Mission Statement, Goals, And Performance Management Essay

Mission, Goals, and Performance Management The mission statement, goals, and performance management are all components of strategic planning. Strategic planning is an organizational effort to identify priorities, establish where an organization is going and determine how it will know when it gets there (Balanced Scorecard Institute, n.d.). Performance management ties the organizational mission statement, vision, goals, and strategies into measurable individual and team goals that align with the organizational components. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation is an international exploration and production oil and gas company. Anadarko is a company that has invested a great deal in strategic planning and as part of their efforts to be transparent with both investors and employees, has made available their mission statement, vision statement, values, and big picture strategies. (Anadarko, n.d.) Strategic Planning Overview A mission statement defines an organization’s reason for existence (Aguinis, 2013). Anadarko’s mission statement is defined as follows: â€Å"To deliver a competitive and sustainable rate of return to shareholders by exploring for, acquiring and developing oil and natural gas resources vital to the world’s health and welfare.† This statement indicates Anadarko is a for profit oil and gas company working to develop oil and gas resources in a sustainable manner (Anadarko, n.d. a.). The vision statement shows the direction that a company wants to go. Anadarko’sShow MoreRelatedOrganizational Goals955 Words   |  4 PagesAbstract Mission statements and organizational goals have evolved dramatically over the past twenty years. Once a mission statement was a simple statement that conveyed why the organization existed. Now, that same statement may include information about supporting sustainability and corporate responsibility. This document will look at trends within mission statements and goals. â€Æ' Organizational Goals According to dictionary.com, a goal is defined as the result or achievement toward which theRead MoreMission Goals And Performance Management761 Words   |  4 PagesMission, Goals, and Performance Management Today, organizations need to have a clear understanding of where their organization is and where it needs to be in the future to secure longevity and financial success (Moore, Ellsworth, Kaufman, 2011). Organizations need to have a performance management system in place to stay competitive. Therefore, having a well-developed performance management process in place allows the employer and employee to communicate goals, share information, and establishRead MoreThe Positive Impact of Performance Management at Peel Hospital1003 Words   |  5 Pagesincreasingly competitive market, it is essential that organizations form and implement an effective organizational performance management system to help gain competitive advantage. The performance management system should have several activities that will help to develop the goals of the organization; it should also help in monitoring organizational progress and to make adjustments to accomplish the goals more efficiently with minimal bar riers (Shackleton, 2007). The Peel Memorial Hospital in BramptonRead MoreManagement Position Of A Nonprofit Organization1159 Words   |  5 Pagescan imagine myself in a management position of a nonprofit organization as the Director of Programs. This role is responsible for the operational success of the organization ensuring ideal team management and development, program delivery, and quality control and evaluation. Additionally, this title will manage a growing staff as well as manage relationships in the community. Taking on such a task requires leadership skills in addition to establishing standards of performance across all programs. Read MoreStrategic Management Process At Gamble And Thompson1065 Words   |  5 Pagesthe strategic management process according to Gamble and Thompson. According to Gamble and Thompson (2017), managing the strategy of a company or organization is an ongoing, continuous process consisting of five integrated stages. †¢ Developing a strategic vision and mission statement, and determining your core values. Vision and mission statements outline the organizations long range direction, describes what the organization does, and defines the values that guide the vision and mission. 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The final section also justifies how these objectives support its mission and vision statement. Importance of a Strategic Plan for Asian Airlines A strategic plan is

Short Note On Stress Management - 2753 Words

STRESS MANAGEMENT Group members: Anil Kumar Raju (PGP30239) Ankita Jain(PGP30247) Banothu Kiran Kumar (ABM11026) Disha Jaiswal (PGP30255) Prachi Agrawal (PGP30263) Rishi Raj Singh(PGP30271) Shifali Makkar(PGP30279) Sukriti Vijay(PGP30287) Vivek Anandan(PGP30295) TABLE OF CONTENTS i. Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 ii. Objective----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 iii. Methodology------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 iv. Analysis on the basis of following parameters †¢ Ambiguity---------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 †¢ Conflict at Workplace-------------------------------------------------------- 5 †¢ Workload----------------------------------------------------------------------- 6 †¢ Inadequate resources--------------------------------------------------------- 7 †¢ Support of spouse------------------------------------------------------------- 8 †¢ Support of Co-worker-------------------------------------------------------- 9 †¢ Support of supervisor--------------------------------------------------------- 10 v. Overall Analysis--------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11 vi. Popular Stress management techniques at workplace-------------------------------------- 12 vii.Show MoreRelatedA Short Note On Stress Management And Stress Essay998 Words   |  4 PagesStania Tavil Dr. Diane D. 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Hopefully if I implement what I have learned in this class, I can avoid any more all nighters while getting good grades! The first thing that I have learned isRead MoreEssential Skills For College Students1392 Words   |  6 Pagesskills that will develop their internal structure to be able to grow in college and go beyond college. A student need to learn the skill of time management to have a successful college career. Successful college students view college like having a full time job. There will be a lot of time put in for studying for test and organizing and reading the notes taken in class. The preparation for each class can take time to. If a student has a speech, presentation, or a paper due in the class they will needRead MoreDiagnosis : Depressive Disorder And Depression And Stress Management972 Words   |  4 PagesThis is a 38-year-old female with a 1/10/2013 date of injury. A specific mechanism of injury has not been described. 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My goal is to not bite my nails anymore. SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. My specific short-term goal is notRead MoreRecording analysing and using HR information1181 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ RECORING, ANALYSING AND USING HUMAN RESOURCES INFORMATION. By Izabela Malecka-Rykala Part A 496 The below note will give you a brief information about the way the organisation’s approach to collecting, sorting and using HR data. This was divided into the following: 1) Two reasons why the organization needs to collect HR data: a) â€Å"to be able to retrieve information whenever it is needed. For example each organisation has to keep accurate records or informationRead MoreThe Tasks Of A Freelancer1126 Words   |  5 Pages As 16th April is observed as Stress Awareness Day and April as Stress Awareness Month, I wish to share a few tips that can help you all, specifically freelancers, to lead a stress free and happy life. Nevertheless, stress is often contemplated as negative feeling, but preparing yourself to reducing and pacing with it is the gateway to many great opportunities. The tasks of a freelancer, is a slackly-defined amalgam of projects, tasks, time, and a plethora of other responsibilities to stretch youRead MoreThe Importance Of Developing A Priority Concern1538 Words   |  7 Pagespriority concern stems out of being able to relieve some of the stress in her life. M.P. stated that she is under a great deal of pressure that is directly associated with losing her partner and starting a business on her own. Moyce (2013) stated that when an individual’s ability to manage stress declines, it could have detrimental effects on their state of health (p. 3). Therefore a priority concern at this time would be the amount of stress that M.P. is dealing with, from managing her employees, to

The Superstitious Life Free Essays

Superstitions are Bored Superstitions are like a bad lie depends on you if you believe in it, superstitions depends on â€Å"good look† that is a different and more joyful word to say destiny, the begging of superstitions are more like the cause of the problems and the consequences aren’t â€Å"bad luck† the real consequences are â€Å"you brake it you pay it†. The consequences are the same in the superstitions and in the â€Å"real life† because if you pass under a ladder something can fall in your head and I think that could the â€Å"bad luck† for passing under a ladder. The â€Å"good luck† consequences, are also completely false because one time I hit my elbow, my mom told me don’t rub yourself and you will get good luck, I follow the advice of my mother and nothing happened, so is kind of fool to believe in superstitions. We will write a custom essay sample on The Superstitious Life or any similar topic only for you Order Now For many people the superstitions are like part of their life and let’s be intelligent you don’t depend on your â€Å"luck†, life depends on your attitude. Also the â€Å"superstitions â€Å"are different around the world because in some place the action you make here means something and maybe in china means another. Traditions are also like â€Å"superstitions† because you decide the way things’ sense let’s say an example in some parts of the world if you burp at the table you don’t have education, but in India if you don’t burp means that you didn’t like the food, so is completely contradictory. But this is my personal opinion and you don’t have to follow my thoughts, everyone can have different ideas and believe whatever you want. Be yourself and have a pleasant and good life. By Ricardo Linares Hernandez 3rd A How to cite The Superstitious Life, Papers

Light Rail Project at Perth for Transportation - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theLight Rail Project at Perth for Public Transportation. Answer: Introduction: At the beginning of the conceptual design, a needs definition was done and following the recommendations given, a light rail system in the city of Perth is underway for growing the conveyance adequacy in the city nearby. The points of interest that the subjects and city will get hold of from the utilization are never-ending (Currie and Delbosc, 2013). The committee additionally assumes that the considerable traffic management hassles can be settled through the execution of the light rail in the city. The benefits noted include more wage for the city council, better transportation for the occupant, diminished passing by time, condition pleasant transportation and a ton of something past. The majority of Perth is assessed to be two million (Currie and Phung, 2008). Also, the cutting edge transportation mediums in place are not entirely utilizable to a profitable level as when looking at the current population of the city. The most basic task at hand, subsequently, in arranging the light rail network is comprehending the course of the framework. It should be that the rail network covers all the essential domains of the city while including a sufficient amount of nodes which could interface with connect the fundamental zones (Sung and Oh, 2011). In any case, it is challenging to join each one of the parts of the city into one zonal network while making it viable. This is why the stoppage zones can be done in this kind of way that sufficient communication mediums are available from the stoppage to close to the zones (Cassidy, 2011). Furthermore, this venture is critical for the enhancement of the transportation network in Perth. Other cities in Australia can also adopt this model in order to boom delivery performance while lowering the pollution inside the city and aiding in sustainability. The potentiality of providing a better transportation network system in the metropolis can be realized through the LRT system. As the light rail is not susceptible to any traffic jams, the average speed of reach from zone or node spot to every other point within the coverage of the light rail could be drastically reduced (McIntosh et al., 2014). The Perth metropolis is one of the busiest urban regions of the country and has the and as such, mass transportation is a complex challenge. With this in mind, the goal to improve the mass productivity of the every region within the city is what the light rail system is about. The report presented in the previous assignment has been useful in providing the facts about the LRT system u sage within the metropolis area in which it would operate. Preliminary design (Methodology) When using the flow model, the design challenge problem is commonly broken into two separate phases first, one solves the issue of the length of the train, in which the lengths of the trains on each designated to a zone are determined (Kim et al., 2007). The principle concern in this stage is to ensure that there are constantly a sufficient number of trains available at every station for all scheduled rides leaving from that particular station. In this part of the design, rides are most effectively assigned to the various unit types of the trains, however not to particular train units. When coming to the second part of the design, the unit assignment challenge is solved: particular train units are assigned to the preplanned trips. For every train unit a rotation is decided in the evaluation. The standard method for modeling the light rail units length is the use of a flow model: a time relationship graph is used to model the preplanned trips (Schumacher, 2000). Compliance with the re quirements necessary for maintenance is crucial to creating routing solutions feasible: even as ignoring positive actual-global prices may cause suboptimal answers, solutions which forget about renovation are invalid altogether. The empty rides among schedules will be used for maintenance cause, this way the timetable will not be distorted. The use of a Gantt chart in this case is necessitated by the need to demonstrate the starting and finishing time of each of the light rail networks units and additionally the precise element of the periodic programming. This also suggests the dependency (i.e. priority of each component of the network) relationships in every one of the routes and while at the same time providing an illustrative image of the train programming system (Hoffman, 2008). Detailed Design LRT vehicles are expected to have an ordinary administration most extreme speeding up rate of around 4 kilometres for each hour per second (kphps) when ranging between 0 and 50 mph, decreasing to a normal speed deceleration rate of 1.0 kphps between 50 to 90 mph. Typical train unit braking is thought to be a consistent deceleration of 4 kphps from 90 kph to 0 mph. LRT vehicles are accepted to have a limit maximum income operation speed of 90 kph. Operation speeds along the proposed networks fluctuate because of lateral and vertical bends and station interval distances, and in addition speed restricts on such sections that interact with roads (Hensher, 2007). The LRT Alternative would start at an at-grade station on Elizabeth Quay Bus Station next to the current Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on the Mounts Bay Road. The arrangement would stay on the ground as it progresses towards Wellington Street, west on up through Williams Street, north crosswise over Newcastle Street, and afterward along the west up to James Street, basically in Northbridge Area, to a station adjoining the Perth Arena. The arrangement would slip into a passage east through Wellington Street and travel lower east to Bennet Street, south under Queens Garden, and easterly through Hays Street. The operating requirements were produced for the light rail network in view of the assumptions delineated above. Each operational unit is accepted to comprise of three light rail vehicles (LRVs), and the fleet estimations incorporate prepared trains to help "drop back" operations and 20 percent save limit (Schumacher, 2000). The TPMs outlined in the previous report can be used as a basis of design with the system making provisions for both traffic intersections, costs, human population and regulatory measures. The financial breakdown in the conceptual design provide the project costs at 794 million AUD. System Test, Evaluation, Validation and Optimization For the system test to be successful, the tests that need to be conducted include Factory Acceptance/Inspection Test (FAT), Site Installation Test (SIT), Site Acceptance Test (SAT) and Overall Site Acceptance/Performance Test (Sharma, 2011). The FAT level is the testing of equipment and system components for the duration of production within the factory or in a relatively similar environment. This preliminary stage of the testing confirms that the supply of each component and working equipment is in keeping with the design and the general venture requirements. This level offers the evidence that all the additives and device meet the specifications. FAT are usually carried out in the production premises but can also be carried out within the premises of the contractors base of operation (Sharma, 2012). FATs must be achieved for each and every one of the singular components and tools used, and with regards to systems, to all the hardware and software program. In phrases of hardware, styles of assessments may be performed routine assessments and type assessments. Routine assessments are performed for every piece of device and additives and include exams such as insulation test, visual inspection, calibration, electrical conductivity check, mechanical, hydraulic checks and size check, and another compliance tests. Type assessments are carried out on a sample of the equipment of every rating, kind, et al. based totally on agreed requirements or a technical constraint inside the agreement. These can include assessments like reliability assessments, electromagnetic compatibility, mechanical power, electric traits, etc. type assessments should be monitored via the clients or contractors representatives (Sharma, 2011). The SIT level is the assessment phase following the set-up of systems and sub-systems on the ground. The intention of the SITs is to demonstrate that every one of the structure or sub-structures are feasibly set up and related, are checked and are sensible for operation. The tests especially fuse discernible appraisal, autonomous or no-pile checks and some operational checks. The SITs should be possible on the ground by techniques for site start and in stages as the railroad line ranges get created and organized. They may be drawn out piece by area till the whole line has been assessed. These sections may be connected with respect to infrastructure constraints consisting of the railroad line network, the position of crossovers, and so on, line constraints e.g. the overhead connection device, the position of sub-stations, and many others., and other third party and task management regulations. In ordinarily, the site inspection and assessment check for proper system equipment kind, qu antities, any damage, accurate set up and integration inside the sub-system, and any breakdowns after installation. Some of the checks can include insulation assessments, electric continuity et al, production level checks that include on exchange of facts, a few low degree standalone operational assessments, and so on (Sharma, 2014). The SAT phase is the phase while all setup equipment and sub-structures are examined. This phase recommends that each one the distinctive sorts of apparatus and sub-structures can for all intents and purposes perform, thereby fulfilling most of the general execution requirements. This pre-approving phase is usually separate into sub-levels the primary wherein each one of the systems are below a predetermined scope (SAT-internal), and the other one wherein as a base one of the systems underneath explore blend is outdoors this predefined scope (SAT-outside). This different up must be portrayed through the undertaking and is normally based totally at the legitimate augmentation. it can be established on different criteria together with the diverse quality and level of interfaces with 0.33 celebration, between first class sorts of assertions for contrasting legally binding specialists, between huge controls, geological and physical necessities, and so on. Much the same as the SITs, SATs may be done in stages too (Sharma, 2012). Finally, SATOV can be characterized as set activities that show that the system will be effective palatably in practice. SATOV set up calls for the operation of huge amounts of structures on a planned premise, in a manner that's like the operation of frameworks in business service. This could encompass seeming every functional assessment on all framework and structures with administrator contribution (Sharma, 2014). This authorizing phase can only start after the completion of every other stage. There are unique instances which include setting up of a control area while a single part of line is ready while whatever is left of the railroad track opens in this manner later. SATOV winds up the TC system and exhibits that the system will capably and thoroughly meet the client's requirements. As this stage involves all members, for instance, the head and neighborhood professionals (if essential), and pinnacle level coordination by the client and the employees is essential. Conclusion The LRT network is actually and monetarily feasible as demonstrated in the conceptual design. From the preliminary design and the assignment has specified all the stages that would be necessary in the design giving the model through which the preliminary design will be carried out. The methodology has been given and as such, the system can be designed from there. The requirements have been given in the detailed design and from there, tests to check the viability of the system have been given. The tests are to be carried out on site during the detailed design and construction phase in order to liaise with every party involved. The light rail system can be a good alternative to road systems. References: Cassidy, E., 2015. LRT versus BRT: which is the better option? Accessed Oct 03, 2017, from Steer Davis Gleave: https://www.steerdaviesgleave.com/news-and-insights/LRT-versus-BRT Currie, G. and Delbosc, A., 2013. Exploring comparative ridership drivers of bus rapid transit and light rail transit routes. Journal of Public Transportation, 16(2), p.3. Currie, G. and Phung, J., 2008. Understanding links between transit ridership and gasoline prices: evidence from the United States and Australia. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, (2063), pp.133-142. Dittmar, H. and Ohland, G. eds., 2012. The new transit town: best practices in transit-oriented development. Island Press. Freemark, Y., 2011. The Silly Argument over BRT and Rail. Accessed Oct 03, 2017, from The Transport Politic: https://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2011/05/25/the-silly-argument-over-brt-and-rail/ Hess, D.B. and Almeida, T. M., 2007. Impact of proximity to light rail rapid transit on station-area property values in Buffalo, New York. Urban studies, 44(5-6), pp.1041-1068. Hensher, D.A., 2007. Sustainable public transport systems: Moving towards a value for money and network-based approach and away from blind commitment. Transport Policy, 14(1), pp.98-102. Hoffman, A., 2008. Advanced network planning for bus rapid transit: the Quickway model as a modal alternative to Light Rail Lite (No. FL-26-7104-04). Kim, S., Ulfarsson, G.F. and Hennessy, J.T., 2007. Analysis of light rail rider travel behavior: impacts of individual, built environment, and crime characteristics on transit access. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 41(6), pp.511-522. MacDonald, J.M., Stokes, R.J., Cohen, D.A., Kofner, A. and Ridgeway, G.K., 2010. The effect of light rail transit on body mass index and physical activity. American journal of preventive medicine, 39(2), pp.105-112. McIntosh, J., Trubka, R. and Newman, P., 2014. Can value capture work in a car dependent city? Willingness to pay for transit access in Perth, Western Australia. Transportation research Part A: policy and practice, 67, pp.320-339. Sharma, R.C., 2011. Parametric analysis of rail vehicle parameters influencing ride behavior. International Journal of Engineering, Science and Technology, 3(8), pp.54-65. Sharma, R.C., 2012. Recent advances in railway vehicle dynamics. Int. J. Vehicle Structures Systems, 4(2), pp.52-63. Sharma, R.C., 2014. Modeling and simulations of railway vehicle system. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, 1(1), pp.55-66. Schumacher, R., 2000. LIGHT RAIL TRANSIT. In Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Forum. Sung, H. and Oh, J.T., 2011. Transit-oriented development in a high-density city: Identifying its association with transit ridership in Seoul, Korea. Cities, 28(1), pp.70-82.

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics Essays - Fiction

Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairy tales, exploring the consequences of the characters' wishes and quests. The main characters are taken from "Little Red Riding Hood", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Rapunzel", and "Cinderella", as well as several others. The musical is tied together by a story involving a childless baker and his wife and their quest to begin a family (the original beginning of The Grimm Brothers' Rapunzel), their interaction with a witch who has placed a curse on them, and their interaction with other storybook characters during their journey. "Be careful what you wish for" seems to be the ongoing theme in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Brothers Grimm inspired musical, Into the Woods . The story trails The Baker and his wife who wish to have a child, Cinderella who wishes to go the King's Festival, and Jack who wishes his cow would give some milk. When the Baker and his wife are visited by the neighborhood witch, who reveals to them that she placed a curse on their family, the two set off on a voyage into the woods to reverse the curse. Also in the woods, we meet Little Red, who is trying to visit her grandmother, the Wolf who loves tasty little girls, the Witch's daughter Rapunzel, and the Princes chasing after their loves. By the end of Act I, everyone has gotten their wish and will seemingly live happily ever after. But in Act II, when Jack's beanstalk brings them a visit from an angry Giant, we see how the costs of their actions haunt them in devastating ways. The community must c ome together to save each other and their territory , but sacrifices must be made . The musical was a little hard to follow because there was a lot going on. It is one that you have to sit and watch the whole thing to understand what is going on. If you miss any part of it will confuse you because the whole story is tied together. The themes are beloved childhood fairytales from long past that intertwine and is told as an overall story, such as when the witch told the Baker and his wife that if they want the curse reversed, they have to bring her some ingredients for a potion - a cow as white as milk, a cape as red as blood, hair as yellow as corn, a slipper as pure as gold. She needs it by midnight in three days' time when the blue moon will come, which only happens every 100 years. If they can bring her the ingredients, she promises them a child. But it keeps going and brings more characters from the fairytales to the story. The actors and actresses that I liked on Into the Woods would have to be Cinderella because she works hard and finally after all the mistreating she has been through she finally finds h er true love but things are twisted and not the way she wants it to go. Another character I like was the giant, because the giant was just misunderstood. She just wanted to be befriended. The characters I disliked would have to be the baker's wife because she is a cheater and up to no good throughout the musical. Although she got what she wanted as it turns out none of them are happy and sometime later they realize it. The lighting and set seemed a little drab to me. It was kind of dark and not too many props were used, this was very minimal. The costumes were pretty spot on the way I remember the stories. The sound was good for an open theatre, but a little hard to hear in certain areas. The makeup was great I loved how they had Rapunzel and her long flowing hair and how they had the baker's wife she was plump. I guess for the play the lighting was okay especially that it came out in 1999. Technology has come a long way since that period. Overall I liked the props

Rbd Recycling Report Essay

Rbd Recycling Report Essay Rbd Recycling Report Essay Researching Business Data Assignment 1 Obtain some figures for recycling in different regions of the UK Table of Contents 1.0 - Introduction 2.0 - What is recycling and what is the reason for it 3.0 - Household waste 4.0 - Commercial and industrial recycling 5.0 - London result by WPA table 6.0 - revision and Error 7.0 -Types of revision * Schedule revision * Non-schedule revision 8.0 - References 1-Introduction The purpose of this report is too investigate figures for recycling in different regions of UK and discusses any increase or decreased for each of the figures. A brief history of recycling is initially outlined. And also an explanation of what recycling is and what is the reason for it. The discussion then is focused on the topic that has divided into two categories of household and commercial and industrial wastes and highlighting the purposes of individual campaigns in the individual regions. Furthermore the selected four regions are; Harrow, Lewis ham, Westminster and City of London. These are during the timeframe of 2006 to 2011. Recycling in the areas as mentioned above has encouraged by the government due to the different reasons. This is because although the individual regions have wastes to manage they have different quantities due to differentials in economic, industrials and general activities taking place in the chosen regions. In early pre-industrial times, waste was disposed of in the ground where it would act as compost, eventually the change from nomadic hunter-gatherer to agriculturist meant that waste could no longer be left as it was and thus pushed forward towards the growing problem of garbage disposal. This soon gave rise to the need of recycling. 2. What is recycling and what is the reason for it Recycling is a method through which present materials are processed with aim of producing newer products. This method would reduce energy usage and air pollution from incineration and water pollution from land field. The reason for recycling is that it could save energy, Material Conservation, Reduction of Rubbish in Landfills and Helping the Environment. This idea is also extend the life of something that has previously served its purpose all the while focusing on the prevention of useful materials. 3, The Proportion of collected HOUSEHOLD waste that is recycled or composted The graph above clearly states that Harrow has increased from 10% in 2004/5 to 50% in 2010/11. This shows that Harrow has ranks the second highest in London for household recycling and composting, the reason for this increase is because the government has said we must recycle and compose 40% of our waste by the end of 2010. If we do not reach this target, we will be fined and the cost will be passed on to the resident’s council tax. As the graph shows Lewis ham has increased from 10% in 2004/5 to 22% in 2007/8, and it has dramatically decreased to 20.5% in 2008/9. This is because there were not enough recycling bins for Lewis ham so the local council advised members of the community to share recycling bins or even wrap it up in a black bag and stick it in the garden attraction foxes. In addition Lewis ham has one of the lowest rates of the waste to landfill in London at Only 10%. This is because a large proportion of the waste is incinerated Westminster has increased from 15% in 2004/5 to 25.3% which suggest that it has one of the lowest household recycling and composting rate in London. Household recycling and composting in Westminster has increased but the rate of household composting is low this is due to housing stock, Less than 20% of residents have gardens. London has increased from 14% in 2004/5 to 39% in 2010/11. This has increased but composting remains low due to the prevalent of flats and absence of private gardens. If the initiatives

Role of commercial banks in causing the financial crisis Term Paper

Role of commercial banks in causing the financial crisis - Term Paper Example On the other side of Europe, the G7 financial ministers have assumed the crisis to be an American problem until much of the European banking system effectively collapsed. In countries such as Germany, the bailing out of the major industries including the Hypo Real estate as well as European mega banks came to hit them hard as they are the big lenders. Other nations like Britain emulated what was happening and commendably made their banking systems to become national. By October 2008 many of the European countries including Canada had gone so far as to guarantee not only the deposits but as well the debts of the banks as well. The financial system in the world is the umbrella body that will be concerned with how all the institutions that deal with finances will work including the borrowing of money in the form of loans that will be repaid in a period that will be short or relatively longer. At times, the webs of debt and credit have always been fragile in times of panic, spreading problems from a part of the global economy to the other. The reason that is responsible for this is that when one link in the very intricate chain becomes weak and breaks and defaults on some debt, it can leave creditors hazardously short of funds, unable to assure the credit of other firms. In this way, the consequences of one failure can spread throughout the entire economy and hence the entire money market (Roubini and Mihm 117) . There are always marketing risks arising when financial institutions trade assets and liabilities as well as derivatives as opposed to holding them for longer investment, funding or hedging purposes, (Saunders and cornett 184). When this happens, the financial institutions are assumed to directly control the maturities of their assets and liabilities as well as the interest issues are concerned. As interest rates fall, many mortgage borrowers seek to repay their existing loans and refinance at a lower rate.

Population & migration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Population & migration - Essay Example Population increase/explosion in developing countries contributes to problems such as malnutrition and poverty but does not have much negative effects in developed countries as they are well endowed with several resources. On the other hand, population decrease in developing countries can be seen as a blessing as it would boost the capacity of available limited resources and opportunities to cater for the needs of the population, but in highly industrialized countries it will be seen as a curse because of shrinking available workforce. This paper investigates problems of population explosion in India suggesting ways that can be used to control it. According to Webster’s dictionary, population is defined as the whole number of inhabitants or people in a given country whereas population explosion is pyramiding of numbers of a natural population. Population change is mainly influenced by death rate, birth rate and migration. Increase in birth rate and migration increase population whereas increase in death rate reduces population. Thus, population is calculated by subtracting a sum of deaths and emigration from a sum of births and immigration. Effects of population growth in India include increased environmental population, increased unemployment and illiteracy levels and increased depletion of resources. Increased environment pollution has resulted from increased establishment of more factories to satisfy the needs of the people in the country. When the fossil fuels are burnt to generate energy required by the increased factories, green house gases such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere contributing to air pollution and global warming. Also, the factories discharge their industrial wastes into rivers. Equally, the increasing numbers of people exert pressure on the available natural resources; water resources are over-utilized, forest cover

John Heartfield Photomontages and Marxism Essay

John Heartfield Photomontages and Marxism - Essay Example To understand this relationship between Marx and Heartfield, this paper will provide some background into Heartfield’s work and the Weimar Republic before analyzing three of Heartfield’s works in light of Karl Marx’s â€Å"The German Ideology.† Within the language of his art, Heartfield created photographic symbols for the various political parties. He included such images as clenched fists, raised arms and open hands to show the strong actions and determined nature of the men in the various parties to do what they felt was important. Rather than going out and working to take his own photographs, Heartfield opted to take recognizable photographs from the mainstream press and reassemble them in such a way as to change the meaning of the image to what he envisioned. Most of his images appeared in the magazine Die Arbeiter-Illustrierte Zeitung (Worker’s Illustrated Magazine or AIZ). To make his meanings as clear as possible, Heartfield stuck to a minimalist style, restricting himself to only a few telling images in each piece, thus becoming a father of the modern and postmodern movements. The Weimar Republic, a convenient name developed by scholars to distinguish the political situation in Germany between the two world wars, was characterized by violent social upheaval. The country had been led for more than 40 years by the military and was suddenly forced, with the loss of World War I, to accept a civilian government. However, the large numbers of soldiers returning from the war, an unstable idea of how civil government should be constructed as well as a general non-acceptance of this type of government led to chaos within Germany. Several councils were put in place by the soldiers and workers of Germany. These councils led to the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, the establishment of a socialist nation and the creation of a parliamentary-led governmental system that acted more like a dictatorship. The general

Causes and Effects of the Amazons Deforestation

Causes and Effects of the Amazons Deforestation Dr. G. Leckebusch Deforestation in the Amazonas Basin and the Climate Policy of Brazil – A Critical Review The contemporary issue of deforestation is seen as a rising global concern involving the complete clearance of forests either by cutting or burning. Forest clearance is seen to fluctuate however rates of decrease across the Amazon basin where as large as 30% between 2001 and 2002 (Santilli et al, 2005). Optimistic climate change models show that the median distance between the areas in the Amazon rainforest and their closest future (2050) climate model according to the prediction based on temperature and precipitation change increase to over >475km (Feeley and Rehm, 2012). Deforestation affects the Amazon basin on a large scale whereby rates have exponentially increased since 1991 (Fearnside, 2005). Cattle ranching within the Amazon are seen to account for 70% of the clearing activity (Fearnside, 2005). This argued upward trend of deforestation is set to continue due to cattle, pastures and highways (Nepstad et al, 2001). Prior to this the Amazon remained largely intact until the â€Å"modern† wave of deforestation in 1970 due to the transamazon highway. Therefore due to modern issues such as global population increase, increased demand for land and resources forest degradation is becoming an important concern which needs to be addressed. With the original extent of the Amazon forest covering approximately the area of Western Europe (Fearnside, 1993a); reliable estimates are needed to monitor deforestation levels. Recent values of deforestation are seen in Figure 1. It can be argued that there is no real explanation as to why deforestation rates fluctuate therefore Fearnside Barbosa (2004) question whether the statistics produced are valid. However these estimates are needed in order for protocols to come into action. As high deforestation rates are contributing to the global concerns such as loss of biodiversity, greenhouse gas warming as well as the destruction of such valuable resource. Protocol’s can monitor these fluctuations however before prevention takes place the causes of deforestation need to be addressed. Causes Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest can be attributed to many different factors. Although the expansion of the highway infrastructure can explain part of the deforestation in the 1970s and 1980s it cannot be the sole reason (Schaeffer et al, 2005). As it does not provide the explanation for the issue in the 1990s when the infrastructure development came to an end however the rates of deforestation still remained high. Nowadays the current expansion of highways is seen as a consequence rather than a cause as blaming governmental organisations masks the real reasons. The primary underlying forces behind deforestation in the Amazon region are combined effects of cultural, demographic, economic, technological, political issues (Schaeffer et al, 2005). Then underlying governmental policies, as well as institutional, socio-economic factors interact among themselves and function as one, driving deforestation within the Amazon (Schaeffer et al, 2005). More recently there have been different drivers of deforestation such as soybean and beef production which have therefore required a larger portion of land for production and the infrastructure involved due to globalisation. However these new drivers have not replaced existing ones they have been added to the ongoing list of deforestation drivers. These new plantations involve new infrastructure development which can expect to destroy more forest alone (Fearnside, 2001c). Infrastructures developments are seen as an added effect as the Forest loss in the 1990s would have been notably less severe were it not for the preceding infrastructure standing in its way. These transportation links are seen to accelerate the clearing of rainforests. The Avanca Brazil Program created a development package for the period 2000-07 which included a US $20 billion development in infrastructure within the Amazon region (Laurance et al, 2001; Nepstad et al 2001; Fearnside, 2002a). This development was driven by the perceived need to transport the new production of soy beans. Particularly damaging roads where the BR-163 and BR-319 highways (Fearnside, 2005). Large landholders are seen to be the most sensitive to economic change such as variable interest rates, financial returns, land prices and inflation. With Tax drivers been a strong driver of deforestation rates in the 1970-80’s (Mahar, 1979). With government subsidised credit at rates considerably lower than inflation meant that they became much scarcer after 1984. However in 1994 when Brazil set out the plan for a â€Å"Plano Real Reform† (Fearnside, 2005) hyperinflation dominated the economy however this resulted in land been at peak price reaching levels which were justifiable for production. As a result deforestation enabled claims to land and cutting for cattle pastures was the cheapest and most effective method (Hecht et al, 1988; Faminow, 1998; Fearnside, 1987/2002b). Due to Brazil’s recession deforestation rates declined throughout 1987-1991 as ranchers were unable to expand as quickly due to the government lack of funds for infrastructure developments. H owever the â€Å"Decree suspending incentives† (Fearnside, 2005) came into practice in mid 1991 which was the result of the most effective decline; evident in figure 2. It has been argued that the peak in 1995 was a result of economic recovery due to the Plano real response however due to this the fall seen in 1996 and 1997 was a logical decision of the Plano Real to cut the rate of inflation; shows fluctuation in deforestation rates (Fearnside, 2005). These major rates of fluctuations where due to money availability, inflation rate due to most of the clearing been done by those who invest to medium/large cattle ranchers. In figure 2 it is clear to see that deforestation rates climbed per year which then remained constant for 4 years followed by a steep rise in 2002 to a new level. Timber extraction has seen to be a cause of such rises as increased forest flammability has meant higher rate of loss. This undetected deforestation leads to severe damage that is visible on landsat imagery as deforestation (Cochrane et al, 1999; Nepstad et al, 199b). The role of logging increases the chance of forest fire as fires dry out large areas making a wider catchment susceptible to fires. Verissimo et al (1992) notes that forest fires create the damage of almost twice the volume of trees being harvested. Similarly a major resulting concern is the number of rainless days needed for a logged area is much lower to reach flammable conditions than for one that hasn’t (Nepstad et al, 2004). Due to the above causes a global climate impact has occurred. Global climate impact Deforestation creates a large global climate impact which includes loss of biodiversity, reduced rainfall and global warming contribution; similarly a loss of productivity, soil erosion, nutrient depletion and soil compaction. A change in the hydrological regime impact involves watershed functions been lost and flooding. The percentage of water recycled within the Amazon basin is now seen to be 20-30% (Lean et al, 1996) rather than the previous figure of 50% (Salati Vose, 1984). This at a policy view is not appreciated (Fearnside, 2004) as current levels of available water worldwide is seen as low. Results show that currently 150 million people live in cities with a persistent water shortage (defined as â€Å"having less than 100L per person per day†) and by 2050 is set to increase to almost 1 billion people (McDonald et al, 2011). The deceptive view of the potential deforestation rates increasing global precipitation levels misleads the idea that deforestation is bad. Biodiversity loss is a result of deforestation which impoverishes the earth’s biodiversity (Capobianco et al, 2001). Net emissions of greenhouse gases are increased as a result of deforestation through forest fires. Amazonian deforestation distinguishes a greater concern due to potential future emissions. In 1990 the net commission emissions from Brazilian deforestation represented 5% of the global total from a variety of sources (Fearnside, 1997b). However the concern is in the carbon stock in biomass within the Amazon which represents 38% of the tropical total (Fearnside 2000a:129). Likewise this release of carbon through tropical deforestation showed a release of 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon (GtC) to the atmosphere annually throughout the 1990’s; which can be seen as 20% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. It can be seen that global climate models show that as precipitation decreases linearly there are increasing amounts of precipitation. The climate of Brazil changes due to the loss of tropical rainforests to pasture; the surface temperature increases by approximately 1 ° to 3 °, precipitation increase and a decrease in evapotranspiration. This heating out the surface leads to localised upward motions that cause the formation of clouds which in turn produces more rainfall (Shukla et al, 1990). Similarly compared to rainforest cover the degraded pasture is seen to have a higher albedo value, with lower surface roughness and a shallower and sparser root system and lower available storage capacity for soil moisture (Shukla et al, 1990). Thus cannot retain the high levels of precipitation leading to higher rates of surface runoff. Due to deforested areas been drier and more susceptible to forest fires, the ENSO triggered an extended dry condition in 1997-98 across the Amazon. This meant an increase in tree mortality and forest flammability especially in logged areas due to large areas burned releasing carbon to the atmosphere (Page et al, 2002). However even in non ENSO years global warming has been observed to be putting tropical regions at risk. Over the last 5 years droughts within the basin droughts have been detached from ENSO events but have collaborated with some of the highest temperatures on record (Gullison et al, 2007). If these droughts become more frequent and severe or the dry season lengthens due to deforestation or a reduction in rainfall due to global warming then a proportion of the carbon stored in the tropical rainforests will be released into the atmosphere (Santilli, 2005). So as Malhi et al (2004) states the undisturbed rainforests act as a â€Å"sink† for the atmospheric carbon w hich is yet to be released. The effects of Amazon deforestation upon climate change is investigated using numerical experiments of an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) with set global sea surface temperature and the same AGCM joined to an ocean GCM (CGCM) over the global tropics. The joined model demonstrated a reduction in rainfall which was 60% larger compared to its control run (Nobre et al, 2009). Nobre concluded that amazon deforestation affects climate change and is dependent on AGCM’s. However there is a general agreement that amazon deforestation results in a local reduction in rainfall and an increase of surface temperature. This abundant cheap land within the amazon needs caps on it to ensure all is not sold. As this means destructive, fire-based agriculture, such as cattle ranching and slash-burn-farming, will continue to thrive. In the Amazon an area the size of France has already been deforested, a large fraction of which is now degraded cattle pasture with minimal benefit for the natives (Schaeffer, 2005). Therefore sustainable development is the step forward.

Daniel Quinns Ishmael - Transformation of Will Weston from Taker to Le

Daniel Quinn's Ishmael - Transformation of Will Weston from Taker to Leaver The seceded Ecotopian nation and the country it came from can be categorized into two groups, "Takers" and "Leavers". These terms are derived from Daniel Quinn's novel, Ishmael. "Good. So henceforth I'm going to call the people of your [American] culture Takers and the people of all other cultures Leavers." "You call your self civilized and all the rest primitive." Upon entering Ecotopia, Will Weston is impressed, horrified and overwhelmed by the practices of Ecotopians. "Can things be as weird as they sound" and will he be able to "keep his sanity" among the madness he encounters? What Will does not know is that the longer he stays in Ecotopia, this "Leaver" society is going to challenge his "Taker" beliefs and mindset and ultimately change them for good. Will is very cautious and defensive upon going into Ecotopia. He's an American "Taker" traveling off into unknown "Leaver" territory and he is very suspicious of the Ecotopians. "Something peculiar is going on in this place. Can't yet exactly locate the source of the feeling. The way people deal with each other -with me- keeps reminding me of something -but I don't know what. Always takes me off guard, makes me feel I was confronted with some fine personal opportunity -a friendship, learning something's important, love -which by then has just passed Will's first impression of the Ecotopians is mixed. On one hand he thinks that they have very novel ideas in regards to the way they live and when he thinks of them as savages because of many of their different practices. "Woke up sweating, hands clutched tight on dream spear. Wished I was home safe in New York. Savages!" Many experiences wit... ... and live out in these past six weeks. He sees the horrible person that he used to be and instantly wants to part of it any more. He knows now that his place is right here in Ecotopia. For the past couple weeks he knew deep down that he should stay here, but couldn't bring himself to admit it openly. Not until he is shown is former self, does he admit his true feelings and decide to stay in Ecotopia. The one thing Will Weston never expected to happen as he went on assignment in Ecotopia did happen. He was influenced and changed by these so- called savages. He was changed from a typical American "Taker" into an Ecotopian "Leaver". His ideas about love, life and friendship were all changed in a matter of six weeks. He learned what it meant to live in harmony with nature and to be one with your fellow Ecotopians. We should only hope that Americans could do the same.

The Use of Lasers in Esophageal Cancer Treatment

Esophageal cancer is a rare form of cancer, but its numbers are on the rise around the world (Staff, Mayo Clinic 1). This disease occurs when malignant or cancerous cells form in the tissues of the esophageal lining of the body’s gastrointestinal tract. The esophagus is responsible for moving swallowed food and liquids from the mouth into the stomach for digestion. It consists of several tissue layers, including the mucous membrane, muscle, and connective tissues.When cancer forms in the esophagus, it begins in the innermost layer of the tissue (the mucous membrane) and moves outward (towards the connective tissue layer) as it spreads (see Figure 1). It often goes undetected for many years, and in its later stages, this cancer is not easily treatable. Among those who develop esophageal cancer, their long-term survival rate is low, as it is estimated that only 12. 5% of patients live five years beyond the date of diagnosis (Triesschejin, Martijn 5).The standard treatment option used to combat esophageal cancer is called an esophagectomy, in which the cancerous area of the esophagus is removed via surgery, however this procedure is very invasive, complicated, and is often times fatal. However, with today’s technological advancements, safer, less-invasive methods are beginning to replace this option and are proving to be successful in helping to extend the lives of those patients with severe esophageal cancer and aid in improving their quality of life.One up-and-coming treatment option that is far more safe and practical than esophagectomy is the integration of lasers in photodynamic therapy, or PDT. Although it is still an experimental treatment, is ideal because it has no long-term side effects, is minimally invasive, can be done quickly with little recovery time, has the ability to precisely target the areas of the body where the cancer cells are present, and can be safely repeated multiple times until the desired results are achieved.Post-treatme nt, it has been known to cause sensitivity to light, particularly pertaining to the patient’s eyes and skin, however this has not been shown to be a significant issue among those treated with PDT. Photodynamic therapy uses special drugs, known as photosensitizing agents, along with laser light to kill cancer cells closer to the surface of the skin. The agents are injected into the body via and ‘switched on’ with light of the appropriate wavelength depending on the drug utilized. Chemical and molecular reactions within the ody from the drugs then destroy the cancer cells and work to rid the body of the esophageal disease. Although several sources of light are possibilities when performing photodynamic therapy, lasers are the most preferred. They are the most effective in emitting monochromatic light, or light that is of a single wavelength and color, corresponding to all of the different absorption maxima of photosensitizers’ compounds, and can be relativel y easily coupled to optical fibers from 200 to 600 microns’ core sizes.Specifically, the type of laser that is optimal for the treatment of esophageal cancer is a diode laser. These lasers are the most recent to be used in cancer treatment, and were developed just within the last fifteen years. Thus, they have higher quality beams, expanded ranges of wavelengths, and can be used on higher powers if desired. Diode lasers are ideal because they are simple to use, easy to transport, and do not require difficult installation like the gas (argon) and dye lasers used before them (Boucher 74).The diode laser currently approved by the FDA is manufactured by Angiodynamics, and has been successfully used, along with the correct application of photosensitizers, in esophageal cancer treatments. â€Å"A good photosensitizer is preferably a pure compound with a constant composition† (Nyman 3). And in esophageal cancer treatment via PDT, the best-proven photosensitizer is called porf imer sodium, also commercially known as Photofrin ®.In fact, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of this photosensitizer in the treatment of esophageal cancer via PDT (â€Å"Photodynamic Therapy† 2). Porfimer sodium is injected intravenously, where it is then absorbed by all of the body’s cells, but only those cells that are normal and not cancerous are able to get rid of it. To allow for the body’s normal cells to rid themselves of the drug, two to three days are given between the drug’s administration and the activation of the drug by laser light.After being passed down the throat through a small flexible tube called an endoscope, a thin fiber optic glass strand is used to direct the laser light at the affected area. The optical fiber is made of fused silica, and uses a balloon catheter to distribute a defined, controlled amount of light to the treated esophagus organ. If the beam were not diffuse, a direct beam (even at a low power) could be damaging to the esophageal tissue. The light is operated at weaker power of around 2 Watts to ensure that it does not burn any tissue, and it is relatively pain-free.The treatment it is applied for no longer than an hour at a time and can often be done in an outpatient setting (reference all sources listed). Normally, the most common wavelength used is red light, as its specific wavelength of 630 nanometers has been shown to work best when attempting to create the most effective and potent malignant cancer cell-killing method possible. Atomically speaking, following its activation by laser light, â€Å"†¦the photosensitizer is elevated from a ground state to a long lasting excited triplet state†¦. and it] can then react with cell membranes to form radical ions [intermediates] which interact further with oxygen to produce cytotoxic oxygenated molecules† (Gray 1). More simply put, the excited photosensitizer activated by the laser light transfers its energy to other molecules before returning to its ground state, which generates a reactive oxygen species (intermediate) that is able to directly kill and destroy the esophageal tumor via oxidation, and later, indirectly, via inflammation.Research has shown a huge increase in the survival rate of PDT patients receiving this treatment. Treated patients’ survival rates improved 25% over a span of five years compared to those who never received any type of treatment (Li 2). And although doctors have seen great success with the use of photodynamic therapy and diode laser treatments, there is still much more to be researched and improved upon. Currently, new drugs, such as Photochlor ®, and others are being clinically tested to see if they can be used as photosensitizers in the treatment of esophageal cancer.This photosensitizer looks promising, as it has already been shown to last a much shorter time and is more easily removed from the body than Photofrin ® is. Also, scientists are looking at the possibility of using ointments containing ferrous or colbalt ions and hydrogen peroxide on the treated cancerous area to improve PDT outcomes along with laser light. And with the further advancement of technology, hopefully newer treatments will be able to not only improve the outcomes of patients with severe esophageal cancer, but be able to cure them of it once and for all.

Ethics and Religion

Ethics and Religion Free Online Research Papers 1. Part two of McClendon concerns the church as a caring community. This community is not isolated but is part of the world. It has rules or laws that govern its actions and activities individually and collectively. One cannot embrace Christianity and live outside of society but, Christians should live in this world with its social mores as unified followers of Christ. We must be guided by the Holy Spirit to live socially, politically, and morally. Christians cannot ignore the fact that we live in a world with principalities and powers. These powers are not other worldly but they are of such that we deal with in our everyday lives. In our government we hear that there is a separation of church and state but, as followers of Christ we cannot ignore these powers. I believe we can live and be nonviolent but we cannot live not speaking out against the unjust deeds, and deplorable conditions in this world. However, we have to do this as a unified caring community. McClendon says that the caring community has both an internal and external moral life. The internal life concerns Christian living on a personal level. As a caring community we are responsible for others in the world also. McClendon uses the Sermon on the Mount as the rules or guide for living in this community. Do the church today practice mercy, compassion, and love as expressed by Jesus in this sermon? When Christians embrace the attitudes of the Sermon on the Mount others cannot be ignored socially or politically. When Christians ignore politically then we subject ourselves and others to such unfavorable leaders as Hitler. If we are â€Å"Our brother’s keeper† then we must stand up to prevent such atrocities as the Holocaust. Although it has taken place we must practice forgiveness if we are really Disciples of Christ. When the Lord’s Prayer becomes more than merely words to be recited we recognize that forgiveness is integral to the life of the believer. We will not be forgiven if we cannot forgive our brothers and sisters. Healing can never take place if the injury is never forgiven. The Lord’s Supper provides not only an avenue for forgiveness but, it brings the community of Christ together creating a unified body. It is the central theme for the caring community. It causes the injuring party to recognize the act of harm and to seek forgiveness, along with the injured party the ability to extend forgiveness to those who caused the injury. The act of forgiveness helps the community to maintain itself. Without forgiveness the community will destroy itself. 2. Part I shows us how Christians embodies the ethics of Jesus the Christ or how we live the ethics of Jesus. Chapter one told us that we are a convictional community that lives by a set standard or conviction. As followers of Christ we have taken on his attitudes and follow in his convictions to bring others into the community of believers. We embrace the Bible as the authoritative Word of God therefore we follow the standards and instructions of it. We believe that we have the freedom to respond to God without fear or reservation and by following the previous standards we can expect a life transformed into service by Jesus Christ. Here we begin the connection with part two which says that a life transformed by service does not end with self but, it is a life transformed into service to others. We are the body of Christ a caring community that loves and forgives one another as Christ would have us do. 3. Does your church practice what McClendon describes in Part II? My church does practice a community of care because we are what are known as a connectional church. My church is part of a district, and this district is part of the Western North Carolina Conference. This conference is then part of the general church that makes up all of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Churches of the world. We care for others through mission and community work. We are politically active by history having included in our membership such persons as Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Fredrick Douglas. We reach across denominational lines as we are members of the World Federation of Churches. We are part of the AIDS Council that is fighting this deadly disease worldwide. However, have we done enough in being a caring community? I think we have much work to be done still. There continues to be underprivileged persons, those who are starving, those who are considered second class citizens, and as the Bible tells us â€Å"The harvest is plentiful but, the la borers are few†. 4. How would you go about getting an already established church to follow the procedure which McClendon recommends? The only way is to bring the body to follow the procedures in McClendon is by beginning to follow what is found in the scriptures. The Sermon on the Mount gives us the teachings of Jesus that we should follow as a caring community. If the members are the disciples of Jesus then we follow his teachings and the Way that is already paved for us, first and foremost we must love without it we can do nothing else. If the church is just a game without goals, rules, or means to reach the goal then the church has failed as a caring community. Outreach ministry will have to be established to fulfill the mission of Christ. The church will have to become politically active becoming a voice for those who have none and not turn a deaf ear on those issues that impact the community as well as the church. 5. Suppose you are part (as leader/pastor) of a group of Christians which is forming into a church. How would you go about beginning the discipline process which will be an integral part of that new church? First, I would like to know if we all shared the same theological thoughts because the church needs to be a cohesive entity. I would want to know if we all shared or hoped to share similar ethical and moral standards. Without this we would just be a group with no guidelines or rules to live by. I would hope that these standards will be those of Jesus. Next I would establish each member with a partner because I believe that we all need someone to keep us accountable, for support, encouragement, and for prayer. The class system works well in this area. Research Papers on Ethics and ReligionComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoCapital PunishmentQuebec and CanadaArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Assess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeHip-Hop is ArtBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XDefinition of Export QuotasRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andGenetic Engineering

Controversial Issue Essay

Controversial Issue Essay Controversial Issue Essay Controversial Issue Essay: Making It Controversial If you always set one and the same question to yourself that is: why controversial issue essay again? we are going to answers your question. Controversial issue essay is the best exercise, which is only possible to invent for the proper process of studying. Controversial issue essay develops a lot of different skills and helps students to become more experienced in academic writing. Thus, controversial issue essay develop: analytical thinking skills perfect writing skills ability to have own opinions to all the possible problems excellent searching and analyzing skills the ability to work with facts, to analyze them and to use them for your sake. You see, that is why controversial issue essay is considered to be one of the favourite professors assignments: Preparation for Controversial Issue Essay Writing It is reasonable to get acquainted with the kind of controversial issue essay before starting to write your controversial issue essays. If speaking in a simple language, any of the controversial issue essays are the essays, which serve as a bomb. It is silent and quiet until it flashes. Each controversial issue essay is like a fire, like a hot spot, which makes people start debating. It should be emotional, burning, exciting. The main purpose of controversial issue essay is to convince people that your point of view is the only possible approach to the problem. Persuading is the only proper way of writing your controversial issue essay. A standpoint you deal with in your controversial issue essay should be supported by the authoritative facts taken from the authoritative sources. The more examples and proofs you present in your controversial issue essay the more persuasive it is going to be. Any controversial issue essay demands a lot of creativity from the writer. A common dull controversial issue essay is never going to be controversial. That is why in order to get the high grade for your controversial issue essay writing you have to make it hot, debating, and exciting. There exist a lot of different controversial issue essay techniques which can make a simple essay to be unusual and bright. Use them in your controversial issue essay and you will write an excellent work. Controversial Issue Essay Help If you need any kind of help or assistance with your controversial issue essay writing, you may bravely appeal to our custom essay writing service. We will support you at any stage of your controversial issue essay writing and give you some useful pieces of advice. Read also: Business Ethics Paper Term Argumentative Term Paper Analysis Term Paper 250 Words a Page Term Paper 15 Page Term Paper

Lebanese Security Issues and Solutions - Syrian Involvement Essay

Lebanese Security Issues and Solutions - Syrian Involvement - Essay Example Other groups that worsen the complication are the participation of the Libyans, Iraqis, Americans and the Russians ("The Lebanese War", 2005). The 15-years war in Lebanon (1975-1990) has begun from the disputes and political clash since the colonial period. One of the factors that aggravated the war was the conflict between the Christian and the Muslim. Added to these are the nearness of the country to Syria, the political revolutions and many other events in Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The growing Arab Nationalism and Socialism in the perspective of the Cold War are the other contributing factors to the conflict in Lebanon. Also included were the trouble between Arab and Israeli, the revolution in Iran and the Palestinian terrorism. To complete the list, the Black September in Jordan, Islamic fundamentalism, and the war between Iran and Iraq are the rest of these factors. The war brought countless of victims. More than 100,000 people were killed and almost 100,000 persons were injured and added to this were the thousands who lost their limbs resulting from the explosion of land mines. More than 900,0 00 innocent civilians were dislocated. More than double of this number migrated to other countries to keep away from the trouble. The Lebanese war can be divided into a number of periods. The outburst of the war was in the middle of 1970s then in late 1970s came the intrusion of the Syrian together with the Israeli. It was then followed by the intensification of the war between the PLO and the Israeli that occurred in early 80s. The invasion of Israeli in 1982 and the involvement of the multinationals were the added factors to the conflict which happened after was the resolution of the Syrian occupation ("History of Lebanon", 2006). Large contingent of Syrian Army was remained in Lebanon as early as 1976. Although the war has ended, the Syrian keeps a total of 14,000 soldiers to maintain the peace and order in the country. With their presence and involvement in Lebanese political affairs, the major political decisions are mostly made in Damascus ("Young in the Arab World: Lebanon", 2005). At first, the Syrian's presence in Lebanon is supported by America for more than 30 years together with the Israelis they favored the stay of the Syrian forces to keep the control of the 300,000 Palestinian refugees in the country. At present, the continuous stay of Syrian troops and its domination to the internal affairs of Lebanon is becoming the concern of U.S. President Bush (Fisk, 2005). Growing number of Lebanese are becoming displeased in long stay of the Syrian troops in the country. The Christians are believed to be the most affected group in the peace and security situation. The presence of checkpoints can be noticed in many parts of the country. Large posters of former President Hafez Assad can be seen everywhere. Spies or undercover agents who are dispersed anywhere brought fear to the people. The Lebanese Government is largely influenced by the Syrian particularly in their major decision making and political exercises. Tension are felt during election, the officials to be elected should be endorsed by Syria. It was only until last year

Pollution & the Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Pollution & the Environment - Essay Example Water may be polluted when pollutants come from point or non-point sources. Non-point sources include those sources that are non-discrete or that do not originate from one discrete source. Non-point pollution arises from the cumulative effect of contaminating agents in little quantities over a large area. When nitrogen compounds found in fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and other agricultural products leach out, it can easily cause pollution. Sheet flow over land used for agriculture may lead to pollution of water as the nutrients that were present in soil runoff in storm water. Point sources of pollution are those sources that come from discrete sources. For example, when a manufacturing company discharges hot water from its cooling system into a river, lake or other water body making the water body to become warm, pollution occurs from a point source. There are a wide range of agents that may cause water pollution. Some of these pollutants include pathogens, chemicals, and physical changes to the natural characteristics of water. While some minerals naturally occur in water, when their concentration in the water goes beyond the natural limit, the water is considered to be contaminated. Also, when substances that cause oxygen to be depleted in water such as man-made chemicals, grass and leaves, water pollution occurs. Pathogens or disease causing organisms such as Salmonella, Giardia lamblia, Burkholderia pseudomallei, and Cryptosporidium parvum may get into the water when waster water or sewage is not adequately treated (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservatio, 2002). Chemical contaminants of water may include detergents, petroleum hydrocarbons, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), products used for disinfection and waste from tree logging operations. Inorganic water pollutants include sulphur dioxide that is

Cultural Differences and Their Effect on Strategic Planning Case Study

Cultural Differences and Their Effect on Strategic Planning - Case Study Example India is the prime destination for outsourcing of services as well as the destination of new firms. It is one of the emerging economies with great potential for the future. Although it will be a huge step for Telmarket to move into a market so diverse from the UK, the setting up and operating costs will be relatively low. India has an abundance of human resources and the environment will be conducive to success. The expansion of Telmarket into an international market such as India will have many strategic implications for the firm. Indian culture differs greatly from British culture and thus many cultural issues may emerge. Culture defines behavior, values, and ambitions; and especially for businesses involved in training, culture affects every aspect of operations. The target market of Telmarket includes individuals and firms that are involved in marketing and customer care and thus the language barrier may result in problems. Hindi is the national and other languages are prevalent as well. As a UK based training firm Telmarket would impart most training in English and with relevance to English speaking customers, however, if the customers of their clients are Indian it will be necessary to train them in Hindu and/or other languages as well. Thus Telmarket would have to hire trainers from India. This could turn out to be an advantage for Telmarket in the form of salaries. Pay scales in India are lower than those in the UK and to hire Indians would cost less than to bring English trainers. The strategic implication of the language barrier might be in training and hiring costs. Trainers recruited in India might not meet the requirement of the firm and may need to be sent to the UK to for further training themselves this will increase recruitment and hiring costs whereas employee salaries may remain low.

Private labels and their effect in the market Essay Example for Free

Private labels and their effect in the market Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The intense competition in retail markets has driven retailers to offer their own products that have somewhat similar quality at affordable price. The so-called â€Å"private label† becomes an attractive solution for customers that cannot afford to buy branded products.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to global survey on private labeling, performed by AC Nielsen in 2005, they found that consumers in 38 markets continue accepting private labeling as good alternatives especially in markets where private labeling has existed for a long time. On average, in the Europe like Pacific regions, private labeling is perceived to be preferred choice by 78% of their consumers, followed by North America (77%), and Asia (51%). In terms of individual country, private labeling becomes the most preferred choices in Netherlands (91%), followed by Portugal (89%), and Germany (88%) (Shelf Impact, 2005).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The situation suggests that private labeling now becomes the savior for consumers and serious threat for branded producers. Since the private labeling has been adapted in many countries worldwide, this paper will discuss about private labeling of Welch Foods in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Company Background   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Welch Foods is a well-known producer of juices, jams, and jellies made from Concord and Niagara grapes. Since the company only produces particular type of grapes that only grows in the United States and some parts of Canada, it becomes the Welch’s competitive advantages.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, as globalization and open market policies are adopted by several countries to ensure fair competition, Welch Foods face serious threats as giant retailers start aggressively their private labeling strategy on variety of products including juice products. Private Labels and Its Impacts on market   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   By definition, private labeling refers to products or services that produced or manufactured by one company to offer under another company’s brands. Usually, retailers’ name appears on the packaging of the products and offer customers much lower price than other branded products.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In case of Welch Foods that face intense competition from other branded juice products and private label in the UAE, the company must deal with private labeling strategies that retailers or supermarkets performs. Therefore, in order to cope with pricing strategies that retailers perform to undermine branded products, Welch Foods have two options.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First is to form an agreement with retailers to produce store brands for the retailers. This private labeling of Welch has following benefits: It prevents competitors (juice producers) to take opportunity of private labeling with retailers/supermarkets Reduce promotion costs since it is such a joint promotion program Obtaining more shelf space in retailers’ outlets   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second option is to produce second layer products if the retailers have conducted private labeling with Welch’s competitors. By delivering second layer products, the company can match the retailers’ private label products. Case of Welch Foods in United Arab Emirate (UAE)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fast growing of private label industry also exist in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). During the Private Label Middle East (PLME) – Dubai 2007, the number of foreign companies that are interested in entering UAE through private label strategy is increasing (AME Info, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The situation suggests that Dubai becomes one target market of private label industry. AME Info refers Dubai as the gateway to private label industry ion the Middle East in which in the exhibition there are about 100 exhibitors from more than 20 countries want to enter UAE through private labeling.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to AC Nielsen survey, 84% of UAE consumers know at least one private label. This is much better than United Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (only 67%). Due to the intense competition in retail industry, Welch Foods must provide counter strategy to compete with already-in-market private labels.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In simple ways, Welch Foods must perform marketing plan that consist of the following activities: Identification and Choosing Market Segments   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For most products, there are always a number of different markets into which the product can be sold. Furthermore, within each market there are also a number of market segments that will also need special attentions. These segments are based on age, sex, tastes and preferences, religious beliefs, demography, income, etc. The importance of identifying and choosing between these different segments lies in several requirements. First, identifying between market segments is required to tailor the product quality characteristics. Second, it is important for designing promotional efforts. Third, it is important to design distribution and sales strategies. Designing the Marketing Mix   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The marketing mix design (product, place, promotion and price) is derived from the identification of market segments performed earlier. It is the answer to some of these questions: who will be our customers?, where are our customers?, what are the average income level of our intended customers?, who are our competitors?, what are their apparent strengths and weaknesses?, how will our product be better?, how will our product be distributed?, etc. Enhance Packaging and Building Brand Image   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first impression obtained by consumers about any product comes from its brand image and packaging. A simple attraction toward product label or packaging could lead to a lifetime of product loyalty. Thus, the design of a label, design of a package and the quality of materials used for packaging is a critical factor that has considerable influence in determining sales number.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (‘Marketing’. n.d; Lake, 2005) Reference: AME Info. (2007). Private label industry on growth path across the Middle East. Retrieved November 15, 2007 from http://www.ameinfo.com/135804.html Gordon, I.H. (1999). Relationship Marketing: New Strategies, Techniques, and Technologies to Win the Customers You Want and Keep Them Forever. John Wiley and Sons John Stanley About.com. (2007). Brands versus Private Labels. Retrieved November 07 from http://retailindustry.about.com/library/uc/02/uc_stanley2.htm Kotler, Philip. (2000). Marketing Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Lake, Laura. (2005). How To Develop a Marketing Strategy in 5 Easy Steps. Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://marketing.about.com/cs/advertising/ht/5steps2strategy.htm SBA. (2003). Target Market. Retrieved November 14, 2007 from Available at: http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/marketing/research.html Shelf Impact. (2005). Consumers: Private label ‘good alternative’ to other brands. Retrieved November 14, 2007 from http://www.shelfimpact.com/archives/2005/09/consumers_private_label_good_a.php

Workplace Ethics Essay -- essays research papers

I can describe ethics in the workplace as the right way to act on the job, whether you are the manager or the employee. You can use ethics positively the right way or negative and possibly get yourself and or others fired. I worked at Target for two and a half years and I only have experienced one negative ethical situation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I was hired at Target to be an overnight stocker during Target’s remodeling. There was a team of us five guys and three girls. One night our supervisor called in and said that she was not going to be able to come until the morning. To everyone expect for me, since I was new, this was normal. Our supervisor left a list of instructions for us to follow that night and told us that if anyone had any problems or questions to ask Mike, one of the team members that had...

Freud And Marx :: Sigmund Freud Karl Marx compare Essays

Freud and Marx   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Freud and Marx it can be argued were both, as individuals, dissatisfied with their societies. Marx more plainly than Freud, but Freud can also be seen as discontent in certain aspects such as his cynical view of human nature. Each were great thinkers and philosophers, but both seemed unhappy. Perhaps the social ills and trouble each perceived in the world about them were only the reflections of what each of the thinkers held within themselves. Each person observes the same world, but each of us interprets that information in a different way. They both saw the world as being injust or base. Each understood the disfunctions in society as being caused by some aspect of human greed or other similar instinct. They did however, disagree on what the vehicle for these instincts' corrupting influences are. Freud claimed that tension caused by the stuggle to repress anti-social instincts eventually was released and caused the social evils he observed. Marx also saw instincts at work but not the tensions and Id that Freud saw, Marx simply credited man's greed and the subsequent oppression of other men as the root to all that was wrong with civilization. It is interesting to note that both Freud and Marx saw conflict but each traced it back to sources each was respectively educated in.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Freud was a Psychoanalyst and his understanding of the mind was very conflict oriented. He saw man as a kind of glorified animal who had the same desires and needs as any other animal. The only true difference between the human-animal and other animals was that the human-animal possessed an intellect. Freud divided man's psyche into three parts, the Id, Ego, and SuperEgo. What differed the human-animal from any other animal was the SuperEgo, which arose from man's intellect. The Super-Ego as Freud theorised it is the values of one's parents internalised. He went further to then explain that unhappiness in life is caused by the conflict between the Id and the SuperEgo. As stated, all of Frued's philosophy was very conflict oriented so it is not difficult to understand then how Freud applied this view macrocosmically to society as a whole.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Freud addressed this in his essay, "Civilization and It's Discontents". In it, Freud claimed that civilizations are developed through the channeling of anti-social erotic and aggressive urges into constructive outlets. He went further and explained that social ills are caused by those members of society who are not satisfied with the substitutes supplied by the channelling of anti- social instincts into social creative energies. Such repression causes a certain tension which after awhile cannot be repressed and is released in socially

Black House Chapter Eighteen

18 REMEMBER THOSE news vans that drove into the parking lot behind the police station? And Wendell Green's contribution to the excitement, before Officer Hrabowski's giant flashlight knocked him into the Land of Nod? Once the crews inside the vans took in the seeming inevitability of a riot, we can be sure they rose to the occasion, for the next morning their footage of the wild night dominates television screens across the state. By nine o'clock, people in Racine and Milwaukee, people in Madison and Delafield, and people who live so far north in the state that they need satellite dishes to get any television at all are looking up from their pancakes, their bowls of Special K, their fried eggs, and their buttered English muffins to watch a small, nervous-looking policeman finishing off a large, florid reporter's budding career as a demagogue by clocking him with a blunt instrument. And we may also be sure of one other matter: that nowhere is this footage watched as widely and compulsive ly as in French Landing and the neighboring communities of Centralia and Arden. Thinking about several matters at once, Jack Sawyer watches it all on a little portable TV placed on his kitchen counter. He hopes that Dale Gilbertson will not revoke Arnold Hrabowski's suspension, although he strongly suspects that the Mad Hungarian will soon be back in uniform. Dale only thinks he wants him off the force for good: he is too soft-hearted to listen to Arnie's pleas and after last night, even a blind man can see that Arnie is going to plead without relenting. Jack also hopes that the awful Wendell Green will get fired or move away in disgrace. Reporters are not supposed to thrust themselves into their stories, and here is good old loudmouth Wendell, baying for blood like a werewolf. However, Jack has the depressing feeling that Wendell Green will talk his way out of his present difficulties (that is, lie his way out of them) and go on being a powerful nuisance. And Jack is pondering Andy Rails-back's description of the creepy old man trying the doorknobs on the thi rd floor of the Nelson Hotel. There he was, the Fisherman, given form at last. An old man in a blue robe and one slipper striped black and yellow, like a bumblebee. Andy Railsback had wondered if this unpleasant-looking old party had wandered away from the Maxton Elder Care Facility. That was an interesting notion, Jack thought. If â€Å"Chummy† Burnside is the man who planted the photographs in George Potter's room, Maxton's would be a perfect hidey-hole for him. Wendell Green is watching the news on the Sony in his hotel room. He cannot take his eyes off the screen, although what he sees there afflicts him with a mixture of feelings anger, shame, and humiliation that makes his stomach boil. The knot on his head throbs, and every time he witnesses that poor excuse for a cop sneaking up behind him with his flashlight raised, he pushes his fingers into the thick, curly hair at the back of his head and gently palpates it. The damn thing feels about the size of a ripe tomato and just as ready to burst. He's lucky not to have a concussion. That pipsqueak could have killed him! Okay, maybe he went a little bit over the edge, maybe he took a tiny step across a professional boundary; he never claimed to be perfect. The local news guys, they piss him off, all that guff about Jack Sawyer. Who is the top guy covering the Fisherman story? Who has been all over it from day one, telling the citizens what they need to know? Who's been putting himself on the line, day after crummy goddamn day? Who gave the guy his name? Not those blow-dried airheads Bucky and Stacey, those wanna-be news reporters and local anchors who smile into the camera to show off their capped teeth, that's for sure. Wendell Green is a legend around here, a star, the closest thing to a giant of journalism ever to come out of western Wisconsin. Even over in Madison, the name Wendell Green stands for . . . well, unquestioned excellence. And if the name Wendell Green is like the gold standard now, just wait until he rides the Fisherman's blood-spattered shoulders all the way to a Pulitzer Prize. So Monday morning he has to go into the office and pacify his editor. Big deal. It isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. Good reporters make waves; nobody admits it, but that's the deal, that's the fine print nobody reads until it's too late. When he walks into his editor's office, he knows what he's going to say: Biggest story of the day, and did you see any other reporters there? And when he has the editor eating out of his hand again, which will take about ten minutes flat, he intends to drop in on a Goltz's salesman named Fred Marshall. One of Wendell's most valuable sources has suggested that Mr. Marshall has some interesting information about his special, special baby, the Fisherman case. Arnold Hrabowski, now a hero to his darling wife, Paula, is watching the news in a postcoital glow and thinking that she is right: he really should call Chief Gilbertson and ask to be taken off suspension. Wondering with half his mind where he might look for George Potter's old adversary, Dale Gilbertson watches Bucky and Stacey cut away yet again to the spectacle of the Mad Hungarian taking care of Wendell Green and thinks that he really should reinstate the little guy. Would you look at the beautiful swing Arnie took? Dale can't help it that swing really brightens up his day. It's like watching Mark McGwire, like watching Tiger Woods. Alone in her dark little house off the highway, Wanda Kinderling, to whom we have made passing mention from time to time, is listening to the radio. Why is she listening to the radio? Some months ago, she had to decide between paying her cable bill and buying another half gallon of Aristocrat vodka, and sorry, Bucky and Stacey, but Wanda followed her bliss, she went with her heart. Without cable service, her television set brings in little more than snow and a heavy dark line that scrolls up over her screen in an endless loop. Wanda always hated Bucky and Stacey anyhow, along with almost everyone else on television, especially if they looked content and well groomed. (She has a special loathing for the hosts of morning news programs and network anchors.) Wanda has not been content or well groomed since her husband, Thorny, was accused of terrible crimes he could never ever have committed by that high and mighty show-off Jack Sawyer. Jack Sawyer ruined her life, and Wanda is not about to forgive or forget. That man trapped her husband. He set him up. He smeared Thorny's innocent name and packed him off to jail just to make himself look good. Wanda hopes they never catch the Fisherman, because the Fisherman is exactly what they deserve, those dirty bastards. Play dirty, you are dirty, and people like that can go straight to the deepest bowels of hell that's what Wanda Kinderling thinks. The Fisherman is retribution that's what Wanda thinks. Let him kill a hundred brats, let him kill a thousand, and after that he can start in on their parents. Thorny could not have killed those sluts down there in Los Angeles. Those were sex murders, and Thorny had no interest in sex, thank the Lord. The rest of him grew up, but his man-part never did; his thingie was about the size of his little finger. It was impossible for him to care about nasty women and sex things. But Jack Sawyer lived in Los Angeles, didn't he? So why couldn't he have killed those sluts, those whores, and blamed it all on Thorn y? The newscaster describes former Lieutenant Sawyer's actions of the previous night, and Wanda Kinderling spits up bile, grabs the glass from her bedside table, and douses the fire in her guts with three inches of vodka. Gorg, who would seem a natural visitor to the likes of Wanda, pays no attention to the news, for he is far away in Faraway. In his bed at Maxton's, Charles Burnside is enjoying dreams not precisely his, for they emanate from another being, from elsewhere, and depict a world he has never seen on his own. Ragged, enslaved children plod on their bleeding foodzies past leaping flames, turning giant wheels that turn yet larger wheels oho aha that power the beyoodiful engynes of destruction mounting mounting to the black-and-red sky. The Big Combination! An acrid stink of molten metal and something truly vile, something like dragon urine, perfumes the air, as does the leaden stench of despair. Lizard demons with thick, flickering tails whip the children along. A din of clattering and banging, of crashing and enormous thuds punishes the ears. These are the dreams of Burny's dearest friend and loving master, Mr. Munshun, a being of endless and perverse delight. Down past the end of Daisy wing, across the handsome lobby, and through Rebecca Vilas's little cubicle, Chipper Maxton is concerned with matters considerably more mundane. The little TV on a shelf over the safe broadcasts the wondrous image of Mad Hungarian Hrabowski clobbering Wendell Green with a nice, clean sweep of his heavy-duty flashlight, but Chipper barely notices the splendid moment. He has to come up with the thirteen thousand dollars he owes his bookie, and he has only about half of that sum. Yesterday, lovely Rebecca drove to Miller to withdraw most of what he had stashed there, and he can use about two thousand dollars from his own account, as long as he replaces it before the end of the month. That leaves about six grand, an amount that will call for some seriously creative bookkeeping. Fortunately, creative bookkeeping is a speciality of Chipper's, and when he begins to think of his options, he sees his current difficulty as an opportunity. After all, he went into business in the first place to steal as much money as possible, didn't he? Apart from being serviced by Ms. Vilas, stealing is about the only activity that makes him truly happy. The amount is almost irrelevant: as we have seen, Chipper derives as much pleasure from conning chump change out of the visiting relatives after the Strawberry Fest as from screwing the government out of ten or fifteen thousand dollars. The thrill lies in getting away with it. So he needs six thousand; why not take ten thousand? That way, he can leave his own account untouched and still have an extra two grand to play with. He has two sets of books on his computer, and he can easily draw the money from the company's bank account without setting off bells during his next state audit, which is coming up in about a month. Unless the auditors demand the bank records, and even then there are a couple of tricks he can use. It's too bad about the audit, though Chipper would like to have a l ittle more time to paper over the cracks. Losing the thirteen thousand wasn't the problem, he thinks. The problem was that he lost it at the wrong time. In order to keep everything clear in his head, Chipper pulls his keyboard toward him and tells the computer to print out complete statements of both sets of books for the past month. By the time the auditors show up, baby, those pages will have been fed into the shredder and come out as macaroni. Let us move from one form of insanity to another. After the owner of the Holiday Trailer Park has extended a trembling index finger to point out the Freneau residence, Jack drives toward it on the dusty path with gathering doubts. Tansy's Airstream is the last and least maintained of a row of four. Two of the others have flowers in a bright border around them, and the third has been dressed up with striped green awnings that make it look more like a house. The fourth trailer displays no signs of decoration or improvement. Dying flowers and skimpy weeds straggle in the beaten earth surrounding it. The shades are pulled down. An air of misery and waste hangs about it, along with a quality Jack might define, if he stopped to consider it, as slippage. In no obvious way, the trailer looks wrong. Unhappiness has distorted it, as it can distort a person, and when Jack gets out of his truck and walks toward the cinder blocks placed before the entrance, his doubts increase. He can no longer b e sure why he has come to this place. It occurs to Jack that he can give Tansy Freneau nothing but his pity, and this thought makes him uneasy. Then it occurs to him that these doubts mask his real feelings, which have to do with the discomfort the trailer arouses in him. He does not want to enter that thing. Everything else is a rationalization; he has no choice but to keep moving forward. His eyes find the welcome mat, a reassuring touch of the ordinary world he can feel already disappearing around him, and he steps up onto the topmost board and knocks on the door. Nothing happens. Maybe she really is still asleep and would prefer to stay that way. If he were Tansy, he would stay in bed as long as possible. If he were Tansy, he'd stay in bed for weeks. Once more pushing away his reluctance, Jack raps on the door again and says, â€Å"Tansy? Are you up?† A little voice from within says, â€Å"Up where?† Uh-oh, Jack thinks, and says, â€Å"Out of bed. I'm Jack Sawyer, Tansy. We met last night. I'm helping the police, and I told you I'd come over today.† He hears footsteps moving toward the door. â€Å"Are you the man who gave me the flowers? He was a nice man.† â€Å"That was me.† A lock clicks, and the knob revolves. The door cracks open. A sliver of a faintly olive-skinned face and a single eye shine out of the inner darkness. â€Å"It is you. Come in, fast. Fast.† She steps back, opening the door just wide enough for him to pass through. As soon as he is inside, she slams it shut and locks it again. The molten light burning at the edges of the curtains and the window shades deepens the darkness of the long trailer's interior. One soft lamp burns above the sink, and another, just as low, illuminates a little table otherwise occupied by a bottle of coffee brandy, a smeary glass decorated with a picture of a cartoon character, and a scrapbook. The circle of light cast by the lamp extends to take in half of a low, fabric-covered chair next to the table. Tansy Freneau pushes herself off the door and takes two light, delicate steps toward him. She tilts her head and folds her hands together beneath her chin. The eager, slightly glazed expression in her eyes dismays Jack. By even the widest, most comprehensive definition of sanity, this woman is not sane. He has no idea what to say to her. â€Å"Would you care to . . . sit down?† With a hostessy wave of her hand, she indicates a high-backed wooden chair. â€Å"If it's all right with you.† â€Å"Why wouldn't it be all right? I'm going to sit down in my chair, why shouldn't you sit down in that one?† â€Å"Thank you,† Jack says, and sits down, watching her glide back to the door to check the lock. Satisfied, Tansy gives him a brilliant smile and pads back to her chair, moving almost with the duck-waddle grace of a ballerina. When she lowers herself to the chair, he says, â€Å"Are you afraid of someone who might come here, Tansy? Is there someone you want to keep locked out?† â€Å"Oh, yes,† she says, and leans forward, pulling her eyebrows together in an exaggerated display of little-girl seriousness. â€Å"But it isn't a someone, it's a thing. And I'm never, never going to let him in my house again, not ever. But I'll let you in, because you're a very nice man and you gave me those beautiful flowers. And you're very handsome, too.† â€Å"Is Gorg the thing you want to keep out, Tansy? Are you afraid of Gorg?† â€Å"Yes,† she says, primly. â€Å"Would you care for a cup of tea?† â€Å"No, thank you.† â€Å"Well, I'm going to have some. It's very, very good tea. It tastes sort of like coffee.† She raises her eyebrows and gives him a bright, questioning look. He shakes his head. Without moving from her chair, Tansy pours two fingers of the brandy into her glass and sets the bottle back down on the table. The figure on her glass, Jack sees, is Scooby-Doo. Tansy sips from the glass. â€Å"Yummy. Do you have a girlfriend? I could be your girlfriend, you know, especially if you gave me more of those lovely flowers. I put them in a vase.† She pronounces the word like a parody of a Boston matron: vahhhz. â€Å"See?† On the kitchen counter, the lilies of the vale droop in a mason jar half-filled with water. Removed from the Territories, they do not have long to live. This world, Jack supposes, is poisoning them faster than they are able to deal with. Every ounce of goodness they yield to their surroundings subtracts from their essence. Tansy, he realizes, has been kept afloat on the residue of the Territories remaining in the lilies when they die, her protective little-girl persona will crumble into dust, and her madness may engulf her. That madness came from Gorg; he'd bet his life on it. â€Å"I do have a boyfriend, but he doesn't count. His name is Lester Moon. Beezer and his friends call him Stinky Cheese, but I don't know why. Lester isn't all that stinky, at least not when he's sober.† â€Å"Tell me about Gorg,† Jack says. Extending her little finger away from the Scooby-Doo glass, Tansy takes another sip of coffee brandy. She frowns. â€Å"Oh, that's a real icky thing to talk about.† â€Å"I want to know about him, Tansy. If you help me, I can make sure he never bothers you again.† â€Å"Really?† â€Å"And you'd be helping me find the man who killed your daughter.† â€Å"I can't talk about that now. It's too upsetting.† Tansy flutters her free hand over her lap as if sweeping off a crumb. Her face contracts, and a new expression moves into her eyes. For a second, the desperate, unprotected Tansy rises to the surface, threatening to explode in a madness of grief and rage. â€Å"Does Gorg look like a person, or like something else?† Tansy shakes her head from side to side with great slowness. She is composing herself again, reinstating a personality that can ignore her real emotions. â€Å"Gorg does not look like a person. Not at all.† â€Å"You said he gave you the feather you were wearing. Does he look like a bird?† â€Å"Gorg doesn't look like a bird, he is a bird. And do you know what kind?† She leans forward again, and her face takes on the expression of a six-year-old girl about to tell the worst thing she knows. â€Å"A raven. That's what he is, a big, old raven. All black. But not shiny black.† Her eyes widen with the seriousness of what she has to say. â€Å"He came from Night's Plutonian shore. That's from a poem Mrs. Normandie taught us in the sixth grade. ‘The Raven,' by Edgar Allan Poe.† Tansy straightens up, having passed on this nugget of literary history. Jack guesses that Mrs. Normandie probably wore the same satisfied, pedagogic expression that is now on Tansy's face, but without the bright, unhealthy glaze in Tansy's eyes. â€Å"Night's Plutonian shore is not part of this world,† Tansy continues. â€Å"Did you know that? It's alongside this world, and outside it. You need to find a door, if you want to go there.† This is like talking to Judy Marshall, Jack abruptly realizes, but a Judy without the depth of soul and the unbelievable courage that rescued her from madness. The instant that Judy Marshall comes into his mind, he wants to see her again, so strongly that Judy feels like the one essential key to the puzzle all around him. And if she is the key, she is also the door the key opens. Jack wants to be out of the dark, warped atmosphere of Tansy's Airstream; he wants to put off the Thunder Five and speed up the highway and over the hill to Arden and the gloomy hospital where radiant Judy Marshall has found freedom in a locked mental ward. â€Å"But I don't ever want to find that door, because I don't want to go there,† Tansy says in a singsong voice. â€Å"Night's Plutonian shore is a bad world. Everything's on fire there.† â€Å"How do you know that?† â€Å"Gorg told me,† she whispers. Tansy's gaze skitters away from him and fastens on the Scooby-Doo glass. â€Å"Gorg likes fire. But not because it makes him warm. Because it burns things up, and that makes him happy. Gorg said . . .† She shakes her head and lifts the glass to her mouth. Instead of drinking from it, she tilts the liquid toward the lip of the glass and laps at it with her tongue. Her eyes slide up to meet his again. â€Å"I think my tea is magic.† I bet you do, Jack thinks, and his heart nearly bursts for delicate lost Tansy. â€Å"You can't cry in here,† she tells him. â€Å"You looked like you wanted to cry, but you can't. Mrs. Normandie doesn't allow it. You can kiss me, though. Do you want to kiss me?† â€Å"Of course I do,† he says. â€Å"But Mrs. Normandie doesn't allow kissing, either.† â€Å"Oh, well.† Tansy laps again at her drink. â€Å"We can do it later, when she leaves the room. And you can put your arms around me, like Lester Moon. And everything Lester does, you can do. With me.† â€Å"Thank you,† Jack says. â€Å"Tansy, can you tell me some of the other things Gorg said?† She cants her head and pushes her lips in and out. â€Å"He said he came here through a burning hole. With folded-back edges. And he said I was a mother, and I had to help my daughter. In the poem, her name is Lenore, but her real name is Irma. And he said . . . he said a mean old man ate her leg, but there were worse things that could have happened to my Irma.† For a couple of seconds, Tansy seems to recede into herself, to vanish behind her stationary surface. Her mouth remains half open; she does not even blink. When she returns from where she has gone, it is like watching a statue slowly come to life. Her voice is almost too soft to be heard. â€Å"I was supposed to fix that old man, fix him but good. Only you gave me my beautiful lilies, and he wasn't the right man, was he?† Jack feels like screaming. â€Å"He said there were worse things,† Tansy says in a whisper of disbelief. â€Å"But he didn't say what they were. He showed me, instead. And when I saw, I thought my eyes burned up. Even though I could still see.† â€Å"What did you see?† â€Å"A big, big place all made of fire,† Tansy says. â€Å"Going way high up.† She falls silent, and an internal temblor runs through her, beginning in her face and moving down and out through her fingers. â€Å"Irma isn't there. No, she isn't. She got dead, and a mean old man ate her leg. He sent me a letter, but I never got it. So Gorg read it to me. I don't want to think about that letter.† She sounds like a little girl describing something she has heard about thirdhand, or has invented. A thick curtain lies between Tansy and what she has seen and heard, and that curtain allows her to function. Jack again wonders what will happen to her when the lilies die. â€Å"And now,† she says, â€Å"if you're not going to kiss me, it's time you left. I want to be alone for a while.† Surprised by her decisiveness, Jack stands up and begins to say something polite and meaningless. Tansy waves him toward the door. Outside, the air seems heavy with bad odors and unseen chemicals. The lilies from the Territories retained more power than Jack had imagined, enough to sweeten and purify Tansy's air. The ground beneath Jack's feet has been baked dry, and a parched sourness hangs in the atmosphere. Jack has nearly to force himself to breathe as he walks toward his truck, but the more he breathes, the more quickly he will readjust to the ordinary world. His world, though now it feels poisoned. He wants to do one thing only: drive up Highway 93 to Judy Marshall's lookout point and keep on going, through Arden and into the parking lot, past the hospital doors, past the barriers of Dr. Spiegleman and Warden Jane Bond, until he can find himself once again in the life-giving presence of Judy Marshall herself. He almost thinks he loves Judy Marshall. Maybe he does love her. He knows he needs her: Judy is his door and his key. His door, his key. Whatever that means, it is the truth. All right, the woman he needs is married to the extremely nice Fred Marshall, but he doesn't want to marry her; in fact, he doesn't even want to sleep with her, not exactly he just wants to stand before her and see what happens. Something will happen, that's for sure, but when he tries to picture it, all he sees is an explosion of tiny red feathers, hardly the image he was hoping for. Feeling unsteady, Jack props himself on the cab of his truck with one hand while he grabs the door handle with the other. Both surfaces sear his hands, and he waves them in the air for a little while. When he gets into the cab, the seat is hot, too. He rolls down his window and, with a twinge of loss, notices that the world smells normal to him again. It smells fine. It smells like summer. Where is he going to go? That is an interesting question, he thinks, but after he gets back on the road and travels no more than a hundred feet, the low, gray wooden shape of the Sand Bar appears on his left, and without hesitating he turns into the absurdly extensive parking lot, as if he knew where he was going all along. Looking for a shady spot, Jack cruises around to the back of the building and sees the Bar's single hint of landscaping, a broad maple tree that rises out of the asphalt at the far end of the lot. He guides the Ram into the maple's shadow and gets out, leaving the windows cranke d down. Waves of heat ripple upward from the only other two cars in the lot. It is 11:20 A.M. He is getting hungry, too, since his breakfast consisted of a cup of coffee and a slice of toast smeared with marmalade, and that was three hours ago. Jack has the feeling that the afternoon is going to be a long one. He might as well have something to eat while he waits for the bikers. The back door of the Sand Bar opens onto a narrow rest-room alcove that leads into a long, rectangular space with a gleaming bar at one side and a row of substantial wooden booths on the other. Two big pool tables occupy the middle of the room, and a jukebox stands set back against the wall between them. At the front of the room, a big television screen hangs where it can be seen by everyone, suspended eight or nine feet above the clean wooden floor. The sound has been muted on a commercial that never quite identifies the purpose of its product. After the glare of the parking lot, the Bar seems pleasantly dark, and while Jack's eyes adjust, the few low lamps appear to send out hazy beams of light. The bartender, whom Jack takes to be the famous Lester â€Å"Stinky Cheese† Moon, looks up once as Jack enters, then returns to the copy of the Herald folded open on the bar. When Jack takes a stool a few feet to his right, he looks up again. Stinky Cheese is not as awful as Jack had expected. He is wearing a clean shirt only a few shades whiter than his round, small-featured face and his shaven head. Moon has the unmistakable air, half professional and half resentful, of someone who has taken over the family business and suspects he could have done better elsewhere. Jack's intuition tells him that this sense of weary frustration is the source of his nickname among the bikers, because it gives him the look of one who expects to encounter a nasty smell any minute now. â€Å"Can I get something to eat here?† Jack asks him. â€Å"It's all listed on the board.† The bartender turns sideways and indicates a white board with movable letters that spell out the menu. Hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, bratwurst, kielbasa, sandwiches, french fries, onion rings. The man's gesture is intended to make Jack feel unobservant, and it works. â€Å"Sorry, I didn't see the sign.† The bartender shrugs. â€Å"Cheeseburger, medium, with fries, please.† â€Å"Lunch don't start until eleven-thirty, which it says on the board. See?† Another half-mocking gesture toward the sign. â€Å"But Mom is setting up in back. I could give her the order now, and she'll start in on it when she's ready.† Jack thanks him, and the bartender glances up at the television screen and walks down to the end of the bar and disappears around a corner. A few seconds later, he returns, looks up at the screen, and asks Jack what he would like to drink. â€Å"Ginger ale,† Jack says. Watching the screen, Lester Moon squirts ginger ale from a nozzle into a beer glass and pushes the glass toward Jack. Then he slides his hand down the bar to pick up the remote control and says, â€Å"Hope you don't mind, but I was watching this old movie. Pretty funny.† He punches a button on the remote, and from over his left shoulder Jack hears his mother's voice say, Looks like Smoky's coming in late today. I wish that little rascal would learn how to handle his liquor. Before he can turn sideways to face the screen, Lester Moon is asking him if he remembers Lily Cavanaugh. â€Å"Oh, yes.† â€Å"I always liked her when I was a kid.† â€Å"Same here,† Jack says. As Jack had known instantly, the movie is The Terror of Deadwood Gulch, a 1950 comic Western in which the then-famous and still fondly remembered Bill Towns, a sort of poor man's Bob Hope, played a cowardly gambler and cardsharp who arrives in the little Potemkin community of Deadwood Gulch, Arizona, and is soon mistaken for a notorious gunfighter. As the beautiful, quick-witted owner of a saloon called the Lazy 8, the lively center of village social life, Lily Cavanaugh is much appreciated by the crowd of cowpokes, loungers, ranchers, merchants, lawmen, and riffraff who fill her place every night. She makes her patrons check their revolvers at the door and mind their manners, which tend toward the opopanax. In the scene playing now, which is about half an hour into the movie, Lily is alone in her saloon, trying to get rid of a persistent bee. A bee for the Queen of the B's, Jack thinks, and smiles. At the buzzing nuisance, Lily flaps a cleaning rag, a flyswatter, a mop, a broom, a gun belt. The bee eludes her every effort, zooming here and there, from the bar to a card table, to the top of a whiskey bottle, the tops of three other bottles all in a row, the lid of the upright piano, often waiting while its adversary comes sneaking up by subtle indirection, then taking off a second before the latest weapon slams down. It is a lovely little sequence that verges on slapstick, and when Jacky was six, six, six, or maybe seven, half hysterical with laughter at the sight of his competent mother failing repeatedly to vanquish this flying annoyance and suddenly curious as to how the movie guys had made the insect do all these things, his mother had explained that it was not a real bee but an enchanted one produced by the special-effects department. Lester Moon says, â€Å"I could never figure out how they got the bee to go where they wanted. Like, what did they do, train it?† â€Å"First they filmed her alone on the set,† Jack says, having concluded that, after all, Stinky Cheese is a pretty decent fellow with great taste in actresses. â€Å"Special effects put the bee in later. It isn't a real bee, it's a drawing an animation. You really can't tell, can you?† â€Å"No way. Are you sure? How do you know that, anyhow?† â€Å"I read it in a book somewhere,† Jack says, using his all-purpose response to such questions. Resplendent in fancy cardsharp getup, Bill Towns saunters through the Lazy 8's swinging doors and leers at its proprietress without noticing that she is edging toward the bee now once again installed upon the shiny bar. He has romance in mind, and he swaggers when he walks. I see you came back for more, hotshot, Lily says. You must like the place. Baby, this is the sweetest joint west of the wide Missouri. Reminds me of the place where I beat Black Jack McGurk to the draw. Poor Black Jack. He never did know when to fold 'em. With a noise like the revving of a B-52, the enchanted bee, a creature of fiction inside the fiction, launches itself at Bill Towns's slickly behat-ted head. The comedian's face turns rubbery with comic terror. He waves his arms, he jigs, he screeches. The enchanted bee performs aeronautic stunts around the panicky pseudogunfighter. Towns's splendid hat falls off; his hair disarranges itself. He edges toward a table and, with a final flurry of hand waving, dives under it and begs for help. Eye fixed on the ambling bee, Lily walks to the bar and picks up a glass and a folded newspaper. She approaches the table, watching the bee walking around in circles. She jumps forward and lowers the glass, trapping the bee. It flies up and bumps the bottom of the glass. Lily tilts the glass, slides the folded paper underneath it, and raises her hands, holding the newspaper against the top of the glass. The camera pulls back, and we see the cowardly gambler peeking out from under the table as Lily pushes the doors open and releases the bee. Behind him, Lester Moon says, â€Å"Cheeseburger's ready, mister.† For the next half hour, Jack eats his burger and tries to lose himself in the movie. The burger is great, world-class, with that juicy taste you can get only from a greased-up griddle, and the fries are perfect, golden and crunchy on the outside, but his concentration keeps wandering from The Terror of Deadwood Gulch. The problem is not that he has seen the movie perhaps a dozen times; the problem is Tansy Freneau. Certain things she said trouble him. The more he thinks about them, the less he understands what is going on. According to Tansy, the crow the raven named Gorg came from a world alongside and outside the world we know. She had to be talking about the Territories. Using a phrase from Poe's â€Å"The Raven,† she called this other world â€Å"Night's Plutonian shore,† which was pretty good for someone like Tansy, but did not seem in any way applicable to the magical Territories. Gorg had told Tansy that everything in his world was on fire, and not even the Blasted Lands met that description. Jack could remember the Blasted Lands and the odd train that had taken him and Rational Richard, then a sick, wasted Rational Richard, across that vast red desert. Strange creatures had lived there, alligator-men and birds with the faces of bearded monkeys, but it had certainly not been on fire. The Blasted Lands were the product of some past disaster, not the site of a present conflagration. What had Tansy said? A big, big place made all of fire . . . going way high up. What had she seen, t o what landscape had Gorg opened her eyes? It sounded like a great burning tower, or a tall building consumed by fire. A burning tower, a burning building in a burning world how could that world be the Territories? Jack has been in the Territories twice in the past forty-eight hours, and what he has seen has been beautiful. More than beautiful cleansing. The deepest truth Jack knows about the Territories is that they contain a kind of sacred magic: the magic he saw in Judy Marshall. Because of that magic, the Territories can confer a wondrous blessing on human beings. The life of that extraordinary tough beloved woman making fun of Bill Towns on the big screen before him was saved by an object from the Territories. Because Jack had been in the Territories and maybe because he had held the Talisman almost every horse he bets on comes in first, every stock he buys triples in value, ever poker hand he holds takes the pot. So what world is Tansy talking about? And what's all this stuff about Gorg coming here through a burning hole? When Jack flipped over yesterday, he had sensed something unhappy, something unhealthy, far off to the southwest, and he suspected that was where he would find the Fisherman's Twinner. Kill the Fisherman, kill the Twinner; it didn't matter which he did first, the other one would weaken. But . . . It still didn't make sense. When you travel between worlds, you just flip you don't set a fire at the world's edge and run through it into another one. A few minutes before twelve, the rumble of motorcycles drowns the voices on the screen. â€Å"Um, mister, you might want to take off,† says Moon. â€Å"That's the â€Å" â€Å"The Thunder Five,† Jack says. â€Å"I know.† â€Å"Okay. It's just, they scare the shit out of some of my customers. But as long as you treat 'em right, they act okay.† â€Å"I know. There's nothing to worry about.† â€Å"I mean, if you buy 'em a beer or something, they'll think you're all right.† Jack gets off his stool and faces the bartender. â€Å"Lester, there is no reason to be nervous. They're coming here to meet me.† Lester blinks. For the first time, Jack notices that his eyebrows are thin, curved wisps, like those of a 1920s vamp. â€Å"I'd better start pourin' a pitcher of Kingsland.† He grabs a pitcher from beneath the bar, sets it under the Kingsland Ale tap, and opens the valve. A thick stream of amber liquid rushes into the pitcher and turns to foam. The sound of the motorcycles builds to an uproar at the front of the building, then cuts off. Beezer St. Pierre bangs through the door, closely followed by Doc, Mouse, Sonny, and Kaiser Bill. They look like Vikings, and Jack is overjoyed to see them. â€Å"Stinky, turn that TV the fuck off,† Beezer roars. â€Å"And we didn't come here to drink, so empty that pitcher into the drain. The way you pour, it's all head anyhow. And when you're done, get back in the kitchen with your momma. Our business with this man's got nothin' to do with you.† â€Å"Okay, Beezer,† Moon says in a shaky voice. â€Å"All I need is a second.† â€Å"Then that's what you got,† Beezer says. Beezer and the others line up in front of the bar, some of them staring at Stinky Cheese, some, more kindly, at Jack. Mouse is still wearing his cornrows, and he has daubed some black antiglare substance beneath his eyes, like a football player. Kaiser Bill and Sonny have pulled their manes back into ponytails again. Ale and foam slide out of the pitcher and seep into the drain. â€Å"Okay, guys,† Moon says. His footsteps retreat along the back of the bar. A door closes. The members of the Thunder Five separate and spread out in front of Jack. Most of them have crossed their arms on their chests, and muscles bulge. Jack pushes his plate to the back of the bar, stands up, and says, â€Å"Before last night, had any of you guys ever heard of George Potter?† From his perch on the edge of the pool table nearest to the front door, Jack faces Beezer and Doc, who lean forward on their bar stools. Kaiser Bill, one finger against his lips and his head bowed, stands beside Beezer. Mouse lies stretched out on the second pool table, propping his head up with one hand. Banging his fists together and scowling, Sonny is pacing back and forth between the bar and the jukebox. â€Å"You sure he didn't say ‘Bleak House,' like the Dickens novel?† Mouse says. â€Å"I'm sure,† says Jack, reminding himself that he should not be surprised every time one of these guys demonstrates that he went to college. â€Å"It was ‘Black House.' â€Å" â€Å"Jeez, I almost think I . . .† Mouse shakes his head. â€Å"What was the builder's name again?† asks Beezer. â€Å"Burnside. First name probably Charles, sometimes known as ‘Chummy.' A long time ago, he changed it from something like ‘Beer Stein.' â€Å" â€Å"Beerstein? Bernstein?† â€Å"You got me,† Jack says. â€Å"And you think he's the Fisherman.† Jack nods. Beezer is staring at him as if trying to see the back of his head. â€Å"How sure are you?† â€Å"Ninety-nine percent. He planted the Polaroids in Potter's room.† â€Å"Damn.† Beezer pushes himself off his stool and walks around to the back of the bar. â€Å"I want to make sure nobody forgets the obvious.† He bends down and straightens up with a telephone book in one hand. â€Å"Know what I mean?† Beezer opens the directory on the bar, flips a few pages, flips back, and runs his thick finger down a column of names. â€Å"No Burnside. Too bad.† â€Å"Good idea, though,† Jack says. â€Å"This morning, I tried the same thing myself.† Sonny pauses on his return journey from the jukebox and jabs a finger at Jack. â€Å"How long ago was this damn house built?† â€Å"Nearly thirty years ago. During the seventies.† â€Å"Hell, we were all kids then, back in Illinois. How are we supposed to know about that house?† â€Å"You guys get around. I thought there was a pretty good chance you might have seen it. And the place is spooky. People tend to talk about houses like that.† They did in normal cases, at least, Jack thought. In normal cases, spooky houses got that way because they had been empty for a couple of years, or because something terrible had happened in them. In this case, he thought, the house itself was terrible, and the people who otherwise would have talked about it could barely remember seeing it. Judging by Dale's response, Black House had vanished into its own nonexistent shadow. He says, â€Å"Think about this. Try to remember. In the years you've been living in French Landing, have you ever heard of a house that seemed to have a curse on it? Black House caused injuries to the people who built it. The workmen hated the place; they were afraid of it. They said you couldn't see your shadow when you got near it. They were claiming it was haunted while they worked on it! Eventually, they all quit, and Burnside had to finish the job himself.† â€Å"It's off by itself somewhere,† Doc says. â€Å"Obviously, this thing isn't sitting around in plain view. It's not in some development like Libertyville. You're not going to find it on Robin Hood Lane.† â€Å"Right,† Jack says. â€Å"I should have mentioned that before. Potter told me it was built a little way off what he called ‘the road,' in a kind of clearing. So it's in the woods, Doc, you're right. It's isolated.† â€Å"Hey, hey, hey,† Mouse says, swinging his legs over the side of the pool table and grunting himself upright. His eyes are screwed shut, and he claps one meaty hand on his forehead. â€Å"If I could only remember . . .† He lets out a howl of frustration. â€Å"What?† Beezer's voice is at twice its normal volume, and the word sounds like a paving stone hitting a cement sidewalk. â€Å"I know I saw that fucking place,† he says. â€Å"As soon as you started talking about it, I had this feeling it sounded kinda familiar. It kept hanging at the back of my mind, but it wouldn't come out. When I tried to think about it you know, make myself remember I kept seeing these sparkly lights. When Jack said it was back in the woods, I knew what he was talking about. I had a clear picture of the place. Surrounded by all these sparkling lights.† â€Å"That doesn't sound much like Black House,† Jack says. â€Å"Sure it does. The lights weren't really there, I just saw them.† Mouse offers this observation as though it is completely rational. Sonny utters a bark of laughter, and Beezer shakes his head and says, â€Å"Shit.† â€Å"I don't get it,† Jack says. Beezer looks at Jack, holds up one finger, and asks Mouse, â€Å"Are we talking about July, August, two years ago?† â€Å"Naturally,† Mouse says. â€Å"The summer of the Ultimate Acid.† He looks at Jack and smiles. â€Å"Two years ago, we got this amazing, amazing acid. Drop a tab, you're in for five or six hours of the most unbelievable head games. Nobody ever had a bad experience with the stuff. It was all groove, know what I mean?† â€Å"I suppose I can guess,† Jack says. â€Å"You could even do your job behind it. For sure, you could drive, man. Get on your hog, go anywhere you could think of. Doing anything normal was a piece of cake. You weren't fucked up, you were operating way beyond your max.† â€Å"Timothy Leary wasn't all wrong,† Doc says. â€Å"God, that was great stuff,† Mouse says. â€Å"We did it until there was no more to do, and then the whole thing was over. The whole acid thing. If you couldn't get that stuff, there was no point in taking anything else. I never knew where it came from.† â€Å"You don't want to know where it came from,† says Beezer. â€Å"Trust me.† â€Å"So you were doing this acid when you saw Black House,† Jack says. â€Å"Sure. That's why I saw the lights.† Very slowly, Beezer asks, â€Å"Where is it, Mouse?† â€Å"I don't exactly know. But hold on, Beezer, let me talk. That was the summer I was tight with Little Nancy Hale, remember?† â€Å"Sure,† Beezer says. â€Å"That was a damn shame.† He glances at Jack. â€Å"Little Nancy died right after that summer.† â€Å"Tore me apart,† Mouse says. â€Å"It was like she turned allergic to air and sunlight, all of a sudden. Sick all the time. Rashes all over her body. She couldn't stand being outside, because the light hurt her eyes. Doc couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, so we took her to the big hospital in La Riviere, but they couldn't find what was wrong, either. We talked to a couple of guys at Mayo, but they weren't any help. She died hard, man. Broke your heart to see it happen. Broke mine, for sure.† He falls silent for a long moment, during which he stares down at his gut and his knees and no one else says a word. â€Å"All right,† Mouse finally says, raising his head. â€Å"Here's what I remember. On this Saturday, Little Nancy and I were tripping on the Ultimate, just riding around to some places we liked. We went to the riverfront park in La Riviere, drove over to Dog Island and Lookout Point. We came back this direction and went up on the bluff beautiful, man. After that, we didn't feel like going home, so we just wheeled around. Little Nancy noticed this NO TRESPASSING sign I must have passed about a thousand times before without seeing it.† He looks at Jack Sawyer. â€Å"I can't say for certain, but I think it was on 35.† Jack nods. â€Å"If we hadn't been on the Ultimate, I don't think she ever would have seen that sign, either. Oh man, it's all coming back to me. ‘What's that?' she says, and I swear, I had to look two or three times before I saw that sign it was all beat-up and bent, with a couple rusty bullet holes in it. Sort of leaning back into the trees. ‘Somebody wants to keep us off that road,' Little Nancy says. ‘What are they hiding up there, anyhow?' Something like that. ‘What road?' I ask, and then I see it. It's hardly even what you could call a road. About wide enough for a car to fit in, if you have a compact. Thick trees on both sides. Hell, I didn't think anything interesting was hidden up there, unless it was an old shack. Besides that, I didn't like the way it looked.† He glances at Beezer. â€Å"What do you mean, you didn't like the way it looked?† Beezer asks. â€Å"I've seen you go into places you damn well knew were no good. Or are you getting mystical on me, Mouse?† â€Å"Call it what you fucking want, I'm telling you how it was. It was like that sign was saying KEEP OUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU. Gave me a bad feeling.† â€Å"On account of it was a bad place,† Sonny interrupts. â€Å"I've seen some bad places. They don't want you there, and they let you know.† Beezer shoots him a measured look and says, â€Å"I don't care how evil this bad place is, if it's where the Fisherman lives, I'm going there.† â€Å"And I'm going with you,† says Mouse, â€Å"but just listen. I wanted to bag it and get some fried chicken or something, which combined with the Ultimate would have been like eating the food of Paradise, or whatever Coleridge said, but Little Nancy wanted to go in because she had the same feeling I did. She was a game broad, man. Ornery, too. So I turned in, and Little Nancy's hanging on in back of me, and she's saying, ‘Don't be a pussy, Mouse, let's haul ass,' so I gun it a little bit, and everything feels all weird and shit, but all I can see's this track curving away into the trees and the shit I know isn't there.† â€Å"Like what?† asks Sonny, in what sounds like the spirit of scientific inquiry. â€Å"These dark shapes coming up to the edge of the road and looking out through the trees. A couple of them ran toward me, but I rolled right through them like smoke. I don't know, maybe they were smoke.† â€Å"Fuck that, it was the acid,† Beezer says. â€Å"Maybe, but it didn't feel that way. Besides, the Ultimate never turned on you, remember? It wasn't about darkness. Anyhow, right before the shit hit the fan, all of a sudden I was thinking about Kiz Martin. I can remember that, all right. It was like I could practically see her, right in front of me the way she looked when they loaded her in the ambulance.† â€Å"Kiz Martin,† Beezer says. Mouse turns to Jack. â€Å"Kiz was a girl I went out with when we were all at the university. She used to beg us to let her ride with us, and one day the Kaiser said, okay, she could borrow his bike. Kiz was having a ball, man, she's diggin' it. And then she rolls over some damn little twig, I think it was â€Å" â€Å"Bigger than a twig,† Doc says. â€Å"Little branch. Maybe two inches in diameter.† â€Å"Which is just enough to test your balance, especially if you're not used to hogs,† Mouse says. â€Å"She rolls over this little branch, and the bike flops over, and Kiz flies off and hits the road. My heart damn near stopped, man.† â€Å"I knew she was gone the second I came up close enough to see the angle of her head,† says Doc. â€Å"There wasn't even any point in trying CPR. We covered her with our jackets, and I rode off to call an ambulance. Ten minutes later, they were loading her in. One of the guys recognized me from my stint in the ER, or they might have given us some trouble.† â€Å"I wondered if you were really a doctor,† Jack says. â€Å"Completed my residency in surgery at U.I., walked away from the whole deal right there.† Doc smiles at him. â€Å"Hanging around with these guys, getting into beer brewing, sounded like more fun than spending all day cutting people up.† â€Å"Mouse,† Beezer says. â€Å"Yeah. I was just getting to the curve in the little road, and it was like Kiz was standing right in front of me, it was so vivid. Her eyes closed, and her head hanging like a leaf about to fall. Oh man, I said to myself, this is not what I want to see at this particular moment. I could feel it all over again the way I felt when Kiz hit the road. Sick dread. That's the word for it, sick dread. â€Å"And we come around the curve, and I hear this dog growling somewhere off in the woods. Not just growling, growling. Like twenty big dogs are out there, and they're all mad as hell. My head starts feeling like it wants to explode. And I look up ahead of me to see if a pack of wolves or something is running toward us, and it takes me a while to realize that the weird shadowy stuff I see up ahead is a house. A black house. â€Å"Little Nancy is hitting me on the back and rapping my head, screaming at me to stop. Believe me, I can get with the program, because the last thing I want to do is get any closer to that place. I stop the bike, and Little Nancy jumps off and pukes on the side of the road. She holds her head and she pukes some more. I'm feeling like my legs turned to rubber, like something heavy is pressing on my chest. That thing, whatever it is, is still going nuts in the woods, and it's getting closer. I take another look up at the end of the road, and that ugly damn house is stretching back into the woods, like it's crawling into them, only it's standing still. It gets bigger the more you look at it! Then I see the sparkly lights floating around it, and they look dangerous Stay away, they're telling me, get out of here, Mouse. There's another NO TRESPASSING sign leaning against the porch, and that sign, man . . . that sign kind of flashed, like it was saying THIS TIME I MEAN IT, BUDDY. â€Å"My head is splitting in half, but I get Little Nancy on the bike, and she sags against me, like pure dead weight except she's hanging on, and I kick the hog on and spin around and take off. When we get back to my place, she goes to bed and stays there for three days. To me, it seemed like I could hardly remember what happened. The whole thing went kind of dark. In my mind. I hardly had time to think about it anyhow, because Little Nancy got sick and I had to take care of her whenever I wasn't at work. Doc gave her some stuff to get her temperature down, and she got better, so we could drink beer and smoke shit and ride around, like before, but she was never really the same. End of August, she started getting bad again, and I had to put her in the hospital. Second week of September, hard as she was fighting, Little Nancy passed away.† â€Å"How big was Little Nancy?† Jack asks, picturing a woman roughly the size of Mouse. â€Å"Little Nancy Hale was about the size and shape of Tansy Freneau,† Mouse says, looking surprised by the question. â€Å"If she stood on my hand, I could lift her up with one arm.† â€Å"And you never talked about this with anyone,† Jack says. â€Å"How could I talk about it?† Mouse asks. â€Å"First, I was crazy with worry about Little Nancy, and then it went clean out of my head. Weird shit will do that to you, man. Instead of sticking in your head, it erases itself.† â€Å"I know exactly what you mean,† Jack says. â€Å"I guess I do, too,† says Beezer, â€Å"but I'd say that the Ultimate kicked the shit out of your reality there for a while. You did see the place, though Black House.† â€Å"Damn straight,† says Mouse. Beezer focuses on Jack. â€Å"And you say the Fisherman, this creep Burnside, built it.† Jack nods. â€Å"So maybe he's living there, and he rigged up a bunch of gadgets to scare people away.† â€Å"Could be.† â€Å"Then I think we're gonna let Mouse take us over on Highway 35 and see if he can find that little road he was talking about. Are you coming with us?† â€Å"I can't,† Jack says. â€Å"I have to see someone in Arden first, someone who I think can also help us. She has another piece of the puzzle, but I can't explain it to you until I see her.† â€Å"This woman knows something?† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Jack says. â€Å"She knows something.† â€Å"All right,† Beezer says, and stands up from his stool. â€Å"Your choice. We'll have to talk to you afterward.† â€Å"Beezer, I want to be with you when you go inside Black House. Whatever we have to do in there, whatever we see . . .† Jack pauses, trying to find the right words. Beezer is rocking on his heels, practically jumping out of his skin in his eagerness to hunt down the Fisherman's lair. â€Å"You're going to want me there. There's more to this business than you can imagine, Beezer. You're going to know what I'm talking about in a little while, and you'll be able to stand up to it I think all of you will but if I tried to describe it now, you wouldn't believe me. When the time comes, you'll need me to see you through, if we get through. You'll be glad I was there. We're at a dangerous point here, and none of us wants to mess it up.† â€Å"What makes you think I'll mess it up?† Beezer asks, with deceptive mildness. â€Å"Anyone would mess it up, if they didn't have the last piece of the puzzle. Go out there. See if Mouse can find the house he saw two years ago. Check it out. Don't go in to do that, you need me. After you check it out, come back here, and I'll see you as soon as I can. I should be back before two-thirty, three at the latest.† â€Å"Where are you going in Arden? Maybe I'll want to call you.† â€Å"French County Lutheran Hospital. Ward D. If you can't get me, leave a message with a Dr. Spiegleman.† â€Å"Ward D, huh?† Beezer says. â€Å"Okay, I guess everybody's crazy today. And I guess I can be satisfied with only a look at this house, as long as I know that sometime this afternoon, I can count on you to explain all these pieces I'm too stupid to understand.† â€Å"It'll be soon, Beezer. We're closing in. And the last thing I'd call you is stupid.† â€Å"I guess you must have been one hell of a cop,† Beezer says. â€Å"Even though I think half the stuff you say is crap, I can't help but believe it.† He turns around and brings his fists down on the bar. â€Å"Stinky Cheese! It's safe now. Drag your pale ass out of the kitchen.†