Journal 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Journal 1 - Essay Example During the reconstruction, factors such as social, cultural, political and economic emerged as the root problems that made Haiti experience hard times in handling this process on its own (Ulysses 38). Cultural illiteracy, witchcraft, Haitian Vodou, political instability like the 1991 military coup that ousted Jean- Bertrand Aristide and the effect of imperialism are some of the issues Ulysses highlights in his article (Ulysses, 40). Former American President Bill Clinton stated that the issue of money to reconstruct Haiti was not the fundamental problem, but the Haitians themselves. The earthquake unearthed Haiti’s history that is darkened by colonialism, racism, segregation, witchcraft, cultural illiteracy and political instability. It made Haiti look like, â€Å"a backward and uncivilized black country hidden in the west† (Ulysses 41). In conclusion, Haiti’s problems and internal threats can be summarized into social, cultural, political, and economic factors, which have long been embedded in their history since their independence. The 2010 earthquake justified that these factors need to be adequately addressed in order to solve Haiti’s

The Phantom of the Opera Essay Example for Free

The Phantom of the Opera Essay The phantom of the opera is e novel by a French writer Gaston Lecroux. It was first published us a serialization in a French daily newspaper named â€Å"Le Gaulois† from September 1909 to January 1910. This story sold very poorly upon publication In book form and it was even out of print several times during the twentieth century . But the book is overshadowed by the success of its various film and stage adaptations The most notable of these were the 1925 American silent horror film depiction and Andrew Webbers Musical on 1986 The story take place in Paris on nineth century and is a romantic drama with a little action . There are three main characters , Eric , Christine and Raoul. Un fortuanally they are a love triangle with cristine in the middle . Raoul was cristine; s childhood friend . He saved her scarf from the sea and since they remained friends. Cristine’s mother and father both being dead and she lives with Mamma Valerious , the elderly window of her father’s benefecrtor Cristine’s father was a famous fiddler who played folk music and during her childhood Cristine listen many stories from her father about the â€Å"Angel of Music† who is the personification of musical inspiration. Before he died told her and Roul the story of Little Lotte , a girl who is visited by the Angel of the Music and possesses a heavenly voice Eventually Christine take a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House. She begins hearing a beautiful, unearthly voice which sings to her and speaks to her. She believes this must be the Angel of Music and asks him if he is. The Voice agrees and offers to teach her a little bit of heavens music. The Voice, however, belongs to Erik, a physically deformed and mentally disturbed charismatic genius who was one of the architects who took part in the construction of the opera. He has been extorting money from the Operas management for many years. Erik kidnaps Christine to his home in the cellars. He plans to keep her there only a few days, hoping she will come to love him, and Christine begins to find him attractive but when she unmask him feeil horror by his ugly face which according to the book, resembles the face of a rotting corpse. Erik change his plans and he decides to keep her with him forever, but when Christine requests release after two weeks, he agrees on condition that she wear his ring and be faithful to him. Up on the roof of the opera house, Christine tells Raoul of Erik taking her to the cellars. Raoul promises to take Christine away where Erik can never find her and to take her even if she resists. Raoul tells Christine he shall act on his promise the following day, to which Christine agrees, but she pities Erik and will not go until she has sung for him one last time. Christine then realizes the ring has slipped off her finger and fallen into the streets somewhere, and begins to panic. The two leave. But neither is aware that Erik has been listening to their conversation or that it has driven him to jealous frenzy. During the week and that night, Erik had been terrorizing anyone who stood in his way or in that of Christines career, including the managers. The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust (by drugging the gas men and switching the lights off, he spirits Christine off the stage before anyone turned the lights on). Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marriage. If she refuses he will destroy the entire opera house and everyone inside with explosives he haw in the cellar Then Cristine realise that Raoul and Persian , an old friend of Eric’s from the past hae come to resue jer but they are trapped in Eric;s torture chamber. Attemping to save the people above she agrees to marry Eric. Raul and Percian find a way to escape and they fall into where Eric keeps the barrels of gunpowder. Fortunately, the Persian, Raoul, and Christine escaped and Erik is broken-hearted and asks them to bury him with the gold ring when he died. When the advertisement is published that â€Å"Erik is dead,† they make sure that Erik is buried next the lake. The author claims the truth of the existence of Erik. He tells that Christine and Raoul eloped to the Scandinavia. He also says that they found a skeleton under the Opera house,a skeleton which he attributes to the Opera ghost

Leading Quietly Essay -- Business and Management Studies Essays

Leading Quietly Leading quietly is the ability to influence individuals or groups toward the achievement of goals. Quiet Leadership, as a process, shapes the goals of a group or organization, motivates behavior toward the achievement of those goals, and helps define group or organizational culture behind the scenes. It is primarily a process of influence. Quiet leaders carrier a sixth sense and one who can envision the changing processes in the sense that, while influence is always present, the persons exercising that influence may change. Possession of influence depends upon the situation and upon the relevancy of the individual's skills and abilities to the situation. For example, if a particular individual has the expertise that is required to solve a problem, then that individual may be assumed to have some degree of influence over others. Quiet leaders are realist. They try hard to see the world as it is quiet leaders almost possess a sixth sense (Badaracco, p 11) I have so many ideas of what qualities a quiet leader should have that I often feel overwhelmed and cannot imagine how achieve these skills. There are many ingredients of effective leadership styles. I have read several books and articles on leadership and management. I have also participated in a few leadership training/education modules offered through my employers. There are many theories on what makes an effective or quiet leader. In the book, leading quietly, quiet leaders see the world as a kaleidoscope rather than a fixed target or a well-mapped terrain. Quiet leaders value trust, but they don’t forget how fragile it can be (Badaracco, 12). In my research, I discovered that there are many leadership styles and most are effective if used in the right situations. The directing leadership style would be needed for new hires, or less competent employees that show commitment and a desire to be productive. The employees at this development level would require very clear directions, and a lot of supervision. The atmosphere must be controlled and structured until these employees develop some competence. In today’s work force, many managers lead by the use of email. Instructions and guide lines are provided by connecting to online databases (Maccoby, 39). The coaching style would be useful for existing employees who have lost their sense of commitme... ...ers may feel a more positive association with the company. Companies that show a concern for their employee’s personal growth may find that employees will feel obligated to do a better job for the company. In conclusion, leadership is about service. The greater the ability to serve the needs of others, the more powerful and effective, are the actions of the leader (Cashman, p.23). While leaders lead by virtue of whom they are, leaders create value by virtue of their service. Leadership can be thought of as the dynamic process of assessing our unique potentialities to serve the needs of others like employees, co-workers, and customers. Works Cited: Blanchard, Kenneth, Patricia Zigarmi, and Drea Zigarmi. Leadership and the One Minute Manager. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1995. Kelly, Kevin, You can’t Make Leaders. Business Week 07 Dec. 1998: Enterprise My Company. Business Week Online Archives. Cashman, Kevin. Leadership in Business Today. Business Journal Serving Fresno. April 1998, i322295, p.23-47. Badaracco, Joseph. Leading Quietly. Harvard Business School Press, 2002. Maccoby, Michael, The Leader. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981.

Health and Medical Careers

There are hundreds of different medically related careers. Some of the jobs involve close contact with patients whereas others are to do with organisation and management or with providing essential support services. There are opportunities for people with all levels of qualifications from none at all, to post graduates and degrees. So don't think that you have to be VERY brainy to work in medicine because there is a job for everyone, as you will see from this presentation. To work in Medicine Basically, to work in health and medicine, you need: * Good communication and team work skills. A lot of the work you do will be as part of a team so you need to know how to behave and cooperate with other people. * To be reliable and conscientious. Your patients need to feel they can rely on you and come to you for any help. * Sensitivity, tact and understanding. (For those in patient contact) * An interest in science and technology. So don't just choose medicine because of your family, or because of the amount of money you get paid, that's just ridiculous. You need to have a genuine interest in science and technology. People with 5 GCSEs at Grades A – C * Dental technicians make dental appliances such as dentures, crowns and braces as well as fittings for people with facial injuries. It is mainly a workshop job and most dental technicians work in commercial dental laboratories. o You need to be good with your hands and be interested in science and technology. * Dental Nurses work with dentists in hospitals, community clinics and private practices. They prepare fillings and dressing, pass instruments to the dentist, attend to the patients and sometimes act like receptionists too. Therefore you need to be calm and have a pleasant manner. * Medical technology covers the area of clinical physiology and medical physics. Concerned with measuring how well various parts of the body function and it involves working with sophisticated electronic machinery such as scanners or working in nuclear medicine. The technicians assist the professionally qualified staff in diagnosing and treating patients. * Biomedical scientists work mainly in hospital labs, carrying out tests on bodily tissues and fluids. There are opportunities for those without any formal qualifications to work as medical laboratory assistants and assist those that are professionally qualified. * Pharmacy technicians make up prescriptions and prepare medicines, supervised by a pharmacist. Accuracy is essential when you are working with drugs, as mistakes can be highly dangerous. It's largely behind-the-scenes job in a hospital or in a retail chemist's shop. * Dispensing opticians supply and fit glasses and contact lenses, working from the optometrists prescription. They are not qualified to do eye tests themselves. You need to be good with people and also enjoy selling. For people with A-levels or equivalent, or with higher qualifications. * Doctors diagnose and treat illness, but they also have a role in preventing disease. Qualified doctors can specialise in general practice, surgery, psychiatry, obstetrics, orthopaedics, paediatrics, ophthalmology, oncology and many other areas. Three very good A-levels are needed, including Chemistry and often two other sciences. * Dentists treat damaged and diseased teeth and gums, and also carry out preventative and corrective treatments. Dentists must be skilled with their hands and good at dealing with people under stress. * Dental therapists and hygienists advise people on how to look after their teeth and gums. They clean and scale teeth, and carry out other treatments prescribed by dental surgeons. Therapists are trained to do fillings and extractions on children. Medical illustrator, pharmacist & optometrist * Medical Photographers record operations, post mortem examinations, laboratory specimens and injuries at various stages of recovery. Medical photographs are used for patient's records, to help in diagnosis and to record patients' progress. Medical illustrators make illustrations, diagrams, visual aids and displays. Their work is mainly used for teaching, health education, medical journals, textbooks and for presentations. * Pharmacists supply drugs, medicines, preparations and appliances prescribed by doctors, either in hospital pharmacies or over the counter in a retail chemist's shop. They have to know a great deal about medicine and their effect on the body. * Optometrists test eyesight to detect and measure faulty vision, and prescribe lenses to correct it. They must also spot any diseases, which can show up as eye conditions and know when to refer patients to a doctor. Most optometrists work in private practice, but some work in the NHS. * Clinical psychologists treat people who have behavioural problems, learning difficulties, and conditions like anxiety and depression through a mixture of counselling and psychotherapy. After a psychology degree, comes postgraduate training. * Health Promotion is an area where experienced health professionals can enter. It raises our awareness of how to live a healthy lifestyle. The work involves organising campaigns, providing advice and support to other health professionals and health service managers. * Podiatrists treat all kinds of foot problems from verrucas to ulcers. They also try to stop such problems arising in the first place. * Dieticians advise patients about special diets to follow to control a medical condition or as part of their general recovery plan. They also advise hospital catering staff on nutrition. They may also work in health and fitness clubs. * Orthoptists work with patients, often children who have defective vision, abnormal eye movements or other correctable eye conditions. They prescribe eye exercises and check on their progress. * Radiographers can specialise in one of two areas. In diagnostic radiography, they help doctors to diagnose broken bones and other conditions using x-rays, ultrasound and other techniques. In therapeutic radiography or radiotherapy, small doses of radiation are used to treat patients with conditions such as cancer. * There are many different therapists. Physiotherapists help sick and injured people, and those with disabilities, to be as physically independent as possible. They use exercises, massage, heat and electrical treatment, hydrotherapy etc. o Occupational therapists help clients to be more independent through everyday activities, which will get their minds, muscles and joints working properly. Patients may need help because psychiatric problems or accidents. o Speech and language therapists work with clients who have speech and communication problems, which they may have been born with, or which has risen due o illness, injury, or as a result of psychological problems. Therapists need to be patient, resourceful and have good communication skills. o Art, music and drama therapists help patients on general psychiatric hospital units, clinics, special schools etc. dance therapists have a similar role.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 17~18

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Jonathan Livingston Reaper Amy wore an oversized, tattered â€Å"I'M WITH STUPID† nightshirt and Local Motion flip-flops. Her hair was completely flat on one side and splayed out into an improbable sunburst of spikes on the other, making it appear that she was getting hit in the side of the head by a tiny hurricane, which she wasn't. She was, however, performing the longest sustained yawn Clay had ever seen. â€Å"Ooo ahe-e, I aya oa a,† she said in yawnspeak, a language – not unlike Hawaiian – known for its paucity of consonants. (You go ahead, I'm okay, she was saying.) She gestured for Clay to continue. Clay cued the tape and fiddled with the audio. A whale tail in a field of blue passed by on the monitor. â€Å"There's someone outside, Captain.† â€Å"Does he have my sandwich with him?† Amy stopped yawning and scooted forward on the stool she was perched upon behind Clay. When the whale tail came down, Clay stopped the tape and looked back at her. â€Å"Well?† â€Å"Play it again.† He did. â€Å"Can we get a feeling for direction?† Amy asked. â€Å"That housing has stereo microphones, right? What if we move the speakers far apart – can we get a sense where it's coming from?† Clay shook his head. â€Å"The mikes are right next to each other. You have to separate them by at least a meter to get any spatial information. All I can tell you is that it's in the water and it's not particularly loud. In fact, if I hadn't been using the rebreather, I'd never have heard it. You're the audio person. What can you tell me?† He ran it back and played it again. â€Å"It's human speech.† Clay looked at her as if to say, Uh-huh, I woke you up because I needed the obvious pointed out. â€Å"And it's military.† â€Å"Why do you think it's military?† Now Amy gave Clay the same look that he had just finished giving her.† ‘Captain'?† â€Å"Oh, right,† said Clay. â€Å"Speaker in the water? Divers with underwater communications? What do you think?† â€Å"Didn't sound like it. Did it sound like it was coming from small speakers to you?† â€Å"Nope.† Clay played it again. â€Å"Sandwich?† he said. â€Å"Sandwich?† â€Å"The Old Broad said that someone called her claiming to be a whale and asked her to tell Nate to bring him a sandwich.† Amy squeezed Clay's shoulder. â€Å"He's gone, Clay. I know you don't believe what I saw happened, but it certainly wasn't about a sandwich conspiracy.† â€Å"I'm not saying that, Amy. Damn it. I'm not saying this had anything to do with Nate's† – he was going to say drowning and stopped himself – â€Å"accident. But it might have to do with the lab getting wrecked, the tapes getting stolen, and someone trying to mess with the Old Broad. Someone is fucking with us, Amy, and it might be whoever is recorded on this tape.† â€Å"And there's no way the camera could have pulled a signal out of the air, something on the same frequency or something? A mobile phone or something?† â€Å"Through a half-inch of powder-coated aluminum housing and a hundred feet of water? No, that signal came in through the mike. That I'm sure of.† Amy nodded and looked at the paused picture on the screen. â€Å"So you're looking for two things: someone military and someone who has an interest in Nate's work.† â€Å"No one – † Clay stopped himself again, remembering what he'd said to Nate when the lab had been wrecked. That no one cared about their work. But obviously someone did. â€Å"Tarwater?† Amy shrugged. â€Å"He's military. Maybe. Leave the tape out. I'll run a spectrograph on the audio in the morning, see if I can tell if it's coming through some kind of amplifier. I've got nothing left tonight – I'm beat.† â€Å"Thanks,† Clay said. â€Å"You get some rest, kiddo. I'm going to hit it, too. I'll be heading down to the harbor first thing.† † ‘Kay.† â€Å"Oh, and hey, the ‘kiddo' thing, I didn't mean – ; Amy threw her arms around him and kissed the top of his head. â€Å"You big mook. Don't worry, we'll get through this.† She turned and started out the door. â€Å"Amy?† She paused in the doorway. â€Å"Yeah?† â€Å"Can I ask you a†¦ personal question, kinda?† â€Å"Shoot.† â€Å"The shirt – who's stupid?† She looked down at her shirt, then back at him and grinned. â€Å"Always seems to apply, Clay. No matter where I am or who I'm with, the smoke clears and the shirt is true. You gotta hang on to truth when you find it.† â€Å"I like truth,† Clay said. â€Å"Night, Clay.† â€Å"Night, kiddo.† The next day the weather was blown out, with whitecaps frosting the entire channel across to Lanai and the coconut palms whipping overhead like epileptic dust mops. Clay drove by the harbor in his truck, noting that the cabin cruiser that Cliff Hyland's group had been using was parked in its slip. Then he turned around and caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye as he drove past the hundred-year-old Pioneer Inn – Captain Tarwater's navy whites standing out against the green shiplap. He parked his truck by the giant banyan tree next door and humped it over to the restaurant. When Clay came up to the table, the hostess was just seating Cliff Hyland, Tarwater, and one of their grad students, a young blond woman with a raccoon sunburn and straw-dry hair. â€Å"Hey, Cliff,† Clay said. â€Å"You got a minute?† â€Å"Clay, how you doing?† Hyland took off his sunglasses and stood to shake hands. â€Å"Please, join us.† Clay looked at Tarwater, and the naval officer nodded. â€Å"Sorry to hear about your partner,† he said. Then he looked back down at his menu. The young woman sitting with them was watching the dynamic between the three men as if she might write a paper on it. â€Å"Just a second,† Clay said. â€Å"If I could talk to you outside.† Now Tarwater glanced up and gave Cliff Hyland an almost imperceptible shake of the head. â€Å"Sure, Clay,† Cliff said, â€Å"let's walk.† He looked to the junior researcher. â€Å"When she comes, coffee, Portuguese sausage, eggs over easy, whole wheat.† The girl nodded. Hyland followed Clay out to the front of the hotel, which overlooked the harbor fueling station and the Carthaginian, a steel-hulled replica of a whaling brig, now used as a floating museum. They stood side by side, watching the harbor, each with a foot propped on the seawall. â€Å"What's up, Clay?† â€Å"What are you guys working on, Cliff?† â€Å"You know I can't talk about that. I signed a nondisclosure thing.† â€Å"You got divers in the water, people with underwater coms?† â€Å"Don't be silly, Clay. You've seen my crew. Except for Tarwater, they're just kids. What's this about?† â€Å"Somebody's fucking with us, Cliff. They sank my boat, tore up the office, took Nate's papers and tapes. They're even messing with one of our benefactors. I'm not even sure they don't have something to do with Nate's –  » â€Å"And you think it's me?† Hyland took his foot off the seawall and turned to Clay. â€Å"Nate was my friend, too. I've known you guys, what? Twenty-two, twenty-three years? You can't think I'd do anything like that.† â€Å"I'm not saying you personally. What are you and Tarwater working on, Cliff? What would Nate know that would interfere with what you're doing?† Hyland stared at his feet. Scratched his beard. â€Å"I don't know.† â€Å"You don't know? You know what we're doing – figure it out. Listen, I know you guys are using a big towable sonar rig, right? What's Tarwater looking at? Some new kind of active sonar? If it didn't have a hinky element, he wouldn't be here on site. Mines?† â€Å"Damn it, Clay, I can't tell you! I can tell you that if I thought it was going to hurt the animals, or anyone in the field for that matter, I wouldn't be doing the work.† â€Å"Remember the navy's Pacific Biological Ocean Science Program? Were you in on that?† â€Å"No. Birds, wasn't it?† â€Å"Yeah, seabirds. The navy came to a bunch of field biologists with a ton of money – wanted seabirds tagged and tracked, behavior recorded, population information, habitat, everything. Everyone thought the heavens had opened up and started raining money. Thought the navy was doing some sort of secret impact study to preserve the birds. Do you know what the study was actually for?† â€Å"No, that was before my time, Clay.† â€Å"They wanted to use the birds as delivery systems for biological weapons. Wanted to make sure they could predict that they'd fly to the enemy. Probably fifty scientists helped in that study.† â€Å"But it didn't happen, Clay, did it? I mean, the data was valuable scientifically, but the weapons project didn't pan out.† â€Å"As far as we know. That's the point. How would we know, until a seagull drops fucking anthrax on us?† Cliff Hyland had aged a couple of years in the few minutes they'd been standing there. â€Å"I promise, Clay, if there's any indication that Tarwater or the navy or any of the spooky guys that come around from time to time are involved with trying to sabotage you guys, I'll call you in an instant. I promise you. But I can't tell you what I'm working on, or why. I don't exactly have funding coming out my ears. If I lose this, I'm teaching freshmen about dolphin jaws. I'm not ready for that. I need to be in the field.† Clay looked at him sideways and saw that there was real concern, maybe even a spark of desperation in Hyland's eyes. â€Å"You know, your funding might be a little easier to come by if you weren't based in Iowa. I don't know if you've noticed, but there's no ocean in Iowa.† Hyland smiled at the old dig. â€Å"Thanks for pointing that out, Clay.† Clay extended his hand. â€Å"You promise you'll let me know?† â€Å"Absolutely.† Clay left feeling totally spent. The great head of steam he'd built up through a night of fitful sleep had wilted into exhaustion and confusion. He got in his truck and sat while sweat rolled down his neck. He watched tourists in aloha wear mill around under the great banyan tree like gift-wrapped zombies. Cliff Hyland's eggs were still steaming when he returned to the table. Tarwater looked up from his own breakfast and moved his snow-white hat away from Hyland's plate, as if the rumpled scientist might splash yolk over the gold anchors in a fit of disorganized eating. â€Å"Everything all right?† The young woman at the table fidgeted and tried to look invisible. â€Å"Clay's still a little shaken up. Understandably. He and Nathan Quinn have been working together a long time.† â€Å"Lucky they made it this long without self-destructing,† Tarwater said. â€Å"Slipshod as they run that operation. You see that kid that works for them? Not worth grinding up for chum.† Cliff Hyland dropped his fork in his plate. â€Å"Nathan Quinn was one of the most intuitively brilliant biologists in the field. And Clay Demodocus may very well be the best underwater photographer in the world, certainly when it comes to cetaceans. You have no right.† â€Å"The world turns, Doc. Yesterday's alphas are today's betas. Losers lose. Isn't that what you biologists teach?† Cliff Hyland came very close to burying a fork in Tarwater's tanned forehead, but instead he slowly climbed to his feet. â€Å"I need to use the restroom. Excuse me.† As he walked away, Hyland could hear Tarwater lecturing the junior researcher on how the strong survive. Cliff dug his mobile phone out of the pocket of his safari shirt and began scrolling through the numbers. Clay was just dozing off in the driver's seat when his mobile trilled. Without looking at the display, he figured it was Clair checking up on him. â€Å"Go, baby.† â€Å"Clay, it's Cliff Hyland.† â€Å"Cliff? What's up?† â€Å"You've got to keep this under your hat, Clay. It's my ass.† â€Å"I got you. What is it, Cliff?† â€Å"It's a torpedo range. We're doing site studies for a torpedo test range.† â€Å"Not in the sanctuary?† â€Å"Right in the middle of the sanctuary.† â€Å"Jeepers, Cliff, that's terrible. I don't know if my hat is big enough to hold that.† â€Å"You gave me your word, Clay. What's with ‘jeepers'? Who says ‘jeepers'?† â€Å"Amy does. She's a little eccentric. Tell me more. Does the navy have divers in the water?† CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Heinous Fuckery Most Foul â€Å"Jeepers,† said Amy. She was at Quinn's computer. Streamers of digital videotape were festooned across her lap and over the desk. â€Å"Oh, that's heinous fuckery most foul,† said Kona. He was perched on the high stool behind Amy and actually appeared to be trying to learn something when Clay came in. â€Å"They've been simulating explosions on the lee of Kahoolawe with a big towable array of underwater speakers, measuring the levels. The speaker array is what's in that big case we've seen on their boat.† â€Å"We have a couple of explosions on the singer tapes, but distant,† Amy said. â€Å"Nate thought it might be naval exercises out at sea.† â€Å"Speaking of tapes?† Clay picked up a strand of tape. â€Å"This isn't my rebreather footage, is it?† â€Å"I'm sorry, Clay. I didn't get the video, but I pulled the audio off before this happened. Want to see the spectrograph?† Kona asked, â€Å"You think those voices in the water be navy divers?† Clay looked at Amy, raised an eyebrow. â€Å"He wanted to learn.† â€Å"Cliff says there're no divers in the water, that his operation is it, militarily, in the sanctuary anyway. But he might not even know.† Amy wadded up the videotape and chucked the resulting bird's nest into the wastebasket. â€Å"How can they do that, Clay? How can they put a torpedo range in the middle of the humpback sanctuary? It's not like people won't notice.† â€Å"Yeah, she's a big ocean. Why here?† Kona said. â€Å"I have no idea. Maybe they don't want there to be any mistake about whose waters they're blowing up ordnance in. If they blow them up in between a bunch of American islands, maybe there can't be any misinterpretation about what they're doing.† â€Å"Lost now,† Kona said. â€Å"Does not compute. Danger. Danger. Control room needs herb.† The Rastafarian had affected an accent that seemed an excellent approximation of how a stoned robot might sound. â€Å"Submarine warfare is all about hide and seek with other submarines,† Clay said. â€Å"The crews are autonomous when they're underwater. They make decisions on whether they're being attacked and whether to defend. Maybe if the navy just shot torpedoes off in the middle of the open sea, someone might misinterpret the action as an attack. It's damn unlikely that a Russian sub is going to be cruising up to Wailea for brunch and misinterpret an attack.† â€Å"They can't do that,† Amy said. â€Å"They can't let them set off high explosives around the mothers and calves. It's just insane.† â€Å"They'll go deep and say it doesn't bother them. The navy will guarantee they won't blow up anything shallower than, say, four hundred feet. The humpbacks don't dive that deep in this channel.† â€Å"Yes they do,† Amy said. â€Å"No they don't,† Clay said. â€Å"Yes they do.† â€Å"There's no data on that, Amy. That's specifically what Cliff Hyland asked me about. He wanted to know if we were doing any research on the depth of humpback dives. Said that it would be the only thing the navy would care about.† Amy stood up and shoved the wheeled desk chair away. It bounced off Kona's shins, causing him to wince. â€Å"Ease on up, sistah.† â€Å"Amy, this wasn't my idea,† Clay said. â€Å"I'm just telling you what Hyland told me.† â€Å"Fine,† Amy said. She pushed her way past Clay and headed for the door. â€Å"Where are you going?† â€Å"Somewhere else.† She let the screen door slam behind her. Clay turned to Kona, who appeared to be studying the ceiling with great concentration. â€Å"What?† â€Å"You makin' up that submarine war story?† â€Å"Kind of. I read a Tom Clancy book once. Look, Kona, I'm not supposed to know stuff. Nate knew stuff. I just take the pictures.† â€Å"You think the navy sink your boat? Maybe make something bad happen to Nate?† â€Å"The boat, maybe. I don't think they could have had anything to do with Nate. That was just bad luck.† â€Å"The Snowy Biscuit – all this getting under her skin.† â€Å"Mine, too.† â€Å"I'll go put the calm on her.† â€Å"Thanks,† Clay said. He walked to the other side of the office, slumped in his chair, and pulled his editing tools up on the giant monitor. A half hour later he heard a tiny voice coming through the screen door. â€Å"Sorry,† Amy said. â€Å"It's okay.† She stepped into the room and stood there, not looking as glazed as he would have expected if Kona had put the calm on her in an herbal way. â€Å"Sorry about your tape, too. The camera was making crunching noises on playback, so I sort of rushed taking it out.† â€Å"Not a problem. It was your big rescue scene. It just made me look like an amateur. I got most of it on the hard drive, I think.† â€Å"You did?† She stepped over to the monitor. â€Å"That it?† Frame stopped, the whale tail from the edge, black marks barely visible. â€Å"Just going through it to see if there's anything else the audio picked up. The camera was running the whole time you were saving my bacon.† â€Å"Why don't you let it rest and let me take you out to lunch.† â€Å"It's ten-thirty.† â€Å"What, you're Mr. Rigid Schedule all of a sudden? Come out to lunch with me. I feel bad.† â€Å"Don't feel bad, Amy. It's a huge loss. I†¦ I'm not dealing well myself. You know, to keep this work going, we'll be needing some academic juice.† Amy just stared at the frozen image of the whale tail, and then she caught herself. â€Å"What? Oh, you'll get someone. You put the word out, you'll have Ph.D.'s knocking the door down to work with you.† â€Å"I was thinking about you.† â€Å"Me? I'm crap. I don't even have a bona fide hair color. Ink on my master's isn't even dry. You read my resume.† â€Å"Actually, I didn't.† â€Å"You didn't?† â€Å"You seemed intelligent. You were willing to work for nothing.† â€Å"Nate read it, though, right?† â€Å"I told him you were good. And if it's any consolation, he thought the world of you.† â€Å"That's how you hire? I'm smart and I'm cheap – that's it? What kind of standards do you guys have?† â€Å"Have you met Kona?† She looked back at the monitor, then at Clay again. â€Å"I feel so used. Honored, but used. Look, I'm thrilled you want to keep me on, but I'm not going to bring you funding or legitimacy.† â€Å"I'll worry about that.† â€Å"Worry about it after lunch. Come on, I'll buy.† â€Å"You're poor. Besides, I'm meeting Clair for lunch at one.† â€Å"Okay. Can I borrow Nate's – uh, the green truck?† â€Å"Keys are on the counter.† Clay waved over his shoulder toward the kitchen. Amy took the keys, then started out the door, caught herself, then ran back, and threw her arms around the photographer. â€Å"I really appreciate your asking me to stay.† â€Å"Go. Take Kona with you. Feed him. Hose him off.† â€Å"Nope, if you're not coming, I'm going solo. Tell Clair hi for me.† â€Å"Go.† He looked back at the computer, looked past the window at the brilliant Maui sun, then shut the computer down, feeling very much as if nothing he did mattered or would ever matter again.

A Group of Baboons Is Not a Congress

A Group of Baboons Is Not a Congress A popular meme contains a picture with several baboons playing in the snow captioned: Did you know that a large group of baboons is called a Congress? As the meme goes on to explain: We are all familiar with a herd of cows, a flock of chickens, a school of fish and a gaggle of geese. However, less widely known is a pride of lions, a murder of crows (as well as their cousins the rooks and ravens), an exaltation of doves and, presumably because they look so wise, a parliament of owls. Now consider a group of baboons. They are the loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons? Believe it or not ... a Congress! I guess that pretty much explains the things that come out of Washington! The meme does explain one thing: The person who posted or sent it does not know what a large group of baboons is called. It’s a ‘Troop’ National Geographic says, baboons form large troops, composed of dozens or even hundreds of baboons, governed by a complex hierarchy that fascinates scientists. According to the Oxford Dictionaries list of proper terms for groups of things, organized gatherings of kangaroos, monkeys, and baboons are all called â€Å"troops,† while the only group called a â€Å"congress† is Congress.   An Expert Weighs In In an email to PolitiFact, Shirley Strum, director of the University of Californias Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project in Nairobi, Kenya, agreed that a group of baboons is known as a â€Å"troop.† â€Å"I have never heard the term congress used for a group of baboons! she wrote, adding, I would prefer to be governed by baboons than the current Congress! They are more socially committed, abide by the golden rule and are generally nicer people. Baboons are socially sophisticated and incredibly smart and among primates, no species is as dangerous as humans. Only baboons who have been spoiled by humans feeding them are dangerous and are never as aggressive as humans. The Point The point the meme is trying to make is that the U.S. Congress has pretty much degenerated into a largely ineffectual collection of lifetime professional politicians, typically  trusted by only 10% of the American people, that spends more time arguing, running for re-election and on vacation than it does tending to its real job of carrying out the legislative process in a way that helps Americans happily pursue life and liberty.   In 1970, for example, the troop called Congress passed its very own Legislative Reorganization Act, which among other things â€Å"required† both the House of Representatives and the Senate to take the entire month of August off every year unless a â€Å"state of war† or â€Å"emergency† exists at the time. The last time Congress decided to take a break from its break was in the summer of 2005 when lawmakers returned to Washington just long enough to pass legislation authorizing aid for victims of Hurricane Katrina. But the fact remains that a gathering of baboons is not a congress.

Process Reengineering

Process Reengineering Process Reengineering Summary "Beyond Reengineering" is Hammer's preach of the vital importance of an organization's processes to its success. In four sections, Hammer stresses and explains the different aspects in how the organization must focus on their processes in terms of- work, management, enterprise and society. More importantly, how by tending a process-oriented approach, organizations will be able to achieve efficiency, profits and success in like.In the first section of the book, Hammer explains the implications a process-centered organization will have on workers and how important this change is for the whole process. First, Hammer explains the basics of a process-oriented organization and why it is so important. When Hammer states that we take a process perspective in looking at organizations, it means that we do not just see individual tasks in isolation, but the entire collection of tasks that contribute to a desired outcome. Because even if all tasks were perfect, it w ould mean nothing if the processes putting them together is inefficient and failing.Workflow/Business Process Management (BPM) Service...A process is a group of tasks that together create a result of value to a customer. The importance or processes cannot be stressed enough by Hammer, and in order to guide an organization towards the process centering path, he suggested these four steps: 1. recognize and name the company's processes 2. ensure everyone in the organization is aware of these processes and their importance 3. identify the key measures by which each process is to be assessed 4. become serious about process management What this leads to is the change this new process perspective will for the people of the organization. Instead of the previous specialized tasks workers were assigned, they will be challenged with more "professional" work. Hammer calls this "professionalizing its work"- a pre-requisite transition for...