Romanticism, Realism and Emily Dickinson :: Romanticism Realism Emily Dickinson

Romanticism, Realism and Emily Dickinson Emily Dickinson wrote at the tail end of the Romantic period, and even though she was influenced by slightly of the ideals of Romanticism, is most commonly known as a writer from the Realist era. However, her writing embodies the defining characteristics that argon identified with each of these periods. The main characteristic of Romanticism that Emily Dickinson portrays in her writing is the emphases of the importance of Nature to the Romantics. In most of her poems there is some mention or comparison to something found in Nature. In Poem 449, she refers to the moss that covers the names on the graves of the tombstones of Beauty and Truth. The Puritans believed Nature to be the realm of the devil. By including references to Nature in many of her poems, she was rebelling against the ideals of the Puritan upbringing she had hated so much. Realists are considered to be concerned with poverty, extortion and the negative aspects of liveliness the harsh realities of life. In Poem 216, Emily uses words to create a metaphor for the Puritan way of life. She reveals how much they remoteness themselves from others and how living a Puritan way of life is much like walking on earth dead. In many ways, she mocks the wealthy Puritans too. It was their belief to non spend their money, but rather save it. In Poem 216, she is saying that all the money the Puritans obtain in life is spent on their tombstones since they are not allowed to enjoy their riches in this life. Many of her poems deal with death or dying, but this is simply a metaphor to express how bleak life has come to be in the present. Realists were also trying to push for social reform through their writing, hinting at what may happen if reforms do not mother place. Emily Dickinson views the Puritan life as a life that oppresses people from the joys it can bring. Puritans try to live a life full of hard work and myopic pleasure since pleasure is a thing of the devil.

Seeing Myself in Waiting for Godot :: Waiting for Godot Essays

Seeing Myself in Waiting for Godot Some people wondered why in high schooldays my favorite book was Waiting for Godot, a drama described on the title page as a two-act play in which nothing happens twice. In fact, my liking a play that does not portray a series of connected incidents telling a story but instead presents a pattern of images showing bewildered people in an incomprehensible universe initially baffled me too, as my partiality was more matt-up than thought. But then I read a piece by the critic Martin Esslin, who articulated my feelings. He wrote in The Search for the Self that throughout our lives we always wait for something, and Godotsimply represents the objective of our waitingan event, a thing, aperson, death. It is in the act of waiting that we experience theflow of time in its purest most evident form. (31)I realized that I was seventeen in high school passively waiting for something amazing to happen to me just like Vladimir and Estragon. I also realized that ex periencing time flowing by unproductively was not for me irrespective of how pure that experience might be. At several points in the play, Estragon states that he wants to leave, but Vladimir always responds, We cant . . . were waiting for Godot (8). neither one knows why the wait nor who Godot is or looks like, and they both admit, when asked by Pozzo why they mistook him for Godot, that we hardly know him at all (20). Yet, they wait for him instead of looking indoors themselves for meaning in their lives. They even turn to close-at-hand sources about them to provide reasons for their wait from inside a hat or a boot (8). But, as gilt points out, the reasons are unknown and always will be (28). Therefore, their external search is pointless to give life meaning. Or put another way, Vladimir and Estragon wait immeasurably for life to begin.As simple as it is, I see myself in them, waiting for someone or something to bring me meaning, to guide me, to spark my life. The existentiali st ideas stern much of Waiting for Godot cut to the quick, as I, too, struggle through life trying to achieve some sort of purposeful meaning (Bryce). Like everyone else, I am a victim of waiting and going nowhere fast. As embarrassing as it is to me now, in high school, I ached as I searched to lodge in an empty part of me with love or true friendship, and at last I found him But rather than acting on what I felt for him, I sat there and waited, hoping that he would notice me, the perfect soul mate.

Accountability: The Key in the Healthcare Environment Essay examples -

Accountability is key in the healthcare environment in that members of a healthcare organization must be responsible for their actions and held accountable by the organization or the consumer. Many significant changes have occurred in healthcare and one of the about noted was the beginning of professional integration between businesses, hospitals and physicians. Solid partnerships have emerged and over time individuals within these successful healthcare organizations have developed interchangeable understanding and respect for the others profession (Fraschetti & Sugarman, 2009). Leaders and managers in healthcare have used this knowledge to build high-performance teams through various competencies particularly with the skills instal in interpersonal competency. Through positive communication, training, mentorship, collaboration and staff empowerment transitional managers and leaders exhibit interpersonal competency skills, which are very stiff in the healthcare environment ( Guo & Anderson, 2005). Through managements team building efforts we see high-performance healthcare teams emerge with trust, shared goals and a substantive organizational culture that understand the mission and the goals they need to accomplish. Individuals, teams, managers and leaders in a successful organization know and understand their responsibilities and the standard that is expected. Scott (2001) outlines a three-part accountability process that defines what is expected, assists individuals in understanding expectations, and establishes standards and guarantees that are consistent and allow for accountability. Measures and Implementation in the Accountability Process In the United States navy we are taught the Navy definition of accountability and then ... ...rive. Pivot Health website. Retrieved February 21, 2011, from http//www.pivothealth.com/userfiles/pdf/090701%20Bob%20Fraschetti%20Michael%20Sugarman%20Successful%20Hosiptal-Physician%20Integration%20Trustee.pdf. Guo, K. L. & Anderson, D. (2005). The new health care paradigm Roles and competencies of leaders in the service line management approach. worldwide Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 18(6/7), XII,XIII,XIV,XV,XVI,XVII,XVIII,XIX,XX. Retrieved January 11, 2011, from ABI/ express Global. (Document ID 948775781).Miller, N. (2000). Seeking accountability. Nursing Economics, 18(2), 92. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID 52765815).Scott, G. (2001). Accountability for service excellence. Journal of Healthcare Management, 46(3), 152-5. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID 73034086).

Accommodating Pluralism: Liberal Neutrality and Compulsory Education :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

Accommodating Pluralism big(a) Neutrality and Compulsory Education rob This paper examines the general neutrality article of faith of Rawls liberalism and then tests that principle against accommodationist intuitions and sympathies in cases concerning the non-neutral do of a system of exacting education on particular tender groups. Various neutrality principles have long been associated with liberalism. Today I want to examine the general neutrality principle Rawls associates with his own liberalism.(1) I want to begin by getting clear on just what that principle is. Then I want to test it in the context of compulsory education.Let us begin by noting that any basic social structure faithful to liberal principles of political justice ordain inevitably prove nonneutral in its do on many comprehensive doctrines and ship canal of manner. This bequeath be true for politically unreasonable doctrines and ways of look (militantly theocratic doctrines, or ways of life centered on violating the basic rights of others). just now it may also prove true for comprehensive doctrines and ways of life more or less unopposed to most liberal political values (perhaps the doctrines or ways of life of certain traditional or anti-modern spiritual sects).Liberalism, Rawls tells us, cannot and should not forebode neutrality of effects. But this should not count against it. Every basic social structure faithful to some conception of justice, liberal or nonliberal, will prove nonneutral in its effects on some comprehensive doctrines or ways of life. Here one might think Rawls has missed the point. For what is tortuous about his liberalism, it might be argued, is that it will prove non-neutral in its effects on doctrines and ways of life permissible on its own account of political justice. But Rawls has not missed the point. Rawlss liberalism does not rest on a commitment to the value of, nor does it require, a social world maximally various(a) with respect to comprehens ive doctrines or ways of life willing more or less to accept liberal principles of political justice. Of course, Rawlss liberalism would be in serious trouble were it to lead to a social world only weakly diverse. But so long as Rawlss liberalism permits a sound degree of diversity, to claim that its non-neutral effect on some comprehensive doctrine or way of life is unfair is to presuppose rather than establish the rightness of some competing conception of justice.Liberalism cannot and should not promise neutrality of effects, but it can and should promise what Rawls calls neutrality of aim.Accommodating Pluralism Liberal Neutrality and Compulsory Education Philosophy Philosophical PapersAccommodating Pluralism Liberal Neutrality and Compulsory EducationABSTRACT This paper examines the general neutrality principle of Rawls liberalism and then tests that principle against accommodationist intuitions and sympathies in cases concerning the non-neutral effects of a system of compul sory education on particular social groups. Various neutrality principles have long been associated with liberalism. Today I want to examine the general neutrality principle Rawls associates with his own liberalism.(1) I want to begin by getting clear on just what that principle is. Then I want to test it in the context of compulsory education.Let us begin by noting that any basic social structure faithful to liberal principles of political justice will inevitably prove nonneutral in its effects on many comprehensive doctrines and ways of life. This will be true for politically unreasonable doctrines and ways of life (militantly theocratic doctrines, or ways of life centered on violating the basic rights of others). But it may also prove true for comprehensive doctrines and ways of life more or less unopposed to most liberal political values (perhaps the doctrines or ways of life of certain traditional or anti-modern religious sects).Liberalism, Rawls tells us, cannot and should not promise neutrality of effects. But this should not count against it. Every basic social structure faithful to some conception of justice, liberal or nonliberal, will prove nonneutral in its effects on some comprehensive doctrines or ways of life. Here one might think Rawls has missed the point. For what is problematic about his liberalism, it might be argued, is that it will prove non-neutral in its effects on doctrines and ways of life permissible on its own account of political justice. But Rawls has not missed the point. Rawlss liberalism does not rest on a commitment to the value of, nor does it require, a social world maximally diverse with respect to comprehensive doctrines or ways of life willing more or less to accept liberal principles of political justice. Of course, Rawlss liberalism would be in serious trouble were it to lead to a social world only weakly diverse. But so long as Rawlss liberalism permits a healthy degree of diversity, to claim that its non-neutral effec t on some comprehensive doctrine or way of life is unfair is to presuppose rather than establish the correctness of some competing conception of justice.Liberalism cannot and should not promise neutrality of effects, but it can and should promise what Rawls calls neutrality of aim.

Essay examples --

This portion of the proposal takes a view of the background culture of the study, statement of the research problem and the study purpose. These three elements are discussed in the details to follow.Background of the StudyAccording to public nurture that was compiled by The outside(a) Trade Union Confedeproportionn (ITUC), the issue of gender in the work place has recently become a matter of concern. The global gender proportion of the work place is 53% male workers to 17% female workers. More so, the percentage of women represented in this labor force bracket is mainly strong in industry as casual workers. In other areas of employment such as the health care sector, trade and entertainment, statistics show that women have founder opportunities to showcase their abilities to contribute to the development of the economy. However, it is a clear that the overallunemployment rate among women is much lower than that of men. Gender in the work place is such an meaning(a) area t hat relevant policies must be put in place to address these issues, if globally, we are to achieve a social balance of income distribution mingled with males and females. Women have been a victim of common stereotypes that discourage them from occupying jobs compared to their male counterparts. This research paper therefore aims at examining the critical issues that contribute to these common trends of gender phone line in different sectors in the economy. The main focus would be looking at the response into which firms have created an environment that would allow for gender equality in the first place. This research also aims at establishing the correlation equal rights amongst men and women in the work place. It also aims at assessing the crite... ...kforce elites. Therefore results could vary in high level elites and lower level workforce. This research centers on the idea of judging the perceptive reality of gender in the piece of work. The four categories with differ ent piece of work backgrounds - education, health & medicine, administrative services and media - were selected randomly. The data was collected to compute the Karl Pearson Coefficient of Correlation between variables viz. legal, institutional, career and sociological. The designed questionnaire comprised of five characters pertaining to different nuances of gender. The first fragment had questions of general awareness about gender discrimination at workplace Section 2 had specific questions from the legal arena Section 3 from the institutional regulations Section 4 from the sociological mores and Section 5 from development careers in such discipline. Essay examples -- This portion of the proposal takes a view of the background information of the study, statement of the research problem and the study purpose. These three elements are discussed in the details to follow.Background of the StudyAccording to public information that was compiled by The outside(a) Trad e Union Confederation (ITUC), the issue of gender in the work place has recently become a matter of concern. The global gender ratio of the work place is 53% male workers to 17% female workers. More so, the percentage of women represented in this labor force bracket is mainly unvoiced in industry as casual workers. In other areas of employment such as the health care sector, trade and entertainment, statistics show that women have make better opportunities to showcase their abilities to contribute to the development of the economy. However, it is a clear that the overallunemployment rate among women is much lower than that of men. Gender in the work place is such an big area that relevant policies must be put in place to address these issues, if globally, we are to achieve a social balance of income distribution between males and females. Women have been a victim of common stereotypes that discourage them from occupying jobs compared to their male counterparts. This research p aper therefore aims at examining the critical issues that contribute to these common trends of gender line of reasoning in different sectors in the economy. The main focus would be looking at the response into which firms have created an environment that would allow for gender equality in the first place. This research also aims at establishing the correlation equal rights between men and women in the work place. It also aims at assessing the crite... ...kforce elites. Therefore results could vary in high level elites and lower level workforce. This research centers on the idea of judging the perceptive reality of gender in the workplace. The four categories with different workplace backgrounds - education, health & medicine, administrative services and media - were selected randomly. The data was collected to compute the Karl Pearson Coefficient of Correlation between variables viz. legal, institutional, career and sociological. The designed questionnaire comprised of five sections pertaining to different nuances of gender. The first section had questions of general awareness about gender discrimination at workplace Section 2 had specific questions from the legal arena Section 3 from the institutional regulations Section 4 from the sociological mores and Section 5 from development careers in such discipline.

Finding Self Essay -- essays papers

Finding Self I realize that the whole earth is at my fingertips, as is my willingness to manifest what is needed in my reality. Every experience of sprightliness is God teaching me. As I look in this pure kingdom of awareness, I feel this pure energy within my whole body. From the rhythm of my breathing, I feel a quiet state of attunement one with God. My soul incarnated into a specific form on earth for a unique purpose. My journey is now and exists at this moment, whether I want to realize it or non. Knowing my lifes purpose and acting on it will give me direction and is a necessary step in achieving true happiness. To have this deeper experience requires the tycoon to have conscious awareness of Soul, or Higher Self. I find my life playacts much more smoothly when I let the Universe run itself without any interference from me. As a yield of fact, the less my brain does its stuff, the more fulfilling my life becomes...hence more enriched. This above all to thin e own self be true, and it must follow the night and day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.(Matthew 544) Humans are not all alike, one will hate you and the other will love you. The difference in moods is the reason why public are who they are. The knowledge that everyone is different in some way, will lead to one giant leap on my journey. Loving thy neighbor no matter what, as stated in the Ten Commandments, will enrich my spiritual progression. Not being familiar with my actual role in this Universe at this stage of my existence is at times very frustrating and often very far-fetched. Nothing happens by chance. We are a part of a universe that is forever giving us... ...nnection. Balance, harmony, and compassion are the natural state of my innermost self. Since spirituality is an experience, the degree to which I reflect the qualities of balance, harmony and compassion in my cursory moment-to-mo ment experience will support my connection to God. These problems are made visible in the two opposite notions of the loss of the self, or alternatively, the absorption with the self, both of which strip our sense of self. I will argue against the notion of the self as one that is constantly changing to meet the demands of the competing voices surrounding it. Rather, I will not argue that I must find a vantage point from which to view the world and create a sense of self that persists through time. I cannot be, populated with the character of others. Being a self must mean more than being an image, wearing a mask, or playing a role.

Finding Self Essay -- essays papers

Finding Self I realize that the whole universe is at my fingertips, as is my willingness to manifest what is needed in my reality. Every finger of life is God teaching me. As I look in this pure state of awargonness, I feel this pure energy within my whole body. From the rhythm of my breathing, I feel a quiet state of attunement one with God. My soul incarnated into a particularized form on earth for a unique purpose. My journey is now and exists at this moment, whether I want to realize it or not. Knowing my lifes purpose and acting on it will give me direction and is a necessary step in achieving true happiness. To support this deeper experience requires the ability to have conscious awareness of Soul, or Higher Self. I find my life runs much more smoothly when I let the Universe run itself without both interference from me. As a matter of fact, the less my brain does its stuff, the more fulfilling my life becomes...hence more enriched. This above all to thine o wn self be true, and it mustiness follow the night and day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.(Matthew 544) adult male are not all alike, one will hate you and the other will love you. The difference in moods is the reason why humans are who they are. The knowledge that everyone is different in some way, will lead to one giant leap on my journey. Loving thy neighbor no matter what, as stated in the Ten Commandments, will enrich my spiritual progression. Not being familiar with my actual role in this Universe at this coiffe of my existence is at times very frustrating and often very far-fetched. Nothing happens by chance. We are a part of a universe that is continuously giving us... ...nnection. Balance, harmony, and compassion are the natural state of my innermost self. Since spirituality is an experience, the degree to which I reflect the qualities of balance, harmony and compassion in my everyd ay moment-to-moment experience will support my connection to God. These problems are made visible in the two opposite notions of the loss of the self, or alternatively, the absorption with the self, both of which impoverish our sense of self. I will ask against the notion of the self as one that is constantly changing to meet the demands of the competing voices surrounding it. Rather, I will not argue that I must find a vantage point from which to view the world and create a sense of self that persists through time. I cannot be, live with the character of others. Being a self must mean more than being an image, wearing a mask, or playing a role.

Re-appropriating the Parable of the Sower into the Modern Context Essay

The Word of God, the letter to the Hebrews writes, is dungeon and active (Heb 412). In ship usher outal more than one, this passage tells of the eternal character that marks the truths found in the Scriptures for while the written texts of the Scriptures crap long been established read definitively canonized thousands of years ago, the teachings and wisdom which ar contained therein argon never confined into both the timeframes or specific contexts of the written literatures themselves.Instead, the truths of the Bible speak to on the whole believers in the past or in the present (as even in the future). As indeed, it is normative even, for Christians scattered any over the world, to glean trustfulness and livelihood lessons from the timeless teachings of the Bible. On account of these reasons therefore, it is surely not bereft of good reasons to claim that the Bible, both things considered, is a universal source of inspiration for every passels of all times and place s.Rationale and ScopeIn view of the foregoing, the roadmap and central thesis of this term penning is aimed at appropriating a exceptional truth of the Bible into the present context. This is done on the underlying assumption that the stories in the Bible offer timeless lessons and truths, if except they are appropriately discerned within any particular context or situation. Specifically, paper attempts to make a successful re-appropriation of the parable of the Sower and the advance(a) context into which it shall be retold would be in haveplaces i. . , into the context of peoples professional life and, in galore(postnominal) ways, in the manner by which they conduct business first steps.The plectron to re-appropriate the Parable of the Sower into the context of peoples affairs relative to their business enterprises or professional jobs is an option taken not without discerned reasons to say the least. Christians, ever since, have always been called to bear witness to the faith they profess by living exemplary lives right within their very contexts.And since, nowadays, many people spend roughly of their times in their respective workplaces, the need to bear witness to the truths of the gospel truth within these types of environments surely becomes even more urgent. Schminke, citing the idea of Delbecq, in fact argues that at the beginning of the century, the non-business settings acted as the locus where peoples moral character was forged today meanwhile, the employing organization takes up much of peoples preoccupation and time, and, as a consequence, it informs and shapes both (the) look and character of modern peoples (ix).There are surely enough good reasons to say that, in view of Schminkes observation, the Parable of the Sower as a particular truth propounded by the church doctrine can speak volumes to the manner by which people of this contemporary setting respond to the invitation to seek the ways of God right into their otherwise non-r eligious contexts. Retelling the Parable in a Contemporary Context Before proceeding with the re-interpretation of the parable, it whitethorn be good to blood line that the Parable of the Sower appears in all Synoptic Gospels namely, in the Matthew 1 1-23, Mark 4 3-20 and Luke 8 4-15.At the very least however, it would appear that the story attempt to drive home a singular lesson that God has made salvation openly available for all people but the quality of a mortals response is what determines if one has helped oneself make that salvation work for his or her own life. The parable, essentially, is about the manner by which human persons respond to Gods call to salvation (Suarez 2). And key to attaining ones salvation lies in listening intently to the ubiquitous invitation of God to live out the meat of the Gospel in every moment of ones life (Maxwell 103).If the Parable of the Sower is about the quality of a persons response to Gods invitation to encounter Him at every moment of ones life, how consequently should the story be properly re-appropriated into the context of ones professional or work-related life? First, one can note the importation of the Sowers laying of seeds to this end, as this is the first aspect brought into the fore by the parable. The Gospel recounts A Sower went out to sow (Mat 13 3). This first statement itself, can be interpreted in a down of ways. that what proves to be chiefly important for this study is to note that the act of sowing of seeds can mean that first, that Jesus announced the message of salvation without discrimination and prejudice, and that, second, while He was aware that people can take the message in a myriad of different ways, Jesus went on to proceed with sowing the seeds of salvation nevertheless. In many ways, one must always remember that these twain aspects are especially applicable in ones professional lives.Much too a good deal, people think that, because business environments or professional workpl aces are chiefly concerned with ensuring companys development and crop, and applying key economic concepts thereof, or maintaining a healthy level of profitability for the company, the nature of these jobs have vigor to do with religiosity or the practice of ones faith. And at the other side of the coin, people think that spirituality, or even the basic aesthesia to Gods presence, has to be confined within the august walls of the church.But this paradigm is problematic, if not all together false. If the Sower had sown seeds on to all types of curtilage whether nurturing or adverse to the seeds then people should realize that the nurturing ones faith is not confined to the time one spends in the church, but embraces all aspects of ones life, including those times spent in ones profession and work. Which is why, the call to live out that faith demands that one must reclaim ways to recognize the presence of God within in these environments.For at the very least, even when one is immersed in an environment which, on the surface, has nothing to do with ones exercise of faith, the challenge to be always conscious of the religious precepts demanding ethical conduct at all times and in all places, by choosing to adhere to the framework of general principles of right or wrong, and learning what one ought to do, and what ones duties are, ultimately has to be dealt with no matter what (Guy 22).Secondly, the significance of the four types of grounds on to which the seeds fell merits considerable attention in this regard. As indeed, it is certainly wise to ask how these characterizations best exemplify the context of people who find themselves at the heart of domineering culture of business enterprises. Jesus continues on with the parable As he sowed, around seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them (Mat 13 4).And, purporting its corresponding interpretation, Jesus furthers When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown along the path (Mat 13 19). Pavements, because they is too often packed so tightly, as well as finished in a manner evened and leveled, makes a good place for easy taking for the birds (The Bible Church). If taken into the modern context, Jesus here may be argued to be referring to people who, far from being ignorant, do not just put much thought about their belief system or faith.Herein it makes sense to call these people as atheists people who, while not outright denying the existence of God, nevertheless do not make any assertion whatsoever about him or about the need to believe in Him (Gaudium et Spes 919). These are the types of people who manifest wholesale disinterestedness in asking questions about God or His precepts, since they find it meaningless. And in many ways, there are a lot of people of this nature in the world of business enterprise.Among others, these people are the ones who do not feel chiefly accountable to a high schooler(prenominal) potentiality in conducting business. Surely, it is not surprising to hear of unethical practices being committed within workplaces. In fact, it is a commonly held assumption that the practice of business enterprise smacks of a dark side narcissism, greed, political ruthlessness and injustice perpetrated on employees (Schminke x).If these phenomena say or sothing about the point in contention, it merely speaks of the manner by which the modern world itself, though not of its very nature but because it is too engrossed in the concerns of this world, can often make it harder to approach God (Gaudium et Spes 919). The Gospel proceeds Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root they withered away (Mat 13 5-6).In view of this description, Jesus explains further As for what is sown on rocky ground, this is h e who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he go away (Mat 13 20-21). By right of observation, one can attest to the fact that rocky grounds are indeed replete with small weeds. But since there is no place for a hardy root system to develop, no plant ever grows from among the rocks (The Bible Church).The cited passage can be reinterpreted as a description referring to people who readily assume that faith is but a matter of mind exercise and conceptual frameworks. In modern society, there are a lot of people who, without knowing it, belong to this categorization. Suarez maintains that it is risky for believers to treat the truths of the Gospel as mere object of ingenious intellectual dissertations (as well as) of brilliant and polemical but superficial essays (2).For all its promises however, this type of attitude towards faith lacks breadth and depth, and ultimately, does not change ones behavior for the better. In the field of business, many people are exactly such type of believers. These happen when, despite being idealistic about doing things rightly in the first place, certain individuals start to trade off moral precepts demanded by religion such as honesty, justice, transparency and truth for certain self-serving interests such as good name, promotions and sizeable profits, in the long run.Lack of conviction breeds a kind of faith lacking with the courage of bear witness. And like somebody who hears the Word of God but, apparently, does not listen, a person who cannot bear witness to the truths of the Gospels in his or her workplace surely is reluctant to practice what he or she so delightfully hears on account of the difficulties that arise with the obedience is demanded corollary to it (Suarez 4).By and by Jesus continues the parable And some fell among thorns and the thorns sprung up, and chocked t hem (Mat 137) and, explaining it further, He argues, He who received seed among thorns is he who heard the word but the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he became unfruitful (Mat 1322). Immediately, one may rightly surmise that this categorization reflects, in many ways, the general atmosphere of modern society.In fact, Cardinal Hume firmly believes that the contemporary milieu is gripped with a positive desire towards consumerism and materialism and, such unmistakable preponderance to what the world offers, endangers peoples faith as a consequence (61). To be sure, it is certainly not difficult to re-interpret this particular passage in the modern context of business enterprise for the plain reason that it is normative for nearly all types of business outfits to engage in trades that ensures growth and progress.Surely, such preeminent emphasis (which companies lay) on accruing profits has significant impacts in the peoples read employees b elief and value systems. Put in other words, if the company puts higher premium than most on achieving worldly success, the people employed under are said to follow suit, without them even realizing it. Guy even contends that company traditions can creep into a persons normative judgments easily (47).And concretely, this happens when the company unreasonably demands from its employees their unqualified attention and time on account of the need to work for higher earnings and thereby not leaving them with space for their relational and spiritual needs. The results can therefore prove to be detrimental to the peoples faith for if many people would simply shrug off the need to attend to their spiritual needs, by saying that they just do not have the time for it, then there are reasons to think that the many cares and snares of this world truly render Christian faith unprolific, if not meaningless altogether.Finally though, Jesus speaks of the Good tidings to end the parable in an op timistic tone But the other seeds fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold (Mat 138). To such description, Jesus appends But he who received seed into the good ground is the one who heard the word, and understood it which overly bore fruit, and brought forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Mat 1323).In here, Jesus parable reaches its climax it offers its central thesis namely, that the way towards a meaningful life lies in listening to what the Lord says, understanding the message thereof, and putting its lessons in ones life (Suarez 8). Interpreting this aspect into the modern context of conducting business, and living in the world of business altogether, is surely not difficult to do. This is because there are faithful Christians immersed, as they were, into the morally-adverse structure of business enterprise who still are able to discover the presence of God right into their otherwise difficult situation s.One may perhaps cite how many business ethicists believe that there are still a good number of employees feel that it pays off not resorting to malpractices at the expense of compromising opportunities to practice ethical and religious principles (Guy 22). For instance, it is not uncommon to hear of stories involving high-profiled dissenters and whistleblowers who tried to rectify incidences of corruption, fraud or theft in their workplaces.Even when their decision to come out into the open comes with a high price e. g. eing frowned upon by colleagues, or worse, losing their jobs ultimately these exemplary people have shown exactly how one should practice the mandate of the Gospel and seek Gods ways in every moments of life. People who act ethically and observe religious precepts faithfully in workplaces too often show the world what faith in God truly means. For faith, as the lettered John Constantino writes, deals with the nature of God, with the essence of spirituality, and with the quintessential manifestation of that spirituality in our day-to-day lives (4).ConclusionBy way of conclusion, this paper ends with a thought that affirms the tenability of re-appropriating the Parable of the Sower into the lives of modern people, who spend much of their times in their respective workplaces. In the first place, it was learned that the parable can lend an insightful thought which affirms the universal character of Gods call to salvation i. e. , God sows the seed of salvation to all types of environment, even those like the business environments that may appear to be adverse to persons religious and spiritual ideals.In the succeeding discussions which were developed, it was likewise seen that Jesus description on the four types of soils can be taken as analogical references to the four types of attitudes that may be exercised in the workplace. But in the final analysis, the paper also affirms the fact that modern Christians are called to emulate the seed th at fell into the good soil, and thereby put into practice the truths that are found in the Scriptures itself.

Black Hand †The Conspiracy that started War Essay

In 1911 ten politically important men of Serbia organize a secret society called the disastrous Hand in one of their sisters basements. Three years later, the Black Hand had started World fight one. Fifteen million heap died, 20 million people wounded all be nonplus of the bad judgement of one gay and the death of another. The cause the Black Hand was fighting for was a worthy one for they were simply liberating themselves from Austro-Hungarian control. They wanted to be free people and numerous powerful and political people of Serbia conjugate the leader ranks of the Black Hand. They operated through stealth and if a perpetrator of the Black Hand was caught by the confrontation then they were under strict orders to commit self-annihilation at the first opportunity, if not then the Black Hand would kill that person themselves in case they had become a spy for the enemy unmatchable bad move and the foundation of which they formed would be ripped apart They had to be cautious and very clear on what they intended to do or their enemy would pick them off one by one.The cause of the First World War is quite memorably famous well Id aver it is to anyone whos studied WWI in school but what may seem interesting is how one small stimulate that is the assassination of a prince, tied to many other prominentger rocks that are the empires and the countries, could miraculously pull them all in to a never-ending hole in such short time. Many contrive that the tenseness between the two sides of the war was at such a high standing point that even a feather could make that tension blow up colossally others who think otherwise are quite stupid. So generally it wasnt the small innocent(well I wouldnt exactly say innocent) rock that pulled the larger rocks into deep oblivion, no, it was the powerful winds abided and helped by the small rock that made it all happen, a small rock made such a big difference in a much larger world, anythings possible eh? The Black Hand was a secret organisation whose sole goal was to crash Austria-Hungary plans, terrorise them in their most crucial points and in the end game kick them out of Serbia so the country could once again be total and free.They would go to any measures to extrapolate their plans and many people died. They formed in 1911 and by 1914 there were several hundreds of members, perhaps even more accurately two thousand five hundred. They had spies everywhere. Perhaps their biggest act and possibly their biggest overestimated one was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. They could never possibly see that it would some short time later cause World War one. They had hoped to shake Austria-Hungary and perhaps cite some fear into the King but never to cause a war of mass scale. unluckily any one thing, however small, was enough to pop that tension filled balloon and cause a war.So If they didnt cause the war, something else was obviously put one across done it. The assassination wasnt pr ofessionally done. By that I mean the leaders behind the plot didnt go to great measures to ensure that Franz Ferdinand would die. They relied on the number of men they had enrolled to do the job. There were a lot of their men on the scene and many were not captured, being transparent in the bright crowd. Perhaps they did not want to hurt their fellow Serbs for something such as a 20 metre range bomb would surely kill and stultification a lot of innocent people. But never the less the prince was assassinated after fruitless attemptsHe was assassinated by a young man called Gavrillo Princip who made no hesitation to kill the prince after spotting him across the road, his colleagues were obviously unsuccessful in the act and without a seconds thought Gavrillo ran out and shoot two shots, killing the prince and his wife Sophie. Years after the war had ended Gavrillo Princip was questioned. At the end of the interview, they asked him if he knew what would watch happened when he fire d those shots, would he have done it? This proved that the Black Hands intentions were clean at heart even to the lowest members for he said god hell no, Commend millions of people to death because of my own stupid judgement? Hell no.

Many People Have Different Learning Styles

Your role of organizing and salvageing training tarts by identifying the learners needs. Before the course starts, You need to carry out an sign assessment of all learners, by direct contact or through their training manager / unit manager. Planning Your responsibilities are 1 . To ensure that at one time the syllabus is screwn, you prepare for the lesson and lesson plans generated 2. To ensure the course structure and timetable are developed 3. To ensure that resources are planned IEEE laptops, projectors etc 4. To ensure accommodation is suitable 5. To get to know our students and their needs 6.To ensure that our knowledge is up to date 7. Organization is number 1 priority in delivering a good lesson 8. To organize the class path layout to suit the group you are teaching. It is necessary to keep up to date with any changes in the training curriculum, especially in SST John Ambulance as things desire first aid modifications / principals change frequently to keep up with modern changes in everyday lifestyle and delivering first aid or methods in teaching. Shoots Ambulance tornado regular training days / evenings to keep up to date with any changes.Boundaries with Planning There are limitations with planning, in that a Teacher can but plan for what s known and there may be un look toed occurrences that have to be dealt with in the lesson. However, there also has to be an element of expect the unexpected Delivery Your responsibilities are 1. To ensure that delivery is clear and concise 2. That standards are maintained 3. That YOU deliver your lesson to a consistently high standard 4. That YOU deliver a differentiated lesson taking into account different learning styles, and a differentiated lesson to engage learners at different levels.

Morality of Homosexuality According to Rachels

The ethics and morality of pederasticity and homo commoveual plays stimulate been debated and questioned by many crowds of people using several moral approaches to argue their point. It seems that the group of people who are most against homosexuality are religious groups, specifically Christians. Homosexuality however is non morally impose on _or_ oppress and many arguments will be presented to refute the claims by those who do hope that homosexuality is unethical and morally wrong.The approaches that is used the most to argue that homosexuality and the acts that are involved are morally wrong which is used most by Christians is the Theory of intrinsic Law. Now there are three main points to this theory and the first point is that it is believed that everything in nature has a suggest (Rachels & Rachels, 2012). Aristotle, who is very well known and respected stated that if everyone believes that nature makes objects for a specific purpose, and that this believe is correct, so, nature makes things for the sake of man.Christians believe that God created things in nature for a specific plan and so if that specific plan can not be carried out, then it should not be done and therefore is morally wrong. To connect this part of the Theory of Natural Law to thoughts about homosexuality, one of the main arguments against homosexual acts is that it is unnatural. Christians believe the act of homosexual sex is immoral because it does not end in the production of life, which according to them are the main purposes of sex, to create life.This argument is easily refuted however. When using the evolutionary scent out of the term unnatural, which is how most Christians use it in their arguments, they mean that homosexuality is morally wrong because it involves the unnatural use of body parts. It is believed by some, that because God had created genitals and the act of sex for procreation, and homosexual sex can not end in procreation, that those individuals engag ing in those acts are using their body parts for something it they were not intend for. Therefore, what they are doing is wrong.However, there are many couples that are sterile, who will never shoot the opportunity to procreate, and yet as long as the sex is heterosexual, Christians do not condemn them. The Roman Catholic church who does not agree with the use of birth control, still allows couples to switch sex if they are infertile or during pregnancy (Mappes, Zembaty & DeGrazia, 2012). Therefore the Catholic church can claim that if the body parts are not being used for the purpose of procreation then it is unnatural and immoral otherwise they would be contradicting their own practices.Besides, as pointed out in the book by Mappes, Zembaty & DeGrazia (2012), we have multiple purposes for our organs and body parts. that because we use our mouths to not only breath, consume nutrients and communicate, but also to chew gum and lick stamps, does not mean that those acts are immoral . Even though our moths were not originally intended to chew gum or lick stamps, does not mean that those acts are unethical. Besides, it is also recognized by Christians that a second purpose of heterosexual sex is to bond and connect with your partner and to express love.Homosexuals use their genitals during sexual acts for those same reasons as well. So, it stands to show that Homosexuality and Homosexual sex are not immoral and unethical due to the unnatural use of their sex organs. A second part to the Theory of Natural Law is the tone that all things unnatural are bad and that what is and what ought to be should be the same or else it is morally wrong. The example that Rachels & Rachels (2012) gives is that Beneficence is morally right. That we should always act in the best interest of others because we care.If we do not care and therefore are not working in the best interest of others, then were are not being beneficent and that is morally wrong. Those who do not care and do not practice beneficence are often regarded as wrong. For example, these such individuals whitethorn be diagnoses with a mental illness called antisocial personality disorder because those who do not care, couldnt possibly be well. It is believed that these individuals ways of thinking are wrong and therefore should be fixed. So, because society believes that people ought to be beneficent and therefore if they are not, then their actions are morally wrong.Rachels & Rachels (2012) then points out that sex produces babies, that is fact. only does it then follow that sex ought to produces babies? Not necessarily. Those who have genetic mutations that could produce offspring with those same genetic mutations or diseases could be said ought not to have babies because it would perpetuate pain and suffering. Should it follow then those individuals ought not to have sex at all? It is not considered morally wrong for those with genetic illness to have sex, but it maybe thought to be morall y wrong for them to produce a child.So, what is and what ought to be are different. In regards to Homosexuality, some believe that those individuals ought not to have sex because it is not an innate desire and therefore is unnatural. And as stated before that in which is unnatural ought not to occur according to the Theory of Natural Law. It is argued that References Rachels, J. , & Rachels, S. (2012). The elements of moral philosophy. New York, NY McGraw-Hill. Mappes, T. A. , Zembaty, J. S. , & DeGrazia, D. (2012). Social Ethics Morality and Social Policy. New York, NY McGraw-Hill.

Employment and Unemployment in the 1930s

The Great Depression is to stintings what the Big Bang is to physics. As an event, the Depression is largely substitutable with the birth of modern macroeconomics, and it continues to haunt successive generations of economists. With respect to drudge and boil markets, these occurrences evidently include operate rigidity, persistently towering un art order, and long-term job littleness. Traditionally, aggregate season series subscribe to provided the econometric grist for distinguishing business relationships of the Great Depression.Recent research on grind markets in the mid-thirties, however, has shifted aid from aggregate to disaggregate time series and towards microeconomic evidence. This shift in focus is motivated by two factors. First, disaggregated selective information provide many lots degrees of freedom than the decade or so of annual observations associated with the depression, and thus may prove helpful in distinguishing macroeconomic explanations. Second, dis collection has revealed aspects of economic behavior hidden in the time series solely which may be essential to their strait-laced interpretation and, in any end, atomic number 18 worthy of study in their own right.Although the substantive findings of recent research be too clean to decide their permanent signifi canfulce, I believe that the shift towards disaggregated analysis is an important contribution. The paper begins by examineing the conventional statistics of the linked States labor market during the Great Depression and the paradigms to inform them. It then turns to recent studies of exercise and un study using disaggregated data of discordant types. The paper concludes with discussions of research on untested(prenominal) aspects of labor markets in the thirties and on a promising source of microdata for future work.My analysis is confined to research on the United States those interested in an inter matter perspective on labor markets tycoon begin with E ichengreen and Hattons chapter in their edited volume, Interwar Unemployment in International Perspective, and the heterogeneous country studies in that volume. I begin by reviewing two standard series of unemployment order, Stanley Lebergotts and Michael Darbys, and an index number of reliable periodic lettuce in manufacturing compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).The difference surrounded by Lebergotts and Darbys series, which is examined later in the paper, concerns the treatment of persons with so-called work residual jobs. For Lebergott, persons on work relief are discharged, firearm Darby counts them as active. between 1929 and 1933 the unemployment rate increased by over 20 pctage points, correspond to the Lebergott series, or by 17 percentage points, according to Darbys series. For the remainder of the decade, the unemployment rate stayed in, or hovered around, double digits. On the eve of Americas entry into World contend Two, between 9. and 14. 6 pe rcent of the labor force was out of work, depending on how unemployment is measured. In addition to high levels of unemployment, the 1930s witnessed the emergence of widespread and persistent long-term unemployment (unemployment durations longer than unmatchable year) as a serious policy problem. According to a Massachusetts severalize enumerate defyn in 1934, fully 63 percent of sluggish persons had been unemployed for a year or to a greater extent than. Similar amounts of long-term unemployment were observed in Philadelphia in 1936 and 1937.Given these patterns of unemployment, the behavior of factual bribe has proven most puzzling. Between 1929 and 1940 annual changes in real wages and unemployment were positively cor think. Real wages rose by 16 percent between 1929 and 1932, while the unemployment rate ballo peer slightd from 3 to 23 percent. Real wages remained high throughout the rest of the decade, although unemployment never dipped below 9 percent, no matter how it is measured. From this information, the central questions appear to be Why did unemployment remain persistently high throughout the decade?How can unemployment judge in excess of 10 to 20 percent be reconcile with the behavior of real wages, which were stable or increase? One way of answering these questions is to devise aggregative models consistent with the time series, and I briefly review these attempts later in the paper. Before doing so, however, it is important to stress that the aggregate statistics are removed from perfect. No government agency in the 1930s routinely hive away labor force information analogous to that provided by todays Current Population Survey.The unemployment rates just discussed are constructs, the differences between intercensal estimates of labor force participation rates and employment-to-population ratios. Because unemployment is measured as a residual, relatively small changes in the labor force or employment counts can markedly affect the est imated unemployment rate. The dispute between Darby and his critics over the labor force classification of persons on work relief is a manifestation of this problem. Although few progress has been made on measurement issues, in that respect is little incertitude that further refinements to the aggregate unemployment eries would be beneficial. Stanley Lebergott has critically examined the reliability of BLS wage series from the 1930s. The BLS series drew upon a fixed group of manufacturing establishments coverage for at least two successive months. Lebergott nones several biases arising from this sampling method. Workers who were laid off, he claims, were less productive and had dismount wages than average. Firms that went out of business were littler, on average, than houses that survived, and tended to have lower average wages.In addition, the BLS oversampled large firms, and Lebergott suspects that large firms were more adept at selectively laying off lower- productivity l abor more willing to deskill, that is, reassign able employees to less-skilled jobs and more apt(predicate) to give able employees longer work terminations. A rough calculation suggests that accounting for these biases would produce an aggregate go down in nominal wages between 1929 and 1932 as a lot as 48 percent larger than that measured by the BLS series.Although the details of Lebergotts calculation are open to scrutiny, the research discussed elsewhere in the paper suggests that he is correct nigh the existence of biases in the BLS wage series. For much of the period since World War Two, most economists blamed persistent unemployment on wage rigidity. The require for labor was a downward sloping function of the real wage but since nominal wages were insufficiently flexible downward, the labor market in the 1930s was persistently in disequilibrium.Labor egress exceeded labor command, with mass unemployment the unfortunate consequence. Had wages been more flexible, this viewpoint holds, employment would have been restored and Depression averted. The frontal attack on the conventional wisdom was Robert E. Lucas and Leonard Rapping. The original Lucas-Rapping set-up continued to view current labor demand as a negative function of the current real wage. Current labor supply was a positive function of the real wage and the evaluate real interest rate, but a negative function of the expected future wage.If role players expect high real wages in the future or a lower real interest rate, current labor supply would be depressed, employment would stick, unemployment rise, and real wages increase. Lucas and Rapping offer an unemployment equation, relating the unemployment rate to actual versus expect nominal wages, and actual versus anticipated price levels. Al Rees argued that the Lucas-Rapping model was unable to account for the persistence of high unemployment coincident with stable or rising real wages. Lucas and Rapping conceded defeat for the perio d 1933 to 1941, but claimed victory for 1929 to 1933.As Ben Bernanke pointed out, however, their victory rests largely on the belief that expected real interest rates fell between 1929 and 1933, while ex post, real interest rates in 1930-33 were the highest of the century. Because nominal interest rates fell sharply between 1929 and 1933, whether expected real rates fell hinges on whether deflation which turned out to be considerable was unanticipated. Recent research by Steven Cecchetti suggests that the deflation was, at least in part, anticipated, which appears to undercut Lucas and Rappings reply.In a disputed paper aimed at rehabilitating the Lucas-Rapping model, Michael Darby redefined the unemployment rate to exclude persons who held work relief jobs with the Works Progress and Work Projects Administrations (the WPA) or other federal and state agencies. The convention of the era, followed by Lebergott, was to count persons on work relief as unemployed. According to Darby, however, persons with work relief jobs were employed by the government From the Keynesian viewpoint, labor voluntarily employed on contracyclical government projects should certainly be counted as employed.On the search approach to unemployment, a person who accepts a job and withdraws voluntarily from the activity of search is clearly employed. The exclusion of persons on work relief drastically lowers the aggregate unemployment rate after 1935. In addition to modifying the definition of unemployment, Darby also redefined the real wage to be the average annual cyberspace of full-time employees in all industries. With these changes, the fit of the Lucas-Rapping unemployment equation is improved, even for 1934 to 1941. However, Jonathan Kesselman and N. E.Savin later showed that the improved fit was largely the consequence of Darbys limited real wage series, non the revised unemployment rate. Thus, for the purpose of through empirical observation testing the Lucas-Rapping model, the classification of WPA proles as employed or unemployed is not crucial. Returning to the questions make up above, New Deal legislation has frequently been blamed for the persistence of high unemployment and the perverse behavior of real wages. In this regard, perhaps the most important scrap of legislation was the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933.The National Recovery Administration (NRA), created by the NIRA, established guidelines that raised nominal wages and prices, and encouraged higher levels of employment through reductions in the length of the workweek (worksharing). An influential study by Michael Weinstein econometrically analyzed the clashing of the NIRA on wages. Using aggregate monthly data on hourly earnings in manufacturing, Weinstein showed that the NIRA raised nominal wages directly through its wage codes and indirectly by raising prices.The derive impact was such that in the absence of the NIRA, average hourly earnings in manufacturing would have been less than thirty-five cents by May 1935 instead of its actual level of about sixty cents (assuming unemployment to have been unaltered). It is questionable, however, whether the NIRA really this large an impact on wages. Weinstein measured the direct nub of the codes by comparing monthly wage changes during the NIRA period (1933-35) with wage changes during the recovery phase (1921-23) of the post-World War One recession (1920-21), holding constant the level of unemployment and changes in wholesale prices.Data from the intervening years (1924-1932) or after the NIRA period were excluded from his regression analysis (p. 52). In addition, Weinsteins regression specification precludes the possibility that reductions in each week hours (worksharing), some of which occurred independently of the NIRA, had a positive effect on hourly earnings. A recent paper using data from the full sample period and allowing for the effect of worksharing found a positive but much smaller imp act of the NIRA on wages (see the discussion of Bernankes work later in the paper).Various developments in neo-Keynesian macroeconomics have recently filtered into the discussion. Martin Baily emphasizes the role of implicit contracts in the context of various legal and institutional changes during the 1930s. Firms did not aggressively cut wages when unemployment was high early in the 1930s because such a policy would hurt worker morale and the firms reputation, incentives that were later reinforced by New Deal legislation. Efficiency wages have been invoked in a provocative article by Richard Jensen.Beginning sometime(prenominal) after the turn of the century large firms slowly began to adopt bureaucratic methods of labor relations. Policies were designed to identify and keep the more efficient workers, and to encourage other workers to emulate them. Efficiency wages were one such device, which presumably contributed to stickiness in wages. The trend towards bureaucratic methods accelerated in the 1930s. According to Jensen, firms surviving the initial downturn used the opportunity to lay off their least productive workers but a portion of the initial decline in employment occurred among firms that went out of business.Thus, when enlargement occurred, firms had their pick of workers who had been laid off. Personnel departments used past wage histories as a signal, and higher-wage workers were a better risk. Those with fewer occupational skills, the elderly (who were expensive to retrain) and the peaked(predicate) educated faced enormous difficulties in finding work. After 1935 the reserve army of long-term unemployed did not exert much downward push on nominal wages because employers simply did not view the long-term unemployed as substitutes for the employed at virtually any wage.A novel lark of Jensens argument is its integration of microeconomic evidence on the characteristics of the unemployed with macroeconomic evidence on wage rigidity. Other ci rcumstantial evidence is in its favor, too. productiveness growth was surprisingly strong after 1932, despite severe weakness in capital investment and a slowdown in innovative activity. The grandiosity of the era, that higher wages and better treatment of labor would improve labor productivity, may be the correct explanation.If the reserve army hypothesis were true, the wages of unskilled workers, who were disproportionately unemployed, should have fallen relative to the wages of skilled and educated workers, but there is no indication that wage differentials were wider overall in the 1930s than in the 1920s. It remains an open question, however, whether the use of efficiency wages was as widespread as Jensen alleges, and whether efficiency wages can account empirically for the evolution of productivity growth in the 1930s. In brief, the macro studies have not settled the debate over the proper interpretation of the aggregate statistics.This state of affairs has much to do with th e (supreme) difficulty of building a consensus macro model of the depression economy. and it is also a consequence of the level of aggregation at which empirical work has been conducted. The problem is partly one of sample size, and partly a glistenion of the inadequacies of discussing these issues using the paradigm of a congresswoman agent. This being, the case I turn next to disaggregated studies of employment and unemployment. In a conventional short-run aggregate production function, the labor input is defined to be total person-hours.For the postwar period, temporal variation in person-hours is overwhelmingly due to fluctuations in employment. However, for the interwar period, variations in the length of the workweek account for nearly half of the monthly sectionalization in the labor input. Declines in each week hours were deep, prolonged, and widespread in the 1930s. The behavior of real hourly earnings, however, may have not have been independent of changes in weekly h ours. This insight motivates Ben Bernankes analysis of employment, hours, and earnings in eight pre-World War Two manufacturing industries.The (industry- specific) supply of labor is described by an earnings function, which gives the minimum weekly earnings required for a worker to supply a given number of hours per week. In Bernankes formulation, the earnings function is convex in hours and also noncontinuous at zero hours (the discontinuity smooths fixed costs of working or switching industries). Production depends separately on the number of workers and weekly hours, and on nonlabor inputs. Firms are not indifferent between receiving one hour of work from eight different workers and receiving eight hours from one worker. A reduction in product demand causes the firm to cut back employment and hours per week. The reduction in hours means more leisure for workers, but less pay per week. Eventually, as weekly hours are lessen beyond a certain point, hourly earnings rise. Further r eductions in hours cannot be matched one for one by reductions in weekly earnings. But, when hourly earnings increase, the real wage then appears to be countercyclical. To test the model, Bernanke uses monthly, industry-level data compiled by the National Industrial Conference Board covering the period 1923 to 1939.The specification of the earnings function (describing the supply of labor) incorporates a partial enrollment of wages to prices, while the labor demand equation incorporates partial change of current demand to sought after demand. Except in one industry (leather), the industry demand for workers falls as real product wages rise industry demands for weekly hours fall as the marginal cost to the firm of varying weekly hours rises and industry labor supply is a positive function of weekly earnings and weekly hours.The model is used to argue that the NIRA lowered weekly hours and raised weekly earnings and employment, although the effects were modest. In six of the indust ries (the exceptions were shoes and lumber), increased union stoop after 1935 (measured with a proxy variable of days idled by strikes) raised weekly earnings by 10 percent or more. Simulations revealed that allowing for full adjustment of nominal wages to prices resulted in a poor description of the behavior of real wages, but no deterioration in the models ability to explain employment and hours variation.Whatever the importance of sticky nominal wages in explaining real wage behavior, the phenomenon may not have had great allocative significance for employment. In a related paper, Bernanke and Martin Parkinson use an expanded version of the NICB data set to explore the possibility that short-run increasing returns to labor or procyclical labor productivity, characterized co-movements in output and employment in the 1930s. Using their expanded data set, Bernanke and Parkinson estimate regressions of the change in output on the change in labor input, now defined to be total person -hours.The coefficient of the change in the labor input is the key parameter if it exceeds unity, then short-run increasing returns to labor are present. Bernanke and Parkinson find that short-run increasing returns to labor characterized all but two of the industries under study (petroleum and leather). The estimates of the labor coefficient are essentially unchanged if the sample is restricted to just the 1930s. Further, a high degree of correlation coefficient (r = 0. 9) appears between interwar and postwar estimates of short-run increasing returns to labor for a matched sample of industries.Thus, the procyclical constitution of labor productivity appears to be an accepted fact for both the interwar and postwar periods. One explanation of procyclical productivity, favored by real business cycle theorists, emphasizes technology shocks. Booms are periods in which technological change is unco brisk, and labor supply increases to take advantage of the higher wages induced by tempor ary gains in productivity (caused by the outward shift in production functions).In Bernanke and Parkinsons view, however, the high correlation between the pre- and post-war estimates of short-run increasing returns to labor poses a serious problem for the technological shocks explanation. The high correlation implies that the real shocks hitting individual industrial production functions in the interwar period accounted for about the same percentage of employment variation in each industry as genuine technological shocks hitting industrial production functions in the post-war period.However, technological change per se during the Depression was concentrated in a few industries and was modest overall. Further, while real shocks (for example, bank failures, the New Deal, international political instability) occurred, their effects on employment were felt through shifts in aggregate demand, not through shifts in industry production functions. Other leading explanations of procyclical p roductivity are true increasing returns or, popular among Keynesians, the theory of labor hoarding during economic downturns.Having ruled out technology shocks, Bernanke and Parkinson attempt to distinguish between true increasing returns and labor hoarding. They devise two tests, both of which involve restrictions on excluding proxies for labor utilization from their regressions of industry output. If true increasing returns were present, the observed labor input captures all the relevant information about variations in output over the cycle. But if labor hoarding were occurring, the rate of labor utilization, holding employment constant, should account for output variation.Their results are mixed, but are mildly in favor of labor hoarding. Although Bernankes modeling effort is of independent interest, the substantive value of his and Parkinsons research is enhanced considerably by disaggregation to the industry level. It is obvious from their work that industries in the 1930s did not respond identically to decreases in output demand. However, further disaggregation to the firm level can produce additive insights. Bernanke and Parkinson assume that movements in industry aggregates reflect the behavior of a representative firm.But, according to Lebergott (1989), much of the initial decline in output and employment occurred among firms that exhalationed. Firms that left, and new entrants, however, were not identical to firms that survived. These points are well-illustrated in Timothy Bresnahan and Daniel Raffs study of the American move vehicle industry. Their database consists of manuscript census returns of motor vehicle typesets in 1929, 1931, 1933, and 1935. By linking the manuscript returns from year to year, Bresnahan and Raff have created a display board dataset, capable of identifying plants the exited, surviving plants, and new plants.Plants that exited between 1929 and 1933 had lower wages and lower labor productivity than plants that survived. Between 1933 and 1935 average wages at exiting plants and new plants were slightly higher than at surviving plants. Output per worker was still relatively greater at surviving plants than new entrants, but the gap was smaller than between 1929 and 1933. Roughly a third of the decline in the industrys employment between 1929 and the trough in 1933 occurred in plant closures. The vast majority of these plant closures were permanent.The shakeout of inefficient firms after 1929 ameliorated the decline in average labor productivity in the industry. Although industry productivity did decline, productivity in 1933 would have been still lower if all plants had continued to operate. During the initial recovery phase (1933-35) about 40 percent of the increase in employment occurred in new plants. Surviving plants were more apt(predicate) to use mass-production techniques the same was true of new entrants. Mass production plants differed sharply from their predecessors (custom production plan ts) in the skill mix of their workforces and in labor relations.In the motor vehicle industry, the early years of the Depression were an evolutionary event, permanently altering the technology of the representative firm. While the representative firm paradigm obviously fails for motor vehicles, it may not for other industries. Some preliminary work by Amy Bertin, Bresnahan, and Raff, on another industry, blast furnaces, is revealing on this point. Blast furnaces were strung-out to increasing returns and the market for the product (molten iron) was highly localized.For this industry, reductions in output during a cyclical trough are reasonably described by a representative firm, since localized competition prevented efficient reallocation of output crosswise plants and therefore the compositional effects occurring in the auto industry did not happen. These analyses of firm-level data have two important implications for studies of employment in the 1930s. First, aggregate demand sho cks could very well have changed average technological practice through the process of exit and entry at the firm level.Thus Bernanke and Parkinsons rejection of the technological shocks explanation of short-run increasing returns, which is based in part on their belief that aggregate demand shocks did not alter industry production functions, may be premature. Second, the empirical adequacy of the representative firm paradigm is apparently industry-specific, depending on industry structure, the nature of product demand, and initial (that is, pre-Depression) heterogeneity in firm sizes and costs.Such phenomena are invisible in industry data, and can only be recovered from firm-level records, such as the census manuscripts. Analyses of industry and firm-level data are one way to explore heterogeneity in labor utilization. Geography is another. A focus on national or even industry aggregates obscures the substantial spatial variation in bust and recovery that characterized the 1930s. T wo recent studies show how spatial variation suggests new puzzles about the persistence of the Depression as well as provide additional degrees of freedom for discriminating between macroeconomic models.State-level variation in employment is the subject of an important article by John Wallis. Using data cool by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wallis has constructed annual indices of manufacturing and nonmanufacturing employment for states from 1930 to 1940. Wallis indices reveal that declines in employment between 1930 and 1933 were steepest in the East North Central and Mountain states employment actually rose in the South Atlantic states, however, once an adjustment is made for industry mix.The South also did comparatively well during the recovery phase of the Depression (1933-1940). Wallis tests whether the southern advantage during the recovery phase might reflect lower levels of unionization and a lower proportion of employment affected by the passage of the Social Security Ac t (1935), but controlling for percent unionized and percent in covered employment in a regression of employment growth does not eliminate the regional gap. What comes through clearly, according to Wallis is that the employment effects of the Depression varied considerably throughout the nation and that a convincing explanation of the South-nonSouth difference remains an open question. Curtis Simon and Clark Nardinelli exploit variation across cities to put forth a particular interpretation of economic downturn in the early 1930s. Specifically, they study the empirical human relationship between industrial alteration and city- level unemployment rates in the lead and after World War Two.Industrial diversity is measured by a city-specific Herfindahl index of industry employment shares. The higher the value of the index, the greater is the concentration of employment in a small number of industries. Using data from the 1930 federal census and the 1931 Special Census of Unemployment, Simon and Nardinelli show that unemployment rates and the industrial diversity index were positively correlated across cities at the beginning of the Depression.Analysis of similar census data for the post-World War Two, period, reveals a negative correlation between city unemployment rates and industrial diversity. Simon and Nardinelli explain this finding as the outcome of two competing effects. In normal economic circumstances, a city with a more diverse range of industries should have a lower unemployment rate (the portfolio effect), because industry-specific demand shocks will not be perfectly correlated across industries and some laid-off workers will find ready employment in expanding industries.The portfolio effect may fail, however, during a large aggregate demand shock (the early 1930s) if firms and workers are poorly informed, misperceiving the shock to be industry-specific, rather than a normal reduction in demand. Firms in industrially diverse cities announce selectiv e layoffs rather than knock down wages, because they believe that across-the-board wage cuts would cause too many workers to quit (workers in industrial diverse cities think they can easily find a job in another industry elsewhere in the same city), thus hurting production.Firms in industrially specialized cities, however, are more likely to cut wages than employment because they believe lower wages would induce relatively fewer quits than in industrially diverse cities. Thus, Simon and Nardinelli conclude, wages in the early 1930s were more rigid in industrially-diverse cities, producing the positive correlation between industrial diversity and unemployment. Improvements in the quantity, quality, and timeliness of economic information, they conjecture, have caused the portfolio effect to dominate after World War Two, producing the postwar negative correlation.Although one can question the historical relevance of Simon and Nardinellis model, and the specifics of their empirical ana lysis, their paper is successful in demonstrating the potential value of spatial data in unraveling the sources of economic downturn early in the Depression. Postwar macroeconomics has tended to proceed as aggregate unemployment rates apply to a representative worker, with a certain percentage of that workers time not being used. As a result, disaggregated evidence on unemployment has been slighted.Such evidence, however, can provide a richer picture of who was unemployed in the 1930s, a better understanding of the relationship between unemployment and work relief, and further insights into macroeconomic explanations of unemployment. To date, the source that has received the most attention is the public use tape of the 1940 census, a large, ergodic sample of the population in 1940. The 1940 census is a remarkable historical document. It was the first American census to inquire about educational attainment, wage and salary income and weeks worked in the previous year nd the first t o use the labor force week imagination in soliciting information about labor force status. Eight labor force categories are reported, including whether persons held work relief jobs during the census week (March 24-30, 1940). For persons who were unemployed or who held a work relief job at the time of the census, the number of weeks of unemployment since the person last held a private or nonemergency government job of one month or longer was recorded.The questions on weeks worked and earnings in 1939 did not treat work relief jobs differently from other jobs. That is, earnings from, and time fagged on, work relief are included in the totals. I have used the 1940 census sample to study the characteristics of unemployed workers and of persons on work relief, and the relationship between work relief and various aspects of unemployment. It is clear from the census tape that unemployed persons who were not on work relief were far from a random sample of the labor force.For example, the unemployed were typically younger, or older, than the average employed worker (unemployment followed a U-shape pattern with respect to age) the unemployed were more often nonwhite and they were less educated and had fewer skills than employed persons, as measured by occupation. Such differences tended to be starkest for the long-term unemployed (those with unemployment durations longer than year) thus, for example, the long-term unemployed had even less schooling that the average unemployed worker.Although the WPA drew its workers from the ranks of the unemployed, the characteristics of WPA workers did not merely replicate those of other unemployed persons. For example, single men, the foreign-born, high school graduates, urban residents, and persons living in the Northeast were underrepresented among WPA workers, compared with the rest of the unemployed. Perhaps the most salient difference, however, concerns the duration of unemployment. Among those on work relief in 1940, roughly twice as many had been without a non-relief job for a year or longer as had unemployed persons not on work relief.The fact that the long-term unemployed were concentrated disproportionately on work relief raises an obvious question. Did the long-term unemployed find work relief jobs after being unemployed for a long time, or did they remain with the WPA for a long time? The answer appears to be mostly the latter. Among nonfarm males ages 14 to 64 on work relief in March 1940 and coverage 65 weeks of unemployment (that is, the first quarter of 1940 and all of 1939), close to half worked 39 weeks or more in 1939. Given the census conventions, they had to have been working more or less full time, for the WPA.For reasons that are not fully clear, the incentives were such that a significant fraction of persons who got on work relief, stayed on. One possible explanation is that some persons on work relief preferred the WPA, given prevailing wages, perhaps because their relief jobs were more stable than the non-relief jobs (if any) available to them. Or, as one WPA worker put it Why do we want to hold onto these relief jobs? We know all the time about persons just managing to scrape along My advice, Buddy, is better not take too much of a chance. Know a good thing when you got it. Alternatively, working for the WPA may have stigmatized individuals, making them less desirable to non-relief employers the longer they stayed on work relief. Whatever the explanation, the continuous nature of WPA employment makes it difficult to believe that the WPA did not reduce, in the aggregate, the amount of job search by the unemployed in the late 1930s. In addition to the duration of unemployment experienced by individuals, the availability of work relief may have dampened the increase in labor supply of secondary workers in households in which the household head was unemployed, the so- called added worker effect.Specifically, wives of unemployed men not on work relief were muc h more likely to participate in the labor force than wives of men who were employed at non-relief jobs. But wives of men who worked for the WPA were far less likely to participate in the labor force than wives of otherwise employed men. The relative impacts were such that, in the aggregate, no added worker effect can be observed as long as persons on work relief are counted among the unemployed.Although my primary goal in analyzing the 1940 census sample was to illuminate features of unemployment obscured by the aggregate time series, the results bear on several macroeconomic issues. First, the heterogenous nature of unemployment implies that a representative agent view of aggregate unemployment cannot be maintained for the late 1930s. Whether the view can be maintained for the earlier part of the Depression is not certain, but the evidence presented in Jensen and myself suggests that it cannot.Because the evolution of the characteristics of the unemployed over the 1930s bears on th e plausibility of various macroeconomic explanations of unemployment (Jensens use of efficiency wage theory, for example), further research is clearly desirable. Second, the heterogenous nature of unemployment is consistent with Lebergotts claim that aggregate BLS wage series for the 1930s are contaminated by selection bias, because the characteristics that affected the likelihood of being employed (for example, education) also affected a persons wage.Again, a clearer understanding of the magnitude and counselor-at-law of bias requires further work on how the characteristics of the employed and unemployed changed as the Depression progressed. Third, macroeconomic analyses of the persistence of high unemployment should not ignore the effects of the WPA and, more generally, those of other federal relief policies on the economic behavior of the unemployed. In particular, if work relief was preferred to job search by some unemployed workers, the WPA may have displaced some growth in private sector employment that would have occurred in its absence.An estimate of the size of this displacement effect can be inferred from a recent paper by John Wallis and Daniel Benjamin. Wallis and Benjamin estimate a model of labor supply, labor demand, and per capita relief budgets using panel data for states from 1933 to 1939. Their coefficients imply that elimination of the WPA starting in 1937 would have increased private sector employment by 2. 9 percent by 1940, which corresponds to about 49 percent of persons on work relief in that year. Displacement was not one-for-one, but may not have been negligible.My discussion thus far has emphasized the value of disaggregated evidence in understanding certain key features of labor markets in the 1930s the behavior of wages, employment and unemployment because these are of greatest general interest to economists today. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention other aspects of labor markets examined in recent work. What fo llows is a brief, personal selection from a much larger literature. The Great Depression left its mark on racial and gender differences.From 1890 to 1930 the incomes of black men increased slightly relative to the incomes of white men, but the trend in relative incomes reversed direction in the 1930s. Migration to the North, a major avenue of economic advancement for Southern blacks, slowed appreciably. There is little doubt that, if the Depression had not happened, the relative economic status of blacks would have been higher on the eve of World War Two. Labor force participation by married women was hampered by marriage bars, implicit or explicit regulations which allowed firms to dismiss single women upon arriage or which prohibited the hiring of married women. Although marriage bars existed before the 1930s, their use spread during the Depression, possibly because social norms dictated that married men were more deserving of scarce jobs than married women. Although they have not received as much attention from economists, some of the more interesting effects of the Depression were demographic or life-cycle in nature. Marriage rates fell sharply in the early 1930s, and fertility rates remained low throughout the decade.An influential study by the sociologist Glen Elder, Jr. traced the subsequent work and life histories of a sample of individuals ontogenesis up in Oakland, California in the 1930s. Children from working class households whose parents suffered from prolonged unemployment during the Depression had lower educational attainment and less occupational mobility than their peers who were not so deprived. Similar findings were reported by Stephan Thernstrom in his study of occupational mobility of Boston men.The Great Depression was the premier macroeconomic event of the twentieth century, and I am not suggesting we abandon macroeconomic analysis of it. I am suggesting, however, that an exclusive focus on aggregate labor statistics runs two risks the facts derived may be artifacts, and much of what may be interesting about labor market behavior in the 1930s is rendered invisible. The people and firms whose experiences make up the aggregates deserve to be analyse in their diversity, not as representative agents.I have mentioned census microdata, such as the public use sample of the 1940 census or the manufacturing census manuscripts collected by Bresnahan and Raff, in this survey. In closing, I would like highlight another source that could be examined in future work. The source is the Study of Consumer Purchases in the United States conducted by the BLS in 1935-36. Approximately 300,000 households, chosen from a larger random sample of 700,000, supplied basic survey data on income and housing, with 20 percent furnishing additional information.The detail is staggering labor supply and income of all family members, from all sources (on a quarterly groundwork) personal characteristics (for example, occupation, age, race) family composition housing characteristics and a long list of undestroyable and non-durable consumption expenditures (the 20 percent sample). Because the purpose of the study was to provide budget weights to update the CPI, only families in normal economic circumstances were included (this is the basis for the reduction in sample size from 700,000 to 300,000).Thus, for example, persons whose wages were very low or who experienced persistent unemployment are unlikely to be included in 1935-36 study. A pilot sample, drawn from the original survey forms (stored at the National Archives) and containing the responses of 6,000 urban households, is available in machine-readable format from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social inquiry at the University of Michigan (ICPSR Study 8908). Robert A. Margo Vanderbilt University

Online Marketing Essay

In todays reality, marketing research has begun to use the Internet and popular social networking sites such as, Facebook and Twitter, to gather own(prenominal)ized information of all users. Its becoming a lot easier for companies to connect directly with customers and collect individual information that goes into a electronic computer database. This information can also be matched to new(prenominal) websites and share data collected during unrelated transactions. There are ethical and technical considerations that need to be addressed on how companies conduct its market research. Two major examples of ethical considerations of online marketing are privacy and confidentiality. Many online consumers try to avoid anything that will proceeds in invading their privacy, but many companies tend to do that without the consumers knowledge. A company can easily have the ability to collect and set up information relating to a consumer that can violate their right to privacy.The compani es use this information to target certain advertising to that consumer, but the constant targeting can put a strain on the privacy of the consumer and start to result in a breach of confidentiality. Businesses are constantly sharing consumers information with partners or other affiliates to precisely target them with certain services or products they offer. Some companies sell the information to outside companies to make extra m iodiny that will lead to more(prenominal) strain on your privacy or even worse, identity theft. The most important example of technical consideration of online marketing is security. Security is the number one issue in a consumers mind when they need to use personal information to purchase or do anything online that requires that information.Hackers and viruses can lead to personal information on any database to be sold and used to wreak havoc on innocent consumers. Viruses can be used through netmail or websites to hack into the businesses or consumers co mputer and track or steal sensitive information that can be given to a drudge at any time. Hackers can then sell that information to anyone or use it for their own benefit to ruin the reputation of that consumer. For example, hackers can use the personal information of the consumer to steal their identity and purchase things without the knowledge of the consumer and the consumer will be at fault for anything the hacker does. This continues to be an ongoing problem in the online world and something that businesses need to be very cautious about when dealing with personal information that was given from a consumer through trust in the companys integrity online.As online marketing is becoming more popular daily around the world, companies need to realize the ethical and technical considerations that play a percentage on the abundance of consumers personal information they have. Businesses rely on precise online marketing to make the most profit with as little case as possible, but th ey also need to focus on the consumers personal needs. Privacy, confidentiality, and security are the most important topics when it comes to personal information beingness stored and shared online. Without taking the time to address and resolve these issues, companies can scare away consumers from revealing certain information that helps their business grow and become successful.ReferencesMasters, T. (n.d.). honest Considerations of Marketing Research. Retrieved from http//smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-considerations-marketing-research-43621.html. Sullivan, B. (Dec 6). Online privacy fears are real. Retrieved from http//www.nbcnews.com/id/3078835/t/online-privacy-fears-are-real/.UZl358qE72o

Bite Me: A Love Story Chapter 17

17. Wide Awake in Sucker-FreeOkata scraped the last few drops of business line from the container into the burned-up white girlfriends m egressh. Hed managed to save cardinal of the eight quart containers, simply it wasnt personnel casualty to be enough, he could tell, and after the fight at the p squealfall shop and his escape, he knew he wasnt strong enough to give her any more of his own personal credit line. Shed request more, and he was button to pick up to start work outing of her as something besides the burned-up white girl. She was starting to tally a real individual now, more than a person-shaped cinder. A very old, very scary murdered person, to be sure, but a person nonetheless. Her red hair tight covered the pillow now, and shed travel, if middling now a little, closing her mouth after the last drops of blood went in. No ash tree had flaked international with the movement. Okata was glad. Her undetermined fangs made him a little uneasy, but now she ha d lips, sort of.He picked up his sketch swan from the floor, moved to the end of the futon to restore a different angle, and began picture her, as hed been doing every hour or so since hed returned from the butcher. He was still covered with the blood that had splashed on him during the fight, but it had long since arid and except for washing his rafts so he could work, hed forgotten it. He blameless the sketch, and so moved to his workbench, where he transferred a refined version of the drawing to a piece of rice paper so thin it was nearly transparent. He would replicate this drawing four more times, then each would be glued to a woodblock and carved away to make the plate for a different aura or color.He mattered over his shoulder at her, and matt-up a tremor of shame. Yes, she sideed standardised a person now, an old, desiccated grandmformer(a), but he shouldnt leave her exchangeable that. He took a bowl from the shelf preceding(prenominal) his little kitchen sink, filled it with warm water, and then knelt by the side of the futon and gently sponged the last patina of ash from her body, bring out the no-count-white skin undern swallowh. The skin was smooth, like polished rice paper, but pores and hair follicles were forming as he wiped the ash away.Sorry, he give tongue to in English. Then in Japanese he said, I bring up non been straitsful, my burned-up gaijin girl. I will do better.He went to the cabinet under his workbench and removed a cedar box that looked like it faculty experience been fashioned to hold a set of silverware. He as sheet of paperable the lid and removed the square of white silk, then stood and let the garment fall open to its enough length. Yurikos wedding kimono. It smelled of cedar, and perhaps of a bit of incense, but mercifully, it didnt smell of her.He laid the kimono out next to the burned-up girl, and ever so slowly, he moved it under her, gently worked her skeletal mail into the sleeves, then unapp ealing the robe and tied it loosely with the white obi. He arranged her arms at her sides so they looked comfortable, then picked up a small flake of dried blood that had fallen from his face onto her breast. She looked better now. pipe down wraithlike and monstrous, but better.There you go. Yuriko would be pleased that her kimono helped cover one who had nothing.He returned to his workbench and began the drawing for the block that would carry the yellow ink for the futon, when he heard movement lav him and wheeled around.Well, dont you look yummy, Jody said.TOMMY Tommy spent the early evening in the library, reading The Econo taint and Scientific American. He felt as if all the terminology were bringing him rear end from the animal realm to being a human being, and at that place were plenty of words in those magazines. He wanted his full powers of speech and human thought beforehand he confronted Jody. He also hoped that his memory of what had happened would espouse cover w ith his words, but that didnt seem to be working. He remembered a red blur of hunger in his head, being thrown through a window and landing on the street, but between that and the time when his words returned in the basement, with the Emperor, he could remember very little. It was as if those experiences-hunting, finding shelter of darkness, snaking his way through the City in a cloud of predators departed to mist-were filed in a part of his mind that locked as soon as the ability to put words to senses returned. He suspected that he may have helped Chet push down people, but if that was the case, why had he save the Emperor?Fortunately, he hadnt lost the ability to turn to mist, which was how hed obtained the outfit he was wearing now. The whole ensemble-khaki slacks, blue Oxford-cloth shirt, leather jacket, and leather boating moccasins-had been on display in a window at a mens store on Union Square, suspended by monofilament fishing line into the shape of a casual cotton gho st that was haunting former(a), equally stylish but substanceless marionettes around some prettify chairs and artificial sand. Just after the dinner hour, when the store was at its busiest, Tommy streamed in under the door, into the outfit and became solid. With a quick crouch, he snapped all the monofilament line and walked out of the store fully dressed, bits of fishing line curled in his wake. It would, he thought, have been the smoothest, most audaciously cool thing he had ever done, if it hadnt been for the dependable pins that had fastened the shirt to the slacks. But after a minor fit on the sidewalk as he yanked the pins out of his back, hips, and abdomen, while rhythmically chanting, Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, he returned to the calm and casual cotton-clad lamia aspect hed been personnel casualty for. He waited until he was at the library, in the stacks, before he pulled the piece of cardboard out of his ternary and yanked off various tags and threads. Fortunately, there had been no anti-theft tags on the display outfit.Now he was ready, or as ready as he was going to get. He had to go to Jody now, hold her, tell her he love her, kiss her, shag her until all the furniture was broken and the neighbors complained (undead predator or not, he was still cardinal and horny), then figure out what they were going to do about their future.As he walked back through the tenderloin, dressed in his please rob me white boy outfit, a jittery crackhead in a hoody that had once been green, but now was so dirty it was shiny, tried to rob him with a screwdriver.Give me your money, bitch.Thats a screwdriver, Tommy said.Yeah. Give me your money or Ill stab you with it.Tommy could hear the tweakers heart fluttering, smell the acrid stench of decomposition reaction teeth, body odor, and urine on him, and could see an unhealthy, dark gray aura around him. His predator mind flashed the word prey.Tommy shrugged. Im wearing a leather jacket. Youll never get a screwdriver through it.You dont know that. Ill get a running start. Give me your money.I dont have any money. Youre sick. You should go to the hospital.Thats it, bitch The crackhead thrust the screwdriver at Tommys stomach.Tommy stepped aside. The tweakers movements seemed almost comically slow. As the screwdriver went by, Tommy decided it might be best if he took it, and he snatched it away. The buccaneer lost his balance and tumbled forward into the street and lay there.With the flick of his wrist, Tommy threw the screwdriver onto the roof of a four-story building across the street. Two guys who had been standing in an alley a few feet away, thinking about taking the looting over from the crackhead, or at least(prenominal) robbing him if he was successful, decided they would rather go see what was occurrence on the next block.Tommy was a half a block away when he heard the uneven, lameness footsteps of the crackhead culmination up behind him. He turned and the crackhead stopped.Give me y our money, said the tweaker.Stop robbing me, said Tommy. You dont have a weapon and I dont have any money. Its totally not working for you.Okay, give me a dollar, said the crackhead.Still dont have any money, Tommy said, turning his pants scoopfuls deep down out. A note from quizzer 18 fluttered to the sidewalk. He heard movement above-claws on stone-and cringed. Uh-oh.Fifty cents, said the crackhead. He put his hand in the pouch pocket of his hoody and pointed his finger like it was a gun. Ill shoot.You have got to be the worst fortify robber ever.The crackhead paused for a second and pulled his gun-posed hand out of his pocket. I have my G.E.D.Tommy shook his head. He thought hed left the cats behind, but the felines either still had some connection to him, or there were so more of them now that there was nowhere in the City you could go where they wouldnt be hunting. He didnt relish act to explain the whole phenomenon to Jody. Whats your name? he said to the crackhead.Im no t telling you. You could turn me in.Okay, Tommy said. Ill call you Bob. Bob, have you ever seen a cat do that? Tommy pointed up.The crackhead looked up the side of the building to see a xii cats coming down the bricks, face-down, toward him.No. Okay, Im not robbing you anymore, said the tweaker, his attention taken by the clutter of vampire cats descending on him. Have a nice evening.Sorry, said Tommy, meaning it. He turned and jogged up the street to put some distance between himself and the screaming, which only lasted a few seconds. He looked back to see the crackhead gone. Well, not really gone, but reduced to a pile of gray powder amidst his hollow clothing.Its how he would have wanted to go, Tommy said to himself.He would have thought the cats would go for the two in the alley, but now they were taking the people right out on the open street. He was going to have to get Jody and talk her into leaving the City, like they should have in the first place.He jogged the twelve bloc ks to the loft, careful not to run so fast that he might be noticed. He tried to look like a guy who was just late getting home to his girlfriend, which, in a way, he was. He waited outside the door for a moment before pushing the buzzer. What was he going to say? What if she didnt want to see him? He didnt have any experience to draw on. Shed been the first girl hed had sex with while sober. She was the first girl hed ever lived with. She was the first to take a shower with him, to make happy his blood, to turn him into a vampire, and to throw him broken and naked through a second-story window. She was his first love, really. What if she sent him away?He listened, looked at the plywood still over the windows, sniffed the air. He could hear people inside, at least two, but they werent talking. There were machines running, lights buzzing, the smell of blood and rat whiz wafting under the door. It really would have felt better if there were romance in the air, but, well, okay.He ran his fingers through his hair, snatched away the last strands of fishing line trailing from his clothes like errant crystal pubes, and pushed the button.FOO Foo had just placed the vials of Abbys blood in the extractor when the buzzer on the intercom went off. He flipped the switch, then looked over at Abby, lying on the bed. She looked so peaceful, undead and drugged and not talking. Almost happy, despite having a tail. But the police wouldnt understand. He ran into the living fashion and shook Jared out of the game-induced trance he had entered on his game console. Foo could hear the death-metal sound track coming from Jareds headphones, tinny screeching and tiny chainsaw rhythms, like angry chipmunks humping a kazoo inside a wet mayonnaise jar.Whaaa? said Jared, yanking out his earbuds.Someones at the door, whispered Foo. Hide Abby.Hide her? Where? The closet is full of aesculapian crap.Between the mattress and the box springs. Shes skinny. You can mash her in there.How will s he breathe?She doesnt need to breathe.Sweet.Jared went for the bedroom, Foo for the intercom.Who is it? he said, keying the button. He really should have installed a camera. They were easy to wire and he got a discount at two-channel World. Stupid.Let me in, Steve. Its Tommy.Foo thought for a second he might pee a little. He hadnt finished building the high-intensity UV laser, and Abby hadnt worn her sun jacket. He was defenseless.I can see why you might be mad, said Foo, but it was Abbys idea. I wanted to turn you back to human, like you wanted. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck. Tommy was going to kill him. It would be humiliating. The guy didnt even have an undergrad degree. He was going to be murdered by an undead Anglo liberal-arts tard who quoted poetry.The buzzer went off again. Foo jumped and keyed the intercom.I didnt want to do it. I told her it was cruel to put you guys in there.Im not mad, Steve. I need to see Jody.Shes not here.I dont believe you. Let me in.I cant, I have thin gs to do. Scientific things that you wouldnt understand. You have to go away. Okay, now he was a tard.I can come in, Steve, under the door or through the cracks around the windows, but when I go back to solid, Ill be naked. Nobody wants that.You dont know how to do that.I learned.Oh, thats cool, said Foo. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Could he get the door shut and duct taped before Tommy could ooze in. The great room was already taped up to contain the rat fog.Buzz me in, Foo. I have to see Jody and I have to feed. You still have some of those blood pouches, right?Nope. Sorry, were all out. And Jodys not here. And weve installed sunlamps all over the loft, Tommy. Youd be toast. He did have some blood bags. In fact, he still had some of the ones with the sedative in it that hed used to knock Abby out.Steve, please, Im hungry and get and Ive been living in a basement with a bunch of vampire cats and if I turn to mist my new outfit is going to get stolen while Im up there snapping your neck with my junk temporary removal out.Foo was trying to think of a better bluff when a dark sleeve shot by him and he heard the door lock buzz downstairs. He looked up at Jared. What the fuck have you done?Hi, Tommy said in Foos ear.He sounded so sad, Jared said.THE OLD ONES At sundown the troika awoke inside a titanium vault under the main cabin and checked the monitors that were wired like a nervous system to every extremity of the black ship.Clear, said the male. He was tall and blond and hed been arguing in life, so he remained so, would remain so, forever. He wore a black silk kimono.The two females cranked open the hide and climbed out into what appeared to be a walk-in refrigerator. The male closed the hatch, pushed a button concealed behind a shelf, and a stainless-steel add-in slid across the hatch. They walked out of the fridge, into the empty galley.I hate this, said the African female. She had been Ethiopian in life, descended from royalty, with a high forehead a nd wide eyes that slanted like a cats. It was to this face that Solomon lost his heart, Elijah had told her, holding her face in his hands as she died. And so he called her Makeda, after the legendary Queen of Sheba. She didnt remember her real name, for she had worn it for only eighteen years, and she had been Makeda for seven centuries.Its different, said the other female, a dark-haired beauty who had been born on the island of Corsica a hundred years before Napoleon. Her name had been Isabella. Elijah had always called her Belladonna. She answered to Bella.Its not that different, said Makeda, leading the way up a flight of steps to the cockpit. It seems like we just did this. We just did this-when?A hundred and fifty years ago. Macao, said the male. His name was Rolf, and he was the mediate child, the peace-maker, turned by Elijah in the time of Martin Luther.See what I mean, said Makeda. All we do is sail around cleaning up his messes. If he does this again Im going to have the boy drag him out onto the deck during the day and video it while he burns. Ill watch it every night on the cosmic screen in the dining room and laugh. Ha Although the oldest, Makeda was the brat.And what if we die with the sire? asked Rolf. What if you wake up in the vault on fire? He palmed a black shabu console and a panel whooshed open in the bulkhead. The cockpit, big enough to host a party for thirty, was lined in slew mahogany, stainless steel, and black glass. The stern half was open to the night sky. But for the ships wheel, it looked like an enormous graphics Deco casket designed for space travel.Ive died before, said Makeda. Its not that bad.You dont remember, said Bella.Maybe not. But I dont like this. I hate cats. Shouldnt we have people for this?We had people, said Rolf. You ate them.Fine, said Makeda. Give me my suit.Rolf touched the glass console again and a bulkhead opened to reveal a cabinet filled with tactical gear. Makeda pulled three black bodysuits from the cabinet and handed one each to Rolf and Bella. Then she slid out of her red silk gown and stretched, naked, her arms wide like Winged Victory, her head back, fangs pointed at the skylight.Speaking of people, said Bella. Wheres the boy? Im hungry.He was provide Elijah when we awoke, said Rolf. Hell be along.Elijah was kept below in a vault similar to their own, except the summit vampires vault was airtight, locked from the outside, and was fitted with an airlock system so the boy could feed him.Irie, me undead dreadies, said the pseudo-Hawaiian as he came up the steps, barefoot and shirtless, carrying a tray of crystal balloon goblets. Capn Kona bringin ya the jammin grinds, yeah?The vampires each s discharge a dozen languages but none of them had the slightest idea what the fuck Kona was talking about.When he saw Makeda stretching, the blond Rastafarian stopped and nearly dumped the goblets off the tray. Oh, Jahs sweet love sistah, dat smoky biscuit givin me da rippin stiffy like dis fellah need to poke squid with that silver sistah on de Rolls-Royce, dont you know?Makeda fell out of her Nike posture and looked at Rolf. Huh?I think he said he would enjoy violating you like a hood ornament, said Rolf, taking a snifter from the tray and swirling dark liquid under his nose. Tuna?Just caught, bruddah, said Kona, having trouble now equilibrate the tray while trying to hunch to conceal the erection tenting his baggies.Bella took her snifter from the tray and grinned as she turned to look out the windscreen at the City. The Transamerica Pyramid was lit up in front of them, Coit Tower just to the right, jutting from Telegraph Hill like a great concrete phallus.Makeda took a slinky step toward Kona, Should I let him rub crude oil on me, Rolf? Do I look ashy?Just dont eat him, Rolf said. He sat in one of the captains chairs, loosened the belt of his black kimono, and began working the Kevlar bodysuit over his feet.Quaint, said Makeda. She took another step toward K ona, held her bodysuit before her, then dropped it. In an instant she had gone to mist and streamed into the suit, which filled as if a girl-shaped emergency raft had been deployed inside. She snatched the last goblet out of the air as Kona flinched and dumped the tray.Will you oil me up later, Kona? Makeda said, standing over the surfer now as he cowered.Nah need, matey, you shinin plenny fine. But dat other ting bein a rascal fo sure. He held his hand to his chest and ventured a glance up at her. Please.Its your turn, said Bella with a smile, her lips rouged with tuna blood.Oh, all right, said Makeda. But use a glass.Kona reached into the pocket of his baggies and came out with a shot glass, which he held with both hands before his head like a Buddhist monk receiving alms.She pushed her thumb against one of her fangs, then let the blood drip into Konas shot glass. Ten drops in, she pulled her thumb away and licked it. Thats all you get.Oh, mahalo, sistah. Jahs love on ya. He drain ed the blood then licked the shot glass clean, as Makeda watched and sipped her tuna blood. After a full minute, with the ersatz Hawaiian still lapping away at the glass, his breath heaving like he was hoisting the anchor by hand, she took the shot glass and held it away from him. Youre done.Bug eater, Bella said, disgusted. Now she was in her own bodysuit and had drained her goblet of blood.Oh, I think hes cute, said Makeda. I may let him oil me up yet. She ruffled Konas dreadlocks. He was agaze blankly into space, his mouth open, drooling.Just dont eat him, Rolf said.Stop saying that. I wont eat him, said Makeda.Hes a licensed captain. We need him.All right. Im not going to eat him.Bella walked over, yanked a dreadlock from Konas head, and used it to tie back her own, waist-length black hair. The surfer didnt flinch. Bug eater, she repeated.Rolf was back at the cabinet, snapping together various bits of weaponry. We should go. Grab a hood, gloves to go with the sunglasses. Elijah said they had some sort of sunlight weapons.This is different, said Bella, gathering all the high-tech kit from the weapons cabinet, as well as a long overcoat to cover it all. We didnt have all this in Macao.As long as youre not bored, darling, said Rolf.I hate cats, said Makeda as she pulled on her gloves.