdorf. When almost two years passed Goodman had raised enough money to purchase the store from Goodman and moves to a location where it stands today and named the store ‘Bergdorf Goodman’ in 1901. Goodman was the first couturier to introduce ready-to-wear fashion in 1914, which became very popular (The Neiman Marcus, Inc). Gradually Goodman started to purchase the stores nearby and expended its business throughout the street and acquiring the entire block in 1930. Goodman was awarded as the ‘Legion of Honor’ from France and after that he retired as the most accomplished merchant of his time in 1953. Goodman’s son Andrew assumed the position of President and continued to expand its product range (The Neiman Marcus, Inc). The company expanded its business of up to $1 million in beauty salon and bridal services and in the year 1967 the investment of $2.5 million doubled the size of the store. In 1980, Bergdorf Goodman was taken over by Neiman Marcus and Contempo Casuals to form Neiman Marcus Group. The group expanded the business in to a restaurant and a cafà © in which lunch and afternoon tea is served. In 2005, two equity firms acquired Neiman Marcus Group (The Neiman Marcus, Inc). The mission of the Company is to become a premier luxury retailer in providing our customers with unique needs and with superior services. The focus is to serve the affluent customers with distinctive merchandise with a commitment stronger than ever. Our aim remains to maximize the perception of brand exclusivity and alleviate the sales of goods at premium prices (The Neiman Marcus, Inc). Operating earnings for the specialty stores were $272.5 million and the revenues for the August 2009 was $124.3 million. The increase in the operating margin was due to the low net markdowns and higher customer