Bloodlines Chapter Seventeen

MY DISCOVERY KICKED the tattoo problem up to a whole new level. Before, I'd just thought I was fighting against people using techniques similar to Alchemist methods to expose Amberwood to drugs. It had been a moral issue. Now, with blood on the line – it was an Alchemist issue. Our whole purpose was to protect humans from the existence of vampires. If someone was illicitly putting vampire blood into humans, they'd crossed the line we worked hard, every day, to maintain. I knew I should immediately report this. If someone had gotten their hands on vampire blood, the Alchemists needed to send a force here and investigate. If I followed the normal chain of command, I supposed the thing would be to tell Keith and let him tell our superiors. If he did, however, I had no doubt he'd claim all the credit for uncovering this. I couldn't let that happen – and not because I wanted the glory for myself. Too many Alchemists erroneously believed Keith was an upstanding person. I didn't want to fuel that. But before I did anything, I needed to figure out the rest of the vials' contents. I could make guesses at the metallic residues but wasn't sure if, like the blood, they came straight from the Alchemist catalog or were just knockoffs. And if they were our formulas, it wasn't obvious at a glance which were which. The silver powder in one vial, for example, could have been a few different Alchemist compounds. I had the means to do some experiments and figure it out, but one substance eluded me. It was clear, slightly thick liquid that had no discernable odor. My guess was that it was the narcotic used in the celestial tattoos. Vampire blood wouldn't cause that high, though it would absolutely explain the crazy athleticism of the so-called steel tattoos. So, I began running what experiments I could, while going on with the normal routines of school. We were playing basketball inside in PE this week, so Jill was participating – and being subjected to Laurel's biting comments. I kept hearing her say things like, â€Å"You'd think she'd be a lot better since she's so tall. She can practically touch the basket without jumping. Or maybe she should turn into a bat and fly up there.† I winced. I had to keep telling myself not to make a big deal of the jokes, but every time I heard one, panic seized me. I had to hide it, though. If I wanted to help Jill, I needed the teasing stopped as a whole – not just the vampire stuff. Drawing more attention to those comments wouldn't help. Micah tried to comfort Jill after each attack, which clearly infuriated Laurel more. Laurel's weren't the only comments reaching my ears. Since my raid of the tattoo parlor, I'd been hearing a fair amount of interesting information from Slade and his friends. â€Å"Well, did he say when?† Miss Carson was taking attendance, and Slade was interrogating a guy named Tim about a recent trip to the parlor. Tim shook his head. â€Å"No. They're having some trouble with their shipment. It sounds like the supplier's got it but doesn't want to give it up for the same price.† â€Å"Damn it,† growled Slade. â€Å"I need a touch-up.† â€Å"Hey,† said Tim. â€Å"What about me? I don't even have my first one.† It wasn't the first comment I'd overheard from someone who already had a celestial and needed a touch-up. Addiction in action. Jill's face was hard when PE ended, and I had the feeling she was trying not to cry. I tried talking to her in the locker room, but she simply shook her head and headed off for the showers. I was about to go there myself when I heard a shriek. Those of us who were still by the lockers raced to the shower room to see what was happening. Laurel jerked the curtain back from her stall and came running out, oblivious to the fact that she was naked. I gaped. Her skin was covered in a fine sheen of ice. Water droplets from the shower had frozen solid on her skin and in her hair, though in the steamy heat of the rest of the room, they were already starting to melt. I glanced over to the shower itself and noticed that the water coming out of the faucet was also frozen solid. Laurel's screams brought Miss Carson running in – shocked as the rest of us at the seemingly impossible thing we'd just witnessed. She finally declared it was some kind of freak problem with the pipes and the water heater. That was typical of my fellow humans. They'd always reach for far-fetched scientific explanations before delving into fantastic ones. But I had no problem with that. It made my job easier. Miss Carson tried to get Laurel to go into a different shower to get the ice off, but she refused. She waited for it all to melt and then toweled herself off. Her hair was atrocious when she finally left for her next class, and I smirked. I guessed there'd be no hair-tossing today. â€Å"Jill,† I called, catching sight of her trying to blend in to the group of girls leaving the locker room. She glanced guiltily over her shoulder but didn't otherwise acknowledge that she'd heard me. I followed close behind her. â€Å"Jill!† I called out again. She was definitely avoiding me. In the hall, Jill spotted Micah and hurried over to him. Smart. She knew I wouldn't ask any dangerous questions with him around. She managed to avoid me for the rest of the day, but I staked out our room until she finally came home, just before curfew. â€Å"Jill,† I exclaimed as soon as she walked through the door. â€Å"What were you thinking?† She threw her books down and turned toward me. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one who'd been preparing a speech today. â€Å"I was thinking I'm sick of listening to Laurel and her friends talk about me.† â€Å"So you froze her shower?† I asked. â€Å"How is that going to stop her? It's not like you can claim credit for it.† Jill shrugged. â€Å"It made me feel better.† â€Å"That's your excuse?† I could hardly believe it. Jill had always seemed so reasonable. She'd survived becoming a princess and dying with a clear head. This was what broke her. â€Å"Do you know what you risked? We're trying to not attract attention here!† â€Å"Miss Carson didn't think it was weird.† â€Å"Miss Carson came up with a flimsy excuse to reassure herself! That's what people do. All it's going to take is some janitor investigating and saying pipes don't randomly freeze – especially in Palm Springs!† â€Å"So what?† Jill demanded. â€Å"What then? Is their next leap going to be that it was vampire magic?† â€Å"Of course not,† I said. â€Å"But people are going to talk. You've raised their suspicions.† She eyed me carefully. â€Å"Is that what's really upsetting you? Or is it that I used magic at all?† â€Å"Isn't it the same thing?† â€Å"No. I mean, you're upset that I used magic because you don't like magic. You don't like anything to do with vampires. I think this is personal. I know what you think of us.† I groaned. â€Å"Jill, I do like you. You're right that magic makes me a little uneasy.† Okay, a lot uneasy. â€Å"But my personal feelings aren't what's going to make people wonder what could have caused water to freeze like that.† â€Å"It isn't right that she can keep doing that!† â€Å"I know. But you have to be better than her.† Jill sat on the bed and sighed. Like that, her anger seemed to melt into despair. â€Å"I hate it here. I want to go back to St. Vladimir's. Or Court. Or Michigan. Anywhere but here.† She looked at me pleadingly. â€Å"Hasn't there been any news about when I can go back?† â€Å"No,† I said, unwilling to tell her it might be a while. â€Å"Everyone's having a great time here,† she said. â€Å"You love it. You have tons of friends.† â€Å"I don't – â€Å" â€Å"Eddie likes it too. He's got Micah and some other guys in their dorm to hang out with. Plus, he's got me to look after, which gives him a purpose.† I'd never thought of it like that but realized she was right. â€Å"But me? What do I have? Nothing except this stupid bond that just makes me more depressed because I have to listen to Adrian feel sorry for himself.† â€Å"I'm taking Adrian job-hunting tomorrow,† I said, not sure if that would really help. Jill nodded bleakly. â€Å"I know. His life'll probably be great now too.† She was sinking into melodrama and her own self-pity, but in light of everything, I kind of felt like she was entitled to it right now. â€Å"You have Lee,† I said. That brought a smile to her face. â€Å"I know. He's great. I like him a lot, and I can't believe†¦ I mean, it just seems crazy that he'd like me too.† â€Å"Not that crazy.† Her brightness faded. â€Å"Did you know Lee told me he thinks I can be a model? He says I've got the figure human fashion designers really like and knows this designer downtown who's looking for models. But when I told Eddie, he said it was a terrible idea because I can't risk having my picture taken. He said if it leaked out, others could find me.† â€Å"That's true,† I said. â€Å"On all counts. You do have a model's figure – but it'd be too dangerous.† She sighed, looking defeated. â€Å"See? Nothing works out for me.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Jill. I really am. I know it's hard. All I can ask is that you keep trying to stay strong. You've done really great so far. Just hang in there a little longer, okay? Just keep thinking of Lee.† My words sounded hollow, even to me. I almost wondered if I should bring her along with Adrian and me but finally decided against it. I didn't think Adrian needed any distractions. I also wasn't sure how interesting it would be for her. If she was really that eager to watch Adrian go through job interviews, she could â€Å"listen in† through the bond. I met up with Adrian after school the next day, and for the first time in ages, neither Lee nor Keith was around the old house. Clarence was, however, and he practically ran me down when I entered. â€Å"Did you hear?† he demanded. â€Å"Did you hear about that poor girl?† â€Å"What girl?† I asked. â€Å"The one killed in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago.† â€Å"Oh, yeah,† I said, relieved there was no new death. â€Å"It was tragic. We're lucky there are no Strigoi here.† He gave me a surprisingly knowing look. â€Å"It wasn't Strigoi! Haven't you paid attention? It was them. The vampire hunters.† â€Å"But they drank her blood, sir. Didn't you say vampire hunters are human? No human would have any reason to drink Moroi blood.† He turned away from me and paced the living room. I glanced around, wondering where Adrian was. â€Å"Everyone keeps saying that!† said Clarence. â€Å"As though I don't already know that. I can't explain why they do what they do. They're a strange lot. They worship the sun and have weird beliefs about evil and honor – more unusual than even your beliefs.† Well, that was something. At least he knew I was human. Sometimes I wasn't sure. â€Å"They also have strange views on which vampires should die. They kill all Strigoi without question. With Moroi and dhampirs, they're more selective.† â€Å"You sure know a lot about them,† I said. â€Å"I've made it my business to, ever since Tamara.† He sighed and suddenly seemed very, very old. â€Å"At least Keith believes me.† I kept my face expressionless. â€Å"Oh?† Clarence nodded. â€Å"He's a good young man. You should give him a chance.† My control slipped, and I knew I was scowling. â€Å"I'll try, sir.† Adrian entered just then, much to my relief. Being alone with Clarence was freaky enough without him actually praising Keith Darnell. â€Å"Ready?† I asked. â€Å"You bet,† said Adrian. â€Å"I can't wait to be a productive member of society.† I gave his outfit a once-over and had to bite off any comments. It was nice, but of course, his clothes always were. Jill had claimed I had an expensive wardrobe, but Adrian's blew mine away. Today he wore black jeans and a burgundy button-down shirt. The shirt looked like it was some sort of silk blend, and he wore it loose and unbuttoned. His hair was carefully styled to look like he'd just rolled out of bed. Too bad he didn't have my hair's texture. My hair did that without any styling at all. I had to admit, he looked great – but he didn't look like he was going to a job interview. He looked like he was about to go clubbing. This left me kind of conflicted. I found myself admiring him nonetheless and was again reminded of that impression I got from him sometimes, like he was some kind of work of art. It was a little disconcerting, particularly since I had to keep telling myself that vampires were not attractive in the same way humans were. Fortunately, the practical part of me soon took over, chastising me that it didn't matter if he looked good or not. What mattered was that he looked inappropriate for job interviews. I shouldn't have been surprised, though. This was Adrian Ivashkov. â€Å"So what's on the agenda?† he asked me once we were on the road. â€Å"I really think ‘Chairman Ivashkov' has a nice ring to it.† â€Å"There's a folder in the backseat with our itinerary, Chairman.† Adrian twisted around and retrieved the folder. After a quick scan of it, he declared, â€Å"You get points for variety, Sage. But I don't think any of these are going to keep me in the lifestyle I'm accustomed to.† â€Å"Your resume's in the back. I did my best, but we're operating within limited parameters here.† He flipped through the papers and found the resume. â€Å"Wow. I was an educational assistant at St. Vladimir's?† I shrugged. â€Å"It was the closest you had to a job.† â€Å"And Lissa was my supervisor, huh? I hope she gives me a good referral.† When Vasilisa and Rose were still in school, Adrian had lived there and worked with Vasilisa on learning spirit. â€Å"Educational assistant† was kind of a stretch, but it made him sound like he could multitask and show up for work on time. He shut the folder and leaned back against the seat, closing his eyes. â€Å"How's Jailbait? She seemed down the last time I saw her.† I considered lying but figured he'd probably find out the truth eventually, either from her directly or through his own deductions. Adrian's judgment might be questionable, but I'd discovered he was excellent at reading people. Eddie claimed it came from being a spirit user and had mentioned something about auras, which I wasn't quite sure I believed in. The Alchemists had no hard evidence that they were real. â€Å"Not good,† I said, giving him the full report as we drove. â€Å"That shower thing was hilarious,† he said when I finished. â€Å"It was irresponsible! Why can't anyone see that?† â€Å"But that bitch had it coming.† I sighed. â€Å"Have you guys forgotten why you're here? You of all people! You saw her die. Don't you get how important it is for her to stay safe and keep a low profile?† Adrian was quiet for several moments, and when I glanced over, his face was uncharacteristically serious. â€Å"I know. But I don't want her to be miserable either. She†¦ she doesn't deserve it. Not like the rest of us.† â€Å"I don't think we do either.† â€Å"Maybe you don't,† he said with a small smile. â€Å"What with your pure lifestyle and all. I don't know. Jill's just so†¦ innocent. It's why I saved her, you know. I mean, part of it.† I shivered. â€Å"When she died?† He nodded, a troubled look in his eyes. â€Å"When I saw her there, bloody and not moving†¦ I didn't think about the consequences of what I was doing. I just knew I had to save her. She had to live. I acted without question, not even knowing for sure if I could do it.† â€Å"It was brave of you.† â€Å"Maybe. I don't know. I do know she's gone through a lot. I don't want her to go through any more.† â€Å"Neither do I.† I was touched at the concern. He kept surprising me in weird ways. Sometimes it was hard to imagine Adrian really caring about anything, but a softer side of him surfaced when he talked about Jill. â€Å"I'll do what I can. I know I should talk to her more†¦ be more of a friend or even a fake sister. It's just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He eyed me. â€Å"Is it really so terrible being around us?† I blushed. â€Å"No,† I said. â€Å"But†¦ it's complicated. I've been taught certain things my entire life. Those are hard to shake.† â€Å"The greatest changes in history have come because people were able to shake off what others told them to do.† He looked away from me, out the window. The statement annoyed me. It sounded good, of course. It was the kind of thing people said all the time without really understanding the implications. Be yourself, fight the system! But people who said them – people like Adrian – hadn't lived my life. They hadn't grown up in a system of beliefs so rigid, it was like being imprisoned. They hadn't been forced to give up their ability to think for themselves or make their own choices. His words didn't just annoy me, I realized. They made me angry. They made me jealous. I scoffed and threw out a comment worthy of him. â€Å"Should I add motivational speaker to your resume?† â€Å"If the pay's right, I'm in. Oh.† He straightened up. â€Å"I finally placed him. That Micah guy you're so worried about.† â€Å"Placed him?† â€Å"Yeah. Why he looks so familiar. Micah's a dead ringer for Mason Ashford.† â€Å"Who?† â€Å"A dhampir that went to St. Vladimir's. He dated Rose for a while.† Adrian scoffed and rested his cheek against the glass. â€Å"Well, inasmuch as anyone ever dated her. She was crazy for Belikov, even then. Just like she was when we dated. Don't know if Ashford ever knew or if she was able to fool him the whole time. I hope so. Poor bastard.† I frowned. â€Å"Why do you say that?† â€Å"He died. Well, was killed, I should say. Did you know about that? A bunch of them were captured by Strigoi last year. Rose and Castile made it out. Ashford didn't.† â€Å"No,† I said, making a mental note to look into this. â€Å"I didn't. Eddie was there too?† â€Å"Yup. Physically, at least. The Strigoi kept feeding off him, so he was useless for most of it. You want to talk about emotional damage? Look no further.† â€Å"Poor Eddie,† I said. Suddenly, a lot about the dhampir was beginning to make sense to me. We arrived at the first place, a law firm that was looking for an office assistant. The title sounded more glamorous than it really was and would probably involve a lot of the same errands Trey and I ran for Ms. Terwilliger. But out of the three positions I'd found, this one also had the most potential for future advancement. The firm was obviously doing well, judging from the lobby we waited in. Orchids grew in giant, well-placed vases, and there was even a fountain in the middle of the room. Three others waited in the lobby with us. One was a very nicely dressed woman in her forties. Opposite her was a man about the same age, sitting with a much younger woman whose lowcut blouse would've gotten her thrown out of Amberwood. Each time I looked at her, I wanted to cover her cleavage up with a cardigan. The three of them obviously knew each other, however, because they kept making eye contact and trading glares. Adrian studied each of them in turn and then turned to me. â€Å"This law firm,† he said in a low voice. â€Å"It specializes in divorce, doesn't it?† â€Å"Yes,† I said. He nodded and took a few moments to process the information. Then, to my horror, he leaned over me and said to the older woman, â€Å"He was a fool, clearly. You're a stunning, classy woman. Just wait. He'll be sorry.† â€Å"Adrian!† I exclaimed. The woman flinched in surprise but didn't look entirely offended. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the younger woman straightened up from where she'd been cuddling against the man. â€Å"Sorry?† she demanded. â€Å"What's that supposed to mean?† I willed the earth to swallow me up and save me. Fortunately, the next-best thing came when the receptionist called the threesome in to meet with a lawyer. â€Å"Really?† I asked when they were gone. â€Å"Did you have to say that?† â€Å"I speak my mind, Sage. Don't you believe in telling the truth?† â€Å"Of course I do. But there's a time and place! Not with perfect strangers who are obviously in a bad situation.† â€Å"Whatever,† he said, looking extremely pleased with himself. â€Å"I totally made that lady's day.† Just then, a woman in a black suit and very high heels emerged from an inner office. â€Å"I'm Janet McCade, the office manager,† she said. She glanced between the two of us uncertainly, and then she decided on me. â€Å"You must be Adrian.† The name mistake was understandable, but the mix-up didn't bode well for him. My assessment of his clubbing outfit had been correct. My brown skirt and ivory blouse apparently seemed more appropriate for an interview. â€Å"This is Adrian,† I said, pointing. â€Å"I'm just his sister, here for moral support.† â€Å"Very kind of you,† said Janet, looking a little perplexed. â€Å"Well, then. Shall we go talk, Adrian?† â€Å"You bet,† he said, standing. He started to follow her, and I jumped up. â€Å"Adrian,† I whispered, catching his sleeve. â€Å"You want to tell the truth? Do it in there. Do not embellish or make up crazy claims that you were a district attorney.† â€Å"Got it,† he said. â€Å"This is going to be a breeze.† If by breeze he meant fast, then he was right. He emerged from the office door five minutes later. â€Å"I don't suppose,† I said, once we were in the car, â€Å"that she just gave you the job based on looks alone?† Adrian had been staring off but now flashed me a big smile. â€Å"Why, Sage, you sweet talker.† â€Å"That's not what I meant! What happened?† He shrugged. â€Å"I told the truth.† â€Å"Adrian!† â€Å"I'm serious. She asked me what my greatest strength was. I said getting along with people.† â€Å"That's not bad,† I admitted. â€Å"Then she asked what my greatest weakness was. And I said, ‘Where should I start?'† â€Å"Adrian!† â€Å"Stop saying my name like that. I told her the truth. By the time I was on the fourth one, she told me I could go.† I groaned and resisted the urge to beat my head on the steering wheel. â€Å"I should've coached you. That's a standard trick question. You're supposed to answer with things like ‘I get too devoted to my work' or ‘I'm a perfectionist.'† He snorted and crossed his arms. â€Å"That's total bullshit. Who'd say something like that?† â€Å"People who get jobs.† Since we had extra time now, I did my best to prep him with answers before the next interview. It was actually at Spencer's, and I'd gotten Trey to pull a few strings. While Adrian was interviewing in the back, I got a table and some coffee. Trey came to visit me after about fifteen minutes. â€Å"Is that really your brother?† he demanded. â€Å"Yes,† I said, hoping I sounded convincing. â€Å"When you said he was looking for a job, I pictured a male version of you. I figured he'd want to color code the cups or something.† â€Å"What's your point?† I asked. Trey shook his head. â€Å"My point is that you'd better keep looking. I was just back there and overhead him talking with my manager. She was explaining the cleanup he would have to do each night. Then he said something about his hands and manual labor.† I wasn't the swearing type, but in that moment, I wished I was. The last interview was at a trendy bar downtown. I'd taken it on faith that Adrian probably knew every drink in the world and had made up a fake credential for the resume, claiming he'd taken a bartending class. I stayed in the car for this one and sent him in alone, figuring he had the best chance here. At the very least, his outfit would be appropriate. When he came out in ten minutes, I was aghast. â€Å"How?† I demanded. â€Å"How could you have screwed this one up?† â€Å"When I got in, they said the manager was on the phone and would be a few minutes. So, I sat down and ordered a drink.† This time, I did lean my forehead against the steering wheel. â€Å"What did you order?† â€Å"A martini.† â€Å"A martini.† I lifted my head. â€Å"You ordered a martini before a job interview.† â€Å"It's a bar, Sage. I figured they'd be cool with it.† â€Å"No, you didn't!† I exclaimed. The volume of my voice surprised both of us, and he cringed a little. â€Å"You aren't stupid, no matter how much you pretend to be! You know you can't do that. You did it to screw around with them. You did it to screw around with me! That's what this has all been about. You haven't taken any of this seriously. You wasted these people's time and mine, just because you had nothing better to do!† â€Å"That's not true,† he said, though he sounded uncertain. â€Å"I do want a job†¦ just not these jobs.† â€Å"You're in no position to pick and choose. You want out of Clarence's? These were your tickets. You should've been able to get any of them if you'd just put in a little effort. You're charming when you want to be. You could've talked yourself into a job.† I started the car. â€Å"I'm done with this.† â€Å"You don't understand,† he said. â€Å"I understand that you're going through a tough time. I understand that you're hurting.† I refused to look at him and gave all my attention to the road. â€Å"But that doesn't give you the right to play around with other people's lives. Try taking care of your own for a change.† He made no response until we were back at Clarence's, and even then, I didn't want to hear it. â€Å"Sage – † he began. â€Å"Get out,† I said. He hesitated like he might disagree but finally conceded with a swift nod. He left the car and strode toward the house, lighting a cigarette as he went. Fury and frustration burned within me. How could one person continually send me on such emotional highs and lows? Whenever I was starting to like him and feel like we were actually connecting, he would go and do something like this. I was a fool to ever start letting myself feel friendly toward him. Had I really thought he was a work of art earlier? More like a piece of work. My feelings were still churning when I arrived back at Amberwood. I particularly cringed at the thought of running into Jill in our room. I had no doubt she'd know everything that had happened with Adrian, and I had no desire to hear her defend him. But when I walked into my dorm, I never made it past the front desk. Mrs. Weathers was in the lobby, along with Eddie and a campus security officer. Micah hovered nearby, face pale. My heart stopped. Eddie sprinted toward me, panic written all over him. â€Å"There you are! I couldn't get ahold of you or Keith.† â€Å"M-my phone was off.† I looked over at Mrs. Weathers and the officer and saw the same worry on their faces as his. â€Å"What's wrong?† â€Å"It's Jill,† said Eddie grimly. â€Å"She's missing.†

Letter of complain Essay

Wong Kah Yee Secretary, 28, Jalan Jati, Taman Bahagia, 56000 Kuala Lumpur Michael Chan Manager, Kuala Lumpur Town Council, 56000 Kuala Lumpur. 7th JANUARY 2014 Dear Sir, Dissatisfaction With The Condition Of The Apartment As the secretary of the Residents’ Association of Taman Bahagia, I would like to make a complaint on behalf of the residents of Taman Bahagia about the poor condition of the block of apartment . 2. One of the main problem of the apartment is the lifts are vandalised. There are many leaflets on the walls of the lift. Some of the buttons are also missing. Moreover, the corridors are littered with rubbish. Initially, rubbish was collected three times a week. However, since December last year the garbage collectors have only been coming once a week. Our litter bins are always full of rubbish and we have no choice so we leave the bags of rubbish next to the bins. This causes a terrible stench in our housing area. Furthermore, stray cats and dogs scatter the rubbish in searching for food. This brings very unhealthy environment in the neighbourhood. 3. Furthermore, the drains around our apartment are block and always clogged with rubbish resulting the water becoming stagnant. It is n ot uncommon to see bottles, dry leaves and plastic bags in these drains. These drains need to be clear as the stagnant water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. The residents are worried as there had been a sharp increase in dengue cases in the last two months. Besides, there are also limited parking space for residents. This causes cars congesting our streets and a less stressful parking situation. 4. I have some suggestion to solve this problems. You should plan to install security cameras in the lifts. So, we can guard the lifts from being vandalism. The security guard should always patrol around the apartment to avoid this problem happen. The council should also do some surprise checks  on cleanliness. So our apartment can maintain the cleanness. Additionally, you should always send officer workers to our apartment to ensure the drains are cleaned regularly. The council should also prepare more parking lot in our apartment for the visitor, so our street outside wouldnà ¢â‚¬â„¢t be so congested. I hope the council will look into our complaints and take prompt and immediately action to solve our problems. Thank you. Yours faithfully, Kahyan (WONG KAH YAN)

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Journal - Essay Example This notifies the audience that the author is in support of the fact that there are fake scientific data published in journals and ignoring such information can have a detrimental impact on people. The content of the article is detailed giving examples of numerous instances where scientists have linked vaccination to autism and where a scientist disagreed that HIV results to AIDS. It also gives an instance where John Bohannon disclosed that it was easy to put out deceitful scientific information in available publications (Wong 1). The use of these examples makes it interesting and easy for the reader to understand. The author also uses quotation marks to show emphasis on numerous words within the article such as â€Å"mental retardation†, â€Å"knowledge† and â€Å"scientific counterfeits. Wong, the author, uses a comparatively formal language. The article’s tone is resentful evidenced by the last two sentences of the article. Additionally, the author appeals to the readers by clearly emphasizing on his

Nonprofit Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nonprofit Analysis - Essay Example The organization recruits kindhearted people who can volunteer to help the disabled in the society. Because of this, the heart has become an essential logo for the organization. Minis and Friends invite donations from different people regardless of their age or livelihood. The organization uses the donations to provide for the needy. Museum of Indian Culture Museum of Indian Culture is a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and the preservation of culture. This organization perpetuates the history of the Indian culture and enables Indians to reflect on their origin. It also aims to bring different people together regardless of their cultural differences. The organization also recognizes other American Indian tribes and aims at uniting them with the other Indians (Worth, 2012). The Museum offers educational guidance to Indians across the world. It organizes special events that seek to recognize the Indian culture. The Museum appoints different Indians to offer educational guidance to other Indians to create awareness. The appointment of Indians to help with educational guidance has promoted interactions between Indians. This has encouraged people to ignore their cultural differences and relate to each other as colleagues. ... The organization has a vision of ensuring that homeless families do not live in the streets. The organization seeks to achieve this Christian principle and vision in all countries across the world (Worth, 2012). It has a goal of building houses for different homeless families across the United States. It has focused on this goal because many families are not able to afford better housing. Because of this, Morris Habitat for Humanity has collaborated with the housing ministry in the United States to build new housing for families. It uses the funds and donations received to build houses for families. The organization builds houses for families irrespective of their religion and race. Its central goal is to encourage the provision of good housing facilities. Florence Crittenton Services Florence Crittenton Service's central intention is to assist parents with their parental responsibility. This Christian nonprofit organization assists parents in raising healthy families. The organizati on provides guidance to parents with an aim of raising successful families. Other than helping parents, Florence Crittenton Services help different families to interact with the community (Worth, 2012). The interaction between families and communities promotes peaceful coexistence. The organization also seeks to promote a healthy bond between living families. It is based upon Christian values and principles because of its family vision. The goal of the organization is to empower teenagers to live a drug free life. It promotes this goal through collaborations with the teenager’s parents. This Christian organization helps in bringing up self-sufficient families that play a role in community building. It also helps teenagers to evade the sexual

MCCS ( Marine Corps Community Services ) Research Paper

MCCS ( Marine Corps Community Services ) - Research Paper Example 20). The MCCS has achieved significant accomplishments since its establishment. Their missions are based on peace models. The war on terrorism is straining their missions and support programs that are majorly built on peace models. This terrorism war is slowing down the MCCS programs. MCCS, therefore, have program assessment that the leaders directly send feedbacks to the MCCS. The MCCs are in constant contact with the marines and their family. This has made the MCCS’ transition on operation and family preparedness better in service provision (Ibp Usa, 2007, p. 264). Radical changes positively affected their strategic planning in their organization. The changes in planning led to the establishment of the MCCS strategy and vision 2025. The broader Marine Corps sees the implementation of the MCCS vision 2025. The vision 2025 document establishes the base of projected operations and points out the steps to achieving the 2025 goals. The documents ensure proper organization, better equipping, training and enhance preparedness to meet future challenges today. The vision shows the values, competence and the principles of the organization (Ibp Usa, 2007, p. 283). Diversity management The Broader Marine Corps family and the Individual Marine supports the Marine Corps Community Services. ... These values serve as the foundation for moral behavior, professional conduct and behavior of the Marine. Customer values like courtesy, loyalty and responsibility guide the Corps. The Community team takes good care of Marine, their families, they offer them assistance. The Corps is knowledgeable, professional and resourceful. They invest in Marine Corps mission. They handle the health matters of the marine and their families (United States. Dept. of the Army, 2007, p. 45). The Corps are bold, responsible, creative and intelligent. Marine provide a positive experience to every person they serve. They pursue opportunities, ensuring implementation of innovative services. These services provide strategic planning and great operational synergies. They put more efforts on the organizational strong points by bringing in designed polices and resources. This improves the Corps services and delivery programs. They capitalize on human organization dimension. This improves management quality se rvices. They train their workforce to get the skills to deliver quality services (Corps, 2000, p. 5). The Corps have principles that define their beliefs. The Corps derive their mission and their instincts of operation from their beliefs. Different principles, philosophy and the previously mentioned values, define the cultural identity of the Corps. They express what the Corps believe in. the Marine Corps have enduring principle. The marine has the best customer and community services. Every member in the Marine provides quality customer services. These services are unmatched by any other firm. The marine operates freely without restriction from a single domain and takes every operating domain important: social services, recreational programs and retailing service production, are all

Elements of art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Elements of art - Essay Example I observe many things as I look at this painting. If for instance, we don’t know the date when this painting was painting, we would notice that it was made during the Renaissance or after that period due to its atmospheric perspective. After the camera was invented in 1839, artists tried to make their paintings look real and as good as they could. William painted this painting almost as perfect as a real photo. If you goggle Porto Venere, you will see some pictures of this place which looks the same as in this painting. Looking at this painting, I feel cool and relaxed since, it gives me that beautiful feeling you have when you walk on the beach and the drizzles from the waves hit you smoothly. In this painting, there is no real texture which appears as brushwork and impasto. However, bold or noticeable texture appears a little bit on the rocks. Value in this painting includes high-key and low-key. High key appears almost in the middle visible horizontal line starting from the middle of the building moving towards its right side. Low key value appears on the waves, the clouds, the rocks and the mountains. Together, the high-key and low-key values make a strong contrast as is visible At first sight of the painting. In this painting, space is obviously noticeable. The front houses overlap the other house and the big mountain behind the house overlaps the other mountain. The rocks as well overlap each other. In addition, the shading in the waves and the clouds indicate space, different sizes, and positions of the buildings, the rocks and the mountains. The perspective of this painting indicates space too as it appears as atmospheric view in this painting. In this painting, colors appear natural. Appearing in this painting, some of the natural colors is blue(on the waves) and green(on the mountain top). Some parts of the waves have a tint of blue making them look lighter than blue whereas, some parts of the waves have

The Takeovers Directive Is An Ineffective Piece Of Legislation Essay

The Takeovers Directive Is An Ineffective Piece Of Legislation Designed To Create An Unachievable Single Market For Takeover Activity - Essay Example More specifically, in the UK, a takeover refers to the purchase of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, contrary to the acquisition of a private business. The three main types of takeovers are friendly takeovers, hostile takeovers and reverse takeovers. A friendly takeover refers to the acquisition of a company, which has been approved by the management. In normal cases, a bidder notifies a company board of directors prior to making an offer for the target company. If the board concurs that accepting the offer would serve the interests of shareholders better than rejecting the offer, then it recommends that the shareholders accept the offer2. The friendly type of takeover is rather common in private companies in which the shareholders are usually the board of directors. In these cases, chances are always high that should shareholders accept a takeover offer, then the board is usually of the same opinion. If not, the board is always under the shareholders†™ orders accept the bid. It is noteworthy that this scenario is rather irrelevant to the UK’s idea of takeovers, which only regards a takeover as acquisition of a public company. The second type of takeover is the hostile takeover in which a bidder acquires a company despite the unwillingness of the company’s management. ... Usually, on being established, certain larger private companies would want to float themselves in stock exchanges without the expenses and time resources involved in initial public offers. In the UK, for instance, a reverse takeover refers to a one-year acquisition of a company, which causes fundamental changes in its business and board voting or control. Finally, backflip takeovers are takeovers in which the acquiring company becomes a subsidiary of the purchased company and is mostly seen when a larger but unknown company acquires a well-known struggling company. A business concept that has been closely associated with takeovers, especially in the European Union is corporate governance. Corporate governance refers to the set of rules, processes and practices that a company uses for control and direction. In essence, in entails the weighing and balancing of the various interests of stakeholders such as management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government, shareholders and the co mmunity. Corporate governance thus covers every aspect of management, including action plans, internal controls, performance measurement and corporate disclosure. In the modern business environment, it does not pay for a company to be merely profitable; more should be done to attain a high level of corporate governance or good corporate citizenship using good corporate practices, environmental awareness and ethical and professional conduct among other strategies. Excellent takeover policies, regulation and legislation are some of the mechanisms by which the EU Commission and Member States have applied to improve corporate governance. For instance, the EU Takeover Directive of 2004 was adopted with the

Safety of Larry Essay Example for Free

Safety of Larry Essay Morton resolves to leave the potentially violent playground because he reasons that the other man is very unreasonable and that engaging this man in any further dialogue would yield nothing beneficial. The father also seeks to ensure the safety of Larry his son far from the haughty taunts of the troublesome Joe. After the second reading. What does the narrator know about the wifes thoughts and feelings that is important to understanding the ending? The story’s narrator is aware that the wife senses a debilitating feeling of defeat and inadequacy whenever she faces a situation whereby unreasonable behavior triumphs over sensible behavior. These sentiments make the wife to be unsatisfied with Morton’s act of submissively leaving the troublesome father and child. The wife thus thinks that her husband is inefficient in agitating for his rights. She thus repeats the derisive ‘You and who else? ’ statement that the arrogant man utters in the park. What do you think this incident means to the wife? To the wife, injustice is depicted as trampling over justice according to the events that transpire at the park. Moreover, her husband demonstrates that he is weak and defenseless through is action of choosing to ignore the other man’s taunts. What other things do you notice? After analyzing the actions of the various characters, I have noted that Morton is a sensible and refined man who would not get involved in a physical confrontation just for the sake of it. Rather, he depicts a mature personality that allows him to have adequate patience to put up with the unreasonable mean’s behavior. What questions do you still have? I am not sure whether Morton really avoids being involved in a physical tussle with the other man just because of the silliness of such an action or because he fears being physically hurt by the obviously bigger man. Conversely, the wife’s actions are not clear as to whether she treasures violence or harbors violent tendencies.

The Defining Characteristics of Ancient Egypt Essay Example for Free

The Defining Characteristics of Ancient Egypt Essay As ancient civilizations began to be recovered by archeologists and theories abounded, Vere Gordon Childe took the reins and wrote on his findings for nearly the last forty years of his life. Indeed, Childe was the first to â€Å"[view] the development of cultures as homotaxial, [which] led Childe to define stages of civilization according to social and economic patterns . † It is this approach that led archeologists to view ancient civilizations as prospering economies and has helped to set the characteristics for further defining them. Ancient Egypt, for example, can be defined by three major elements: the effects of the first wars in Egypt, the hieroglyphics that define Egypt as a literary culture, and the parliamentary Egypt, that of Kingdoms, Empires, and City-States. Ancient Egypt was not a warring nation and did not seek out new territories and conquest. In fact, during the Old Kingdom, the pharaohs were mostly involved in their people, their governments, and in building their economy. However, it was not to last. The early Asiatics invaded Egypt and brought the fall of the Old Kingdom. For the first time, Egypt had to set up defenses and plan for attacks from their surrounding nations and during the Middle Kingdom, Egypt took great strides to protect themselves from the warring and invading barbarians. By the New Kingdom, Egypt had become a vast military power and the neighboring nations had much to fear from retaliatory conquest and invasion. Egypt was not the simple, quiet nation that they once were—they were a powerful, wealthy nation that saw conquest as a way to further enrich their people and nation. Another way in which ancient Egypt can be defined characteristically is through their hieroglyphics. Egyptian hieroglyphics are one of the most complex languages in history; and, throughout archeological study, it is one of the few languages that has lasted without change for centuries. Indeed, â€Å"perhaps no modern society, with the possible exception of France, has such a preoccupation with the purity of language as the Egyptian society does . † Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics tell many stories: that of love, war, and planting seasons. They were, undeniably, as literary a nation as any have ever been. Finally, the development of Egyptian parliamentary procedures has a set of characteristics not seen in any other ancient nation. Egypt began with a ruling pharaoh—known affectionately as the â€Å"pyramid builders† who created the most striking and remarkable archeology in history with each new ruling leader. Pharaohs ruled their kingdoms for life, at which time their throne passed on to a son or relative—unless the family was overthrown. And, it is at the end of these reigns that war, strife, and even prosperousness have made their marks on Egypt—most notably, the end of the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, which brought rulers strikingly different from those of the past as Egypt moved to prosperity as a nation and war for conquest. Overall, as archeologists know, â€Å"no more difficult task confronts the historian than to trace the gradual emergence of a civilization, since this necessarily belongs to ages where written documents are either non-existent or very scanty . † It is through their tiring study that ancient Egypt and the characteristics that define it as a nation have emerged. Of these characteristics, a study of ancient war, hieroglyphics, and Egyptian parliamentary procedures mark Egypt most profoundly, differentiating it from other ancient nations. Bibliography. Asante, Molefi Kete. (2002). Culture and Customs of Egypt. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Childe, Vere Gordon. (1956). Piecing Together the Past: The Interpretation of Archelogical Data. New York: Frederick A. Praeger. Erman, Adolf. (2001). Life in Ancient Egypt, Vol. 2. London: Macmillian. Gardiner, Alan. (1964). Egypt of the Pharoahs: An Introduction. London: Oxford UP. Lamberg-Karlovsky, C. C. and Jeremy A. Sabloff. (1979). Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publishing.

Introduction To Project Management Management Essay

Introduction To Project Management Management Essay Project management is the planning, organizing and managing of tasks and resources to accomplish a defined objective, usually with constraints on time and cost. Most projects, whether they are large and complex or small and simple, can be planned by breaking the project into small, easily manageable tasks, scheduling the tasks, and then tracking the tasks as work progresses. Project management helps you answer questions such as: What is to be done? Who will complete the task? When must it be done? How much will it cost? What happens if work isnt completed on time? Planning the project and creating a schedule This includes defining the tasks and their duration, setting up relationships between tasks, and, if you are tracking resource usage, assigning resources. All later phases of the project are based directly on the information you provide when you first plan your project. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Managing changes This is an ongoing process that begins once you create a schedule and the project starts, and ends when the project is complete. It includes tracking and adjusting your schedule to reflect changes that occur as the project progresses. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Communicating project information This is a very important process that involves communicating project information to clients, project staff, and management. Project management software is productivity software that will assist you in each of these steps. Many professionals find it is among the most productive tools in their skill set. In todays business it is in the best interest of companies to have project managers. Common sense isnt always usually accomplished. For anyone whos ever worked on a project in a technical setting knows this. Indeed, much of working with others consists of solving unexpected problems and learning from mistakes along the way.    Knowing this and having the proper tools a project manager will be able to manage and complete the most intense project out there.   Ã‚   It seems that people time and again have the wrong impression of what a project manager does.    It is not about being able to create a compound plan to hang on the wall.    It is not about setting up conference after conference.    This is about understanding a big business objective, understanding the technology involved, being able to communicate at an assortment of levels, being able to encourage and direct people, being able to handle the constant worry and troubles, and being structured enough to make certain the whole thing that needs to get completed, gets completed.    What this comes down to is a project manager should be able to meet or exceed all of the stakeholders expectations.    The project manager also must be able to get others to work with limited authority throughout the duration.    Doing most of the work yourself is a poor long-term development strategy and will never solve the problem. In every project there are always some universal characteristics that will be shared.    They all have a comprehensible and established purpose and very distinct life durations. Overall, all projects are doing something that may possibly be new or yet a onetime endeavor but have explicit requirements which include; time, price, and performance. Project management deals with tools, people, and systems. (Lewis) The first project of this module is to do a group poster presentation. We have limited time to carry out research and we were worn off by the intensive lectures. This is where I found out how time management and team work play as important elements for success. We distributed the workload among ourselves and set a time frame for completion. Group members were to adhere to the time frame stipulated. This is how we manage to complete a simple presentation, with many hidden hard work behind our success. A project manager should have certain qualities in order to successfully execute a project and then run them successfully for the project to be a hit in the market. A project manager should have certain attribute for successful in a project and they are Monitoring and Controlling: Project manger always monitors the work done by his team members and has control over the entire project. They also have to make sure about the budget estimated at the beginning of the project. Self-esteem: Project manager should always motivate his team members to do their work sincerely and help by supporting each and every one at the work. Leadership skills: Project Manager should have leadership qualities to manage the team. Project closure The final objective is project closure which includes verifying that all of the work has been accomplished, check the Contractual closure of the contract, financial closure of the charge numbers and finally administrative closure of the paperwork. Successful project management can then be defined as having achieved the project objectives. Project management has evolved to plan, co-ordinate and control the complex and diverse activities of modern industrial, commercial and management change and IT projects (Lock 2009). Chunnel Tunnel: Introduction The Chunnel tunnel project undertaken to create a connection between England and France via underground tunnel, presents one of the largest privately funded construction projects ever under taken. It required the cooperation of two national governments, bankers underwriting the funding for the projects, numerous contractors and several regular agencies. The construction and engineering of the tunnel required the use of new technology and required significant modifications during the project due to unexpected conditions and changes required by various parties. This case study demonstrates the numerous factors which played during the course of the project that has significant effects on the overall course of the project. At the end Chunnel project was completed, but it was late and over budgeted. The promotion of and investment in the Channel Tunnel was a challenging multinational affair drawing in institutions from several countries. In this paper, I concentrate on the promotion of the abortive tunnel project of 1957-1975 and the ultimately successful venture a decade later, focusing on governments and companies in Britain, France, the United States, and Japan. I identify the management and sharing of risk as the critical elements in the Tunnels political economy. Here, the difficulties produced by the quadripartite quilt of negotiations involving two governments (Britain and France) and two tunnel companies are at center stage, though I also argue that American involvement was important in the first project, and Japanese financial support was critical in the second. The debates concerned the type of crossing, questions of ownership versus licensing and regulation, and the importance of making public investment in related and supporting infrastructure. The Channel Tunnel has significance as a prototype of public-private partnership in Britain, and I draw lessons from the experience, referring in particular to the challenges presented by the infrastructure project circle.The paper draws on material assembled for Terry Gourvish, The Official History of the Channel Tunnel (London, 2006). It all started in 1802 when French forward a proposal to tunnel under the English Channel, which would be illuminated using oil lamps, horse-drawn coaches for transportation and also an artificial mid-channel foe changing horses. But, the project was delayed for a very long period In 1955 both British and French governments supported surveys and in 1974, a government-funded the twin tunnel project with car shuttle wagons. Later in 1975 British government had no interest in funding the project so they had no objection for a privately funded project. And hence the project was given into the hands of the private companies. On 2 july 1985, both French and British formed a group Channel Tunnel Group/France. The design and construction was done by this company as the project was undertaken by private companies. The Chunnel Tunnel is a build -own- operate- transfer project with a concession. And the British and French governments will hold the control on final engineering and safety decisions, now those were in the hands of Channel Tunnel Safety Authority. Eleven tunnel boring machines, which were working from both the sides of the tunnel cut through two rail tunnels and the service tunnel, this started in 1988, and 1994 operating of the tunnel began. And it was estimated that the cost of the construction was  £4.650 billon.15000 people were employed with daily expenditure over  £3 million. And ten workers were killed during the construction process. The Eurotunnel completed tunnel boring on time, hence the tunnel was finally opened officially by British Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterand in a ceremony held in Calais on 6th may 1994. The Chunnel Tunnel also known as (French: Chunnel tunnel source ls manche) is a 50.5-Kilometer undersea rail tunnel linking Folk stone, Kent near Dover in the United Kingdom with coquilles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France. At its lowest point, it is 75 meters (250 ft) deep 1802 Channel tunnel proposal was brought across by Albert Mathieu 1875 The beginning of Channel Tunnel Company Ltd 1882 Abbots Cliff had reached 897  yards (820 m) and Shakespeare Cliff was 2,040  yards (1,870 m) in length. January 1975 British-French government stopped there backed scheme support in 1974 February 1986 They proceeded the project with the permission of Treaty of Canterbury June 1988 In France the First tunneling was started December 1988 Tunneling operation was started in UK December 1990 Broke down of the service tunnel under the Channel May 1994 The formal inauguration by The Queen and President(French) Mid 1994 Passenger and Cargos started using the trains November 1996 Due to fire there was huge damage in the tunnel November 2007 After the renovation the tunnel was re opened for the public. Fig. SOME IMPORTANT DATES. Challenges: Communication Gap Communication plays a very vital role in a project, not only for the project managers but also for the rest of the team members. This is one of the factors driving a project to success or failure. England and France are the two groups of people who were working together and there were communication gap between two teams, which leads to major delay of the project. Planning There was no proper planning for this project as this was the first project towards Chunnel, none of them were aware how to go about it and what are the different kinds of challenges they will come across during this project and they were unable to project on anything. In every stage they use to come up with different problems and that use to take time this use to reflect time factors and because of this budget use to go high. Strengths Technically strongly built, hence a successful Quality Management implemented. Back office support was excellent. Good team work between two groups. A winning proposal under build owner transfer granted to CTG and overall quality of work impressive, work place accident rates were below the industrial average and implementation of effective change management. Weakness Time delay and over budget, project was not well planned, poor change management, risk management was not in place, change in design resulted in project delay, litigation and claims was high in the project, lack of team work and communication, financial model optimistic resulted in cost increase, scope was not well defined and rolling stock and specifications were not the same between British and French. Lessons to be learnt: Due to proper planning there was delay at work provide adequate defined scope and a well planned changed management system, the sound risk management technique and adequate planning and research techniques to be put in place. Good coordination between two governments and try minimizing the litigation and claims by brining proper planning in place. We had a great time doing this project. The time and money spent on Channel tunnel inspired all team members to take a trip through the Euro-France Eurotunnel. While preparing a poster me and other team memebers got an oppurtunity to watch a documentary video on Euro tunnel filmed by Discovery channel. Project management theories of team leadership was a big lesson I got to learn while doing this poster. One of the team members took control when the team dynamism was coming to a stand still. Watching him giving direction to team and motivating various team members to perform was when I understood leadership roles. I played a role of organiser in the team. I took responsibility to keep track of every ones effort in the team. I also passed on their work done to every other team member, and acknowledged that member. Presentation skills was of most importance in poster making as we were not allowed to explain the posters, whereas the posters had to speak for themselves. All the team had to put their thinking caps on and rack brains to come with a good presentation idea. At first we planned to put everything we had into the poster but later realised that would over crowd the poster. Hence then we sorted the data we had and then easened our poster with a partitioned look and a title in the middle. Project Life Cycle C:UsersdellDocumentsProject metodology.JPG Project Life Cycle As can been seen in the methodology lifecycle graph shown in the poster and also attached in the appendix, our poster making task was a smooth run. Our module leader Michael Snelgrove assigned our team Jaguar with Chunnel Tunnel case study. To make a poster on Chunnel Tunnel project case study wasnt a easy task. I joined the team later hence in the second week the team introduced me to the case study and we all decided to meet again with highlighted essentials. The week after we all discussed and distributed essential task amongst ourselves every Niaz introduced us to the title Everything Comes Down To Money as in the Chunnel Tunnel project the blotted budget was the big issue. Everyone agreed with the title and started with further data collection, Niloy one of the team members gave me the sources for study materials and there on we finalized the total data and content to be presented in the poster. We discussed reaming time cost of printing, specification of poster and risk of show ing some required data on the poster. Every one confirmed their acceptance towards work submitted by each team member. The printing cost of the poster were one of the issues in one of the data meetings but the module leader Michael Snelgrove solved the problem by taking responsibility for poster printing costs, as we were nearing the data submission we discussed our work with the module leader and requested for suggestions to improve the poster then more amendment tasks were distributed among ourselves we then finally sat together and finalized the poster. Analysis and Communications were the major skills we used for the successful completion of the given task. We received positive comments on the judgment day of poster except for our criticism on showing the Hitlers photograph in the poster. Conclusion After doing the poster makings the group has a whole understood that no previous experience and hidden technical costs resulted in late compellation of the project with the bloated budget.

Essay --

Introduction Children of the 21st century are facing brand new health challenges. We are witnessing epidemic levels of new childhood disorders within the most recent generation of U.S. children. These children are also experiencing a higher percentage of familiar diseases and disorders, such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, asthma, attention-deficit diagnoses, intestinal problems, and even mental disorders, than any other generation of the past. There is certainly a health crisis in America, one that can make or break the very foundation of our health as a nation of capable citizens. As our country prepares to launch the Affordable Care Act, with the government entering into managing part of the health care industry, the time is now to take matters into our own hands to ensure the well-being of our families. America’s kids are in a full-blown crisis; they are under attack, losing out on their quality of life before they can even enter adulthood. The U.S. infant mortality rate has worsened significantly. In 2009, the mortality rate ranking dropped from 28th in the world to 41st in the world. More of our children are dying during the first four weeks of life than ever before. At 4.3 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births, the U.S. now shares the 41st spot with Croatia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. There is a huge rise in the number of children affected with these conditions: ADD/ADHD, autism, asthma, digestive problems, and anxiety and general â€Å"mood disorders.† A report released in 2012 revealed that one in every 54 boys in the U.S. has been diagnosed with autism, and the number of children with autism is expected to double every five years. A health epidemic is no longer on the horizon; clear evidence reveals that it is here... ... quickly, and his coloring is healthy, not pallid and grey. He thinks more clearly and sleeps more deeply. He is no longer malnourished. He is relaxed, and he smiles a lot. Had no one corrected the core problem, the allergy to wheat, the boy would’ve been facing a lifetime of discomfort and crippled health. A proper diet is critically important for the body’s rapid growth that occurs throughout each year of childhood, when a person is developing the intricate systems that must last them for a lifetime. You can easily establish a solid base of well-being for your child, knowing that this gift will last them for a lifetime. Even during such challenging and busy times, the solution for optimum wellness is within your reach, you just need to know where to start. It’s time to build them up! You’ve got the power and the ability to change the world, one child at a time.

The Metaphysics of Performance :: Theatre Science Papers

The Metaphysics of Performance Something extraordinary has happened to metaphysics. At the very moment when philosophy is focusing its efforts at bringing metaphysics to an ‘end,’ metaphysics finds itself flourishing in the theatre, which speaks of itself as ‘metaphysics-in-action’ and publishes treatises carrying such titles as The Act of Being: Toward a Theory of Acting. The irony of the situation appears to have been lost on postmodern philosophers. What this paper sets out to do is explore the potential consequences of the metaphysical weight that has been acquired by the theatre for the practice of philosophy. It argues that the theatrical performance is in fact an ‘enactment’ of the performance of being and that, as such, it is possible to extend our understanding of this performance from the theatrical stage to the ‘theatre of the world.’ Finally, in doing so, we can establish the context for a metaphysics that does not privilege presence. The world of the stage, of roles, masks, parts to play has been one of the most enduring ways of speaking about life and the world we live in. In fact, until four hundred years ago, the theatrum mundi metaphor was the dominant image in Western thinking. God was conceived on the analogy of a playwright who had created the script of the play that was being performed on the stage called the world. "All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players ..." No sooner had Shakespeare penned these lines than the theatre metaphor was emptied of its metaphysical charge. In very short order, it found itself functioning under the aegis of a new and more powerful image of the world: "the book of the world." It was Galileo and Descartes who gave this metaphor its currency, which was to have far reaching consequences for the history of metaphysical thinking in the West. To engage the world as a stage is to find oneself articulating what is at bottom an inherently unstable view of the world. As anyone who is familiar with the theatre knows, if it takes a performance to bring a world to presence, then the intelligibility or meaning of what transpires cannot be guaranteed in advance. And, if God is conceived of in terms of being a playwright, then he faces the predicament that every playwright finds himself in. He is constrained to address the continuing instability that attaches itself to his creation by virtue of the fact that a performance intervenes between himself and what transpires onstage.

Optical Fiber Corp Case Analysis

Case Analysis: Optical Fiber Corporation Introduction Optical Fiber Corporation (OFC) is a financially successful, albeit relatively small manufacturer of multimode optical fibers. The company was founded in 1990. The founders were able to enter the market largely on the basis of acquiring patent licenses from larger optical fiber firms. These licenses restricted competition between the entities and provided OFC with instant access to optical fiber technology. In return, OFC’s customer base is limited by the license agreements and royalties of 7% on sales of licensed products (recently renegotiated to 9%) are paid to the licensors.Despite these handicaps the firm has grown in size and profitability. OFC makes several types of multimode optical fiber including specialty niche products they have developed outside of any license agreements. All customers are cable manufacturers that convert the fibers to optical fiber cable. Three such firms account for over 70% of OFC’s r evenues. Focusing on customer service, quality and product design and process improvements has proved a winning business model to date. OFC now faces a variety of challenges including the expiration of many of the patents that afford most of its profits.This raises the real possibility of new competitors in the market. Further, while in the past multimode and single mode optical fibers have generally been used for data communications and telecommunications respectively and as such were not in direct competition with each other, the advent of cheaper manufacturing processes for single mode fibers coupled with their inherent ability to transmit data more efficiently over longer distances may make them a more appealing choice for some of the uses that historically have favored multimode fibers.OFC is at now at a crossroads where they must decide if they are to stay in the multimode fiber business only, begin producing single mode fibers as well, or even enter the cabling business with a forward integration strategy. Competition in the Optical Fiber Industry The optical fiber industry is perhaps best considered as two industries that are closely related, the multimode fiber and the single mode fiber industries. The multimode industry in which OFC specializes is very competitive. The United States’ 2001 total optical fiber market was approximately 3. 5 million kilometers only 330 thousand of which was multimode.The value of the multimode market was $65 million that year, only a fifth that of the single mode market. Within the multimode market and a number of fiber manufacturers. The main rivals for OFC are the two licensors to whom they pay royalties. These firms are considerably larger and have greater resources with which to compete. Further, they have a competitive advantage in that they are the recipients of royalty payments rather than the firm making those payments. Also they are in a position to control the extent of OFC’s market penetration at least with respect to their licensed products.OFC has responded by creating high quality products and providing exceptional customer service. In addition, OFC has made improvements to the basic design of some of the licensed fibers making them, in a real sense new products. The R and D department at OFC has also been successful at developing new and less expensive manufacturing processes, which has helped to offset the added overhead of the royalty payments. Finally, OFC has developed specialty fibers with medical, aircraft, aerospace and extreme environment applications.These new fibers will not be subject to royalty payments, competition from new entrants until patents expire years in the future, and generally afford higher profit margins than other optical fiber products. New entrants to the market are a threat to OFC and all other fiber producers. New firms must contend with the high capitalization costs of this technologically demanding and exacting industry. One of the costs of optical fiber production is the R and D required to bring successful products to market. Between 1999 and 2007 the patents for many of the basic fibers produced by OFC and its licensors will expire.New firms entering the market will be free to produce the products once protected under those patents without having incurred any R and D costs. These firms will also be free from royalty payments to licensors or any restrictive covenants such as those under which OFC operates. The industry in general, and OFC in particular, must contend with the purchasing power of its buyers. Optical fiber is converted into optical fiber cable. In the United States there are twenty companies that perform this function. OFC sells over 70% of their fiber to just three.The loss of any of these accounts could be devastating for OFC and places them in a weak position when negotiating prices, at least when the products are those which are readily available from other multimode fiber producers. It is doubtf ul that switching costs would be high for buyers. Favoring OFC and the optical fiber market are the projections for increased demand for multimode optical fibers at least through the mid 2000’s. Sources of increased demand for multimode fiber are anticipated to include: cable TV, undersea cables, local area networks (LAN) as well as general data communications growth such as computer uses.As noted the single mode optical fiber market is much larger than the multimode market. It too, is expected to see significant growth over the next several years. Single mode fibers have the advantage of efficiently transmitting data over long distances, faster transmission rates and other desirable optical properties but until recently have been more expensive to produce. The advent of cheaper production methods will allow single mode fibers to enter markets that were once dominated by multimode fibers.Production of these fibers requires expensive specialized manufacturing equipment and a s ignificant commitment to R and D. The industry includes one of the OFC licensors. Substitute products for single mode fibers include microwaves, and satellites for telecommunications. Impact seems limited. Copper wire can be used as a substitute for the fiber-to-home and fiber-to-curb applications of either multimode or single mode fibers but by the mid 2000’s the lowered cost of production of single mode fibers will likely make this the preferred choice for these functions.Finally, it should be noted that suppliers are unlikely to exert competitive forces on the fiber optics markets. The materials used in the production of fibers are commodities of low value such as glass, certain gases and oxide particles. OFC Strengths OFC has many strengths. The firm is financially strong with record sales and earnings for the last year as well as increased manufacturing capacity. Furthermore, there was a $20 million backlog for optical fibers in the last year and orders are increasing. T here was net income of $6. 1million on revenue of $48. million in 2002. The Quick Ratio, a measure of a firm’s ability to meet short-term debt obligations (Current Assets – Inventories)/Current Liabilities = ($31. 0m – $6. 6m)/$12. 5 = 2. 0 is very solid. Return on equity (Net Income/Equity) = $6. 1m/$44. 0m = 13. 9% is also very impressive. OFC has developed new specialty products for medical, military, commercial aircraft, aerospace and severe environment uses. These are likely to receive patents and will not require royalty payments and will be protected from competitors for years to come.The firm has a variety of options to confront the challenges of the changing market place. OFC has patent licenses to produce optical cables that would allow for forward integration if they chose to move in that direction. Engineers at OFC have been able to find new ways to produce old products more efficiently reducing production costs. They have also developed adaptations of existing products to create new and unique demands for those products. OFC is in an industry that is expected to enjoy strong growth for at least the next several years.That demand will come from a variety of industries adding stability to the market. The equipment needed to produce optical fiber is expensive and the expertise demanding creating, a relative barrier to entry. Copper wire as a substitute is relatively expensive and as technological advances decrease the cost of optical fibers copper will become a non-entity. Perhaps most importantly, OFC has a strong reputation for quality, service and competitive pricing. OFC Weaknesses OFC is a small company. They were only able to enter the market by virtue of other firms’ products and license agreements.Those licenses have protected OFC from competition but have also limited the scope of its customer base and added significant fixed costs in royalty payments. Royalties will now increase to 9% (after paying a one time $3 million fee) on 85% of sales. Furthermore, while OFC is paying royalties to use these patents new entrants may soon be competing as patents expire. These firms will have essentially no R and D expense and of course no royalty payments potentially allowing them to produce at costs below those of OFC.OFC must also contend with a limited number of buyers. Over 70% of sales are to just three cable producers. The ability of OFC to increase prices to these large purchasers is doubtful. If even one of these customers were lost to an alternative fiber optic producer the effect on OFC could be dramatic. OFC operates in a competitive industry that will become more so with time. Copper wire manufacturers will turn to optical cable production to stay relevant. Overseas producers, already sources of competition to OFC, are likely to play a larger role in the future.Finally, OFC’s success has been built on quality, service and innovation. One or more competitor can potentially offer all of these. OFC’s Core Competencies OFC manufactures multimode, high quality optical fiber for cabling companies that convert that fiber into cable for a variety of data communications uses. The firm has a reputation for low prices and excellent customer service. Much of their success can be attributed to their R and D program, which has developed cost saving production technologies as well as product innovations.More recently, OFC has shown itself to be an innovator, developing entirely new multimode optical fiber products that fill a variety of unique niche functions. To continue producing and selling multimode optical fiber successfully, OFC needs to prepare for increased competition as patent protections expire. As new entrants begin producing many of the higher volume OFC products, likely at lower cost given their lack of R and D and royalty expenses, OFC will need to spend additional resources on developing decreased costs of production if they are to continue selling those products profitably.They will need to maintain their focus on quality and customer service. In part that will require continued product testing. They may wish to explore, however, if testing 100% of products as is current policy is necessary or if testing samples from each batch would serve as well and save money. OFC will need to continue to support R and D to develop new products and patentable improvements on existing ones. Options Available for Growth Pursuit of Niche Markets OFC has already demonstrated an ability to develop marketable niche multimode fibers. Previously created are fibers able to withstand high radiation nvironments for nuclear reactor and military applications, a fiber that can tolerate deep underwater submersion and a third tolerant of high heat conditions. They have also successfully experimented with a fiber capable of transmitting UV light and another with unique medical and scientific uses. To continue their development program for specialty fibers will require annual R and D spending increases of $400,000 and an additional annual expenditure for three new staff totaling $325,000. Outside firms can be hired to handle sales for 10% commissions.When sales volumes are adequate, salaried OFC employees can be used instead. The calculation as to when this makes financial sense for the firm is simple; when 10% of sales exceed the salary and benefit expenses of the needed in-house sales force then sales should become an OFC operation. The advantage of niche products is the lack of competition and relatively higher margins. Develop Single Mode Fiber Capacity OFC could choose to enter the much larger single mode fiber market. It is estimated that this will require a capital investment of $4 million for new plant and equipment.It will take a year for the new facilities to be operational. There will also be a reported one time R and D expense of $2. 5 million. This is a first year expense so it cannot be capitalized. It can reasonably be assum ed that there will be additional R and D expenses going forward although presumably these would be considerably lower than the initial expense. Entering the single mode market places OFC in competition with larger firms than it currently faces with greater resources to sell products with thinner margins and would divert OFC resources from their core business functions.Forward Integration A third option for OFC is to produce optical cable. The required patent licenses are available. Two options for this forward integration strategy exist. OFC can commit $5 million in capital investments and plan on spending an additional $500,000 annually for R and D or they can simply purchase a cabling company for an estimated $10 – 15 million in capital expenditure. There is currently an excess supply of cable and cabling firms and several are in danger of bankruptcy and so an acquisition should be feasible. Forward integration raises several concerns.Regardless of the approach taken, enter ing the fiber optic cable business will be expensive for OFC. This is a market that is already experiencing an excess of capacity so it can be assumed that at least for some time to come profits in the cabling industry will be squeezed. This is not a core business function of OFC but to pursue cable production will be so expensive as to necessarily draw resources away from some of the firm’s core activities, activities that are likely to be more profitable and entail less financial risk. Finally, one needs to consider that all of OFC’s customers are cable producers.If OFC enters this market they will become a competitor of their customers. It seems highly probable that at least some of these optical fiber buyers will respond in a retaliatory manner and switch to alternate suppliers. Most of OFC’s products are not unique and can be supplied by their licensors. The three large buyers would seem in a particularly strong position to adversely respond to any entry in to the cabling market by OFC. OFC Policy Statement In choosing a direction for the future growth of OFC several considerations should be kept in mind. First, OFC has been successful in large part because of its focus on quality.Any efforts at growth should not come at the expense of producing high quality products. Second, the firm must continue to provide a high level of customer service. This should include responsiveness to customers’ needs for new products and product features when those offerings are commensurate with the firm’s vision, available or attainable expertise and when economically viable. Finally, the firm should continue to fund R and D efforts to allow for a continuous pipeline of new products and improvements to existing ones in an effort to maintain a unique competitive position in the market.OFC has been successful in competing against larger firms by avoiding head to head competition. Initially this was accomplished through license agreements alon e. Later, the firm was able to create unique improvements to existing products and processes that gave it an advantage. Most recently OFC has created unique patentable products. These represent three different ways of avoiding direct competition. Despite their growth, OFC remains a relatively small firm in the optical fiber space and should continue to eschew direct competition when possible, realizing that the market is dominated by larger and better-funded firms.Recommendations OFC should stay out of the cable producing business. This market is the least profitable, most expensive to enter and likely to have the lowest return on investment. It is also likely to result in retaliation by current customers and reduced sales. The single mode market is much larger than the multimode market but as a consequence will bring OFC in contact with larger firms that already have the equipment and knowledge base to produce these products. A small firm with limited resources should not leave its core competencies behind to take on firms that are already in place.OFC needs to continue to make niche products whether they are improvements on old multimode fibers or new fibers with unique properties and functions. This firm will never be a big player in the highly competitive optical fiber industry, they arrived too late and don’t have the capital to displace the dominant firms. Given that projections are for most of the increased demand for optical fibers to occur through the mid to late 2000’s OFC may want to watch for an opportune time to sell to one of these larger entities, perhaps a single mode fiber producer to whom the OFC product line would prove complimentary.

How Far Do I Agree That the Hundred Flowers Campaign Was a Trick Essay

Mao travelled the length and breadth of China during the 1950’s. The massive amount of support that he got where ever he went convinced him that he was in touch with the people. He took this opportunity to give some greater freedom of expression to his people and he encouraged constructive criticism of how he and his party were transforming china into a proletarian state. He also gave intellectuals a greater say in debate which was unusual as Mao hated them. It was quite possible that Mao was affected by the attack on Stalin by Khrushchev who publicly said that Stalin was evil and wrong; Mao did not want this backlash himself . erhaps the hundred flowers campaign closed the gap between his people and him, the people would not make a comparison of him and Stalin and it would make him seem that he really cared what the people thought. In early 1957 the party and Mao prepared themselves for criticism which let ordinary every day people be able to say where the CCP had gone wrong. After the initial thoughts of people being classed as anti party were dismissed people flocked in their hundreds to criticise the party top government officials and even as far as Mao himself on the grounds of corruption, inefficiency and not being realistic. After this Mao changes direction and stops the hundred flowers campaign and everything goes backwards it was not a time of expression but a time of great oppression and was replaced altogether with the anti-rightist movement. Those people who had spoken out the most about the regime were forced to retract there statement and many University staff, writers, school teachers and economists some of the finest minds in china were forced to retract there statements and were humiliated in front of their peers and were forced to enter re-education classes where they were broken down and re built with the information about the CCP. Even high ranking government officials were not safe as Zhou Enlai found out when he was forced to say that he had been too slow in putting Mao’s industrial plans into action which was not true, this sent out a message to everyone else saying that no one is safe and forcing everyone to conform. Some people say that it was a trick from the start and the speed in which he retracted the campaign and replaced it with the other one shows that it was a trap from the beginning, they also say that it was a deliberate measure to bring his critics out in to the public and catch them. He could use what they said against them most of the people who did this were intellectuals and the educated who were the most likely to speak up these people also happened to be the two sets of people that Mao didn’t like. It was a movement towards a controlled society in which all expression of opinion had to fit within the government’s criteria. However. People say that Mao was genuinely seeking criticism in which he would turn the peasants against the other classes. By giving scientists and engineers the freedom to express their idea’s’ Mao sought to prevent party bureaucrats from interfering with technical decisions. He wanted intellectuals to expose and attack corruption and bureaucracy. He also wanted peasants, students and workers to speak out and even demonstrate to prevent government bureaucrats from running roughshod over their rights. Another theory is that Mao did it on a whim and he did not set out with an agenda and was the quick thinking of CCP party main officials. In the event Mao’s motives may or may not have been, it was the scale of the criticism that it unleashed that took him aback, he had not realized the size of the problems that his ever so perfect regime had. Whether or not he had set out flush out opponents it had the same outcome, he had discovered the extent of the opposition. He crushed those who he thought were opposed to him. So yes I think that the hundred flowers campaign was a trick used by Mao to flush out opponents. the ruthlessness the he showed can only mean that he set out to do it in the first place.

Over 50% of the world lives in poverty, isn’t this devastating?

There are many meanings to the word â€Å"poverty.† Many of us relate it to the thought of homeless people living on streets or to people living in harsh conditions without money of food. We all have our own opinions, but what really is poverty? Is it what the majority of us think of? Or is it just simply the state of being poor? The word â€Å"poverty† has many meanings and definitions. Many believe that this word can mean â€Å"not having an education† or â€Å"living in the state of hunger† or â€Å"abuse† or living without shelter, or even just being â€Å"lonely.† Some of the reasons for someone to be living in the state of poverty could link to â€Å"war† â€Å"famine† or even because â€Å"parents or members of family have passed away.† Statistics clearly prove that â€Å"one out of 120 people have had to leave their homes due to war† Isn't this appalling? Poverty can be seen, and also not seen. For example, in some parts of the world you can clearly see people suffering in poverty, some people may be homeless; some might even be suffering from illness that can not be cured due to lack of money. However, some types of poverty can not be seen. For example, pensioners like Mrs Pankania have to make a decisions between buying enough to eat to being warm in the winter. This is because some pensioners have a low pension and can't enjoy luxuries like us. How would you feel if you had to make a decision between warmth and food? What can you do to Help? As you are probably aware, living in the state of poverty would probably be very harsh. Here are some tips for you to try and help these unfortunate people and make their lives a better place. Uzairs Top Tips 1.) If you are walking down the street, with a handful of unwanted change, and you know the your not really going to take care of it keep it until you come across a charity box. 2.) Make your own charity box. Find an old jar that's NOT being used and write in bold words- CHARITY! Tell your friends and family to put old change into to it and you shall slowly notice that the amount in the jar show slowly increase. 3.) As said in tip 2, make a charity box, but this time give one to a brother or sister and have a race to see who can fill their charity box the quickest. â€Å"Hopefully these tips will help those in poverty- and make their lives a better place†

Venuti’s Theory of Foregnisation Applied to the Phenomenon

Fan-Translation and heterogeneity: Venuti’s theory of foregnisation applied to the phenomenon of fan-translation In this essay I set out to explore the extent to which Lawrence Venuti’s theory of foreignising translation can be usefully applied to explain the practices of fan-translation communities. Fan-translation (hereafter, FT) is a relatively recent phenomenon. O’Hagan , following Flew’s definition of User Generated Content (Flew 2008 in O'Hagan 2009, p. 7) derives the term ‘User Generated Translation’ (hereafter, UGT) in order to describe a â€Å"wide range of translation, carried out based on free use participation in digital media spaces where translation is undertaken by unspecified self-selected individuals† (O'Hagan 2009, p. 97). The user in question is therefore somebody who â€Å"voluntarily act as a ‘remediator’ of linguistically inaccessible products and ‘direct producer’ of translation on the b asis of [his] knowledge of the given language as well as that of a particular media content or genre, spurred by [his] substantial interest in the topic (O'Hagan 2009, p. 7). UGT then could be applied to all those translations carried out by non-professional translators, often for non-financial motives. The term FT in this essay will be used more specifically to describe the practice of those users whose interest is directed towards a particular genre: that of Japanese cultural commodities or, more specifically, Japanese graphic novels (Manga), and animated movies (anime). The question that I would like to address in this essay is whether Lawrence Venuti’s influential theory of translation (Venuti 1995,1998)can help further understanding the phenomenon of FT.The intention of this essay is to claim that some aspects of Venuti’s ‘foregnisation’ theory do indeed serve to characterise fan-translators activities, despite the obvious contextual differences. Thes e differences are easily summarised: FT is not carried out by a single individual or even by a single group of individuals (unlike the cases cited by Venuti, where he either refers to a group of romantic intellectuals in 19th century Germany, or later isolated cases (Venuti 1995, pp. 9-147, 187-272), but a practice carried out on a wider scale, embraced by a greater number of individuals working together as a community of practice, mostly composed of non-professional translators, often very young, not always sharing the same national identity, and mostly lacking the clearly defined cultural agenda that Venuti exposed as a justification for advocating the adoption of foreignising translation practices (Venuti 1995, pp. 6-17). Fandom Fan activities have gathered scholarly attention in recent years due to the opportunities for community building and the ease of sharing content that the recent incarnation of the World Wide Web, or Web 2. 0, offers (see for example (Diaz Cintas and Munoz Sanchez 2006; Lee 2009; Sanchez 2009; Koulikov 2010; Watson 2010; Denison 2011; Lee 2011; Castells and Cardoso 2012).The reason for such scholarly attention is that fan activities, in the form of sharing digital content online, can be said to occupy a ‘liminal space’ (Denison 2011) that is dangerously close to what is often called (but not often clearly defined) ‘piracy’: fan texts that are at the â€Å"liminal edge between fan creativity and piracy. Essentially†¦text augmented by, rather than created by, fans† (Denison 2011, p. 450).For this reason, fan activities built on the relationship that is constituted in the reception of a particular form of literature have been the subject of academic interest: â€Å"Anime texts have become nexus points for discourse around ownership and rights†(Napier 2007 and Thornton 1995 in Denison 2011, p. 450). Within the wider spectrum of fan-related practices, some individuals play the role of ‘pr osumers’: producers and consumers of products, rather than passive spectators (Tapscott and Williams, 2006 in O'Hagan 2009, p. 9). Prosumers not only consume cultural products, but also manifest agency by responding creatively to their favourite text or medium. Some examples of fans creative response analysed by legal scholars could be the theatrical audience participation to showings of The Rocky Horror Show, Town bands performing free concerts, the American musical tradition â€Å"the blues† (Madison 2007, pp. 87-703), amateur fan actors producing new episodes of Star Trek, fan produced Harry Potter Lexicon, fan-made flash based animation derived from music, fan-created version of commercially created virtual mascot Miku Hatsune (Noda 2010, pp. 149-158), which are all forms of participation that sit uneasily with the notion of intellectual property rights. The practices of fans of Japanese comics and animation have been of particular interest to legal theorists (Mehr a 2002; Hatcher 2005; Lessig 2005; Muscar 2006; Noda 2008, 2010).Here it is useful to distinguish between the practices of the dojinshi (hereafter non italicised) community and the practices of the FT community or, to be more specific, communities, since fan translators operating on different media are described with different names: translation of Japanese graphic novels is carried out by a process of Scanlation; subtitling of Japanese animation is carried out by a process called Fansubbing; and finally, the process of modification and translation of video games is called RomHacking. DojinshiWhat are dojinshi, and why are they of interest to legal scholar? Lawrence Lessing, professor of law at Harvard Law School and founding board member of Creative Commons, in his 2004 work Free Culture: how big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture and control creativity, uses dojinshi as an example of derivative works that could not exist in America, since dojinshi are â€Å"A kind of copycat comic†¦ It is not dojinshi if it is just a copy; the artist must make a contribution to the art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly.A dojinshi comic can thus take a mainstream comic and develop it differently—with a different story line. Or the comic can keep the character in character but change its look slightly. There is no formula for what makes the dojinshi sufficiently â€Å"different. † But they must be different if they are to be considered true dojinshi† (Lessig 2005, pp. 25-26) Dojinshi are the Japanese version of what is otherwise called fan-fiction; in other words, unauthorised fan-created version or original works.The term Dojinshi (. Literally ‘dojin’ stands for ‘same person’ and ‘shi’ stands for ‘periodical publication’, which in English could be rendered as Fanzine or Fan-magazine). Dojinshi denoted a type of fan works that are â€Å"self-published, small scale publications written by fans for fans of a particular work (be it a movie, a book, a television series, or a video game) or of a particular romantic pairing possible within that work†(Hemmann 2010).Dojinshi are an important side of the culture that surrounds Japanese graphic novels (manga: literally ‘man’ stands for ‘whimsical’ and ‘ga’ stands for ‘drawings’) in Japan. Manga represent both an industry and a form of expression, so much so that in recent years the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) began to see manga as the new source of Japan’s â€Å"Gross National Cool’ (McGray 2002 in Koulikov 2010, p. 18) and began promoting the country’s content industry abroad (Yoshimoto 2003 in Koulikov 2010, p. 10).The Japanese manga industry and the dojinshi fan-communities reinforce each other in a way that is perhaps surprising to western legal theorists because it raises import ant questions in regards to the efficacy and meaningfulness of copyright practices and of the ideas about originality and authorship that underpins copyright law and associated commercial practices in the west: â€Å"This market exists in parallel to the mainstream commercial manga market. In some ways, it obviously competes with that market, but there is no sustained effort by those who control the commercial manga market to shut the doujinshi market down.It flourishes, despite the competition and despite the law [†¦] in the view of many, it is precisely because it exists that Japanese manga flourish† Lessing 2004, p. 26 The practice of scanlation and fansubbing differ from those of dojinshi artists in some important ways. First of all, they are mostly carried out by fans outside of Japan, and more specifically, while they are carried out in a variety of languages, the majority of the work is carried out by English language fans (Denison 2011, p. 54). Additionally, I wo uld argue that scanlation and fansubbing do not inhabit the same conceptual space of fan-fiction and dojinshi, even if copyright law regards adaptation and translation equally as derivative works (WIPO article 2 (3)). Dojinshi artists working within the idea of ‘complementing the original work’, while unauthorised, are conceptually closer to the wider spectrum of fan activities that are often tolerated in the west (like audience participation to theatrical performances).FT seems to inhabit a narrower conceptual space, closer, and more readily compromised by proximity, to the practices of unauthorised copying that is denounced as piracy, despite the ambiguity of the term piracy itself: â€Å"piracy has never had a stable legal definition and is almost certainly better understood as a product of enforcement debates than as a description of a specific behaviour. The terms blurs, and is often used intentionally to blur, important distinction between types of uncompensated use† (Karaganis et al. 2011, p. ) In order to attempt a conceptualisation of the practices of fan translators, here I would like to adopt Venuti’s framework of domesticating and foreignising translation. My intention in the next part of the essay is to illustrate how FT of Japanese manga and anime could find precedents in the history of translation. In short, I draw from Venuti’s critical genealogy of fluent discourse in the English language translation in order to show that FT should not merely be thought of as free-riding, but that it contains elements of previous use of translation as tool for building a national culture (Venuti 1995, 100).Similarly, FT can be said to represent a vehicle for the construction of sub-cultural capital , the â€Å"knowledge about an area of fandom that allows one to feel comfortable with other like-minded fans, but also to gain status among fellow enthusiasts â€Å" (Napier 2007, p. 150 in Denison 2011, p. 450) Translation Trans lation studies as an academic discipline has a relatively short history, emerging about twenty years ago from the back of comparative literature departments. The independence of translation studies as an academic discipline revolves around its methodology and the questions it aims to answer.Hence, an important question faces every Translation Studies student: should one restrict his enquiry to the analysis of linguistic features of a text, or should attention be paid to the context where the practice of translation takes place: the figure of the translator; his/her motivation; what void in the receiving culture is the translator trying to fill; the interests played behind the importation and exportation of culture; how law, market, social norms and publishing practices all influence the creation of culture of which translation is part of; whether all these form a kind of censorship, and should the translator resist of conform to such censorship, even when is self-censorship? In this essay I would like to explore the possibilities offered by the latter approach, by comparing and contrasting two common elements of contemporary translation: on the one hand, the critical work of Venuti in regards to ‘domestication and foregnisation’ and on the other, the â€Å"phenomenon of user participation in otherwise highly specialised areas of professional translation practice† (O'Hagan 2009, p. 96). To begin with, I would like to introduce the work of Lawrence Venuti (1995, 1998).Venuti describes the state of contemporary translation around the world as characterised by imbalance: the imbalance between the large number of books that are translated from English and the small number of books that are translated into English. This trade imbalance is an effect of the global domination of English which, according to Venuti, leads to a â€Å"complacency in Anglo-American relations with cultural others† apparent in publishing practices in Britain and Ame rica that â€Å"decreases the cultural capital of foreign values in English by limiting the number of foreign text translated and submitting them to domesticating revision† (Venuti 1995, p. 7) According to Venuti, publishing practices in Britain and America reinforce the global domination of English by imposing â€Å"Anglo-American cultural values on a vast foreign readership†, while adopting practices of translation that produce domestic cultures that are â€Å"aggressively monolingual, unreceptive to the foreign, accustomed to fluent translations that†¦provide the readers with the narcissistic experience of recognising their own culture in a cultural other†(Venuti 1995, p. 15) Emphasis added). Venuti is critical of the canon of fluency that dominated the practice of translation into English. By fluency, Venuti wants to describe a particular way of translating which emphasise the production of texts that conceal their foreignness and instead makes them app ear as the original expression of the foreign author, essentially unmediated by the process of translation. Venuti defines such process of assimilation, in a manner that conceals the text foreign origin, as ‘domestication’.While admittedly all translation is appropriation and assimilation, domestication has the troubling effect, according to Venuti, of reinforcing an ethnocentric attitude towards foreign cultures: the belief that other cultures are in fact no different from one’s own and therefore, that one’s own culture is universal: â€Å"the prevalence of fluent domestication has supported these developments [the monolingual, unreceptive and narcissistic culture above] because of its economic value: enforced by editors, publishers, and reviewers, fluency results in translation that are eminently readable and therefore consumable in the book market, assisting in their commoditisation and insuring the neglect of foreign texts and English-language transla tions discourses that are more resistant to easy readability (Venuti 1995, pp. 15-16).In order to â€Å"resist and change the conditions under which translation is theorised and practiced today, especially in the English-speaking countries† Venuti wants to put forward a â€Å"strategic cultural intervention in the current state of world affairs, pitched against the hegemonic English language nations and their unequal cultural exchanges in which they engage theory global others† (Venuti 1995, p. 20). Venuti’s argument then is that literary translators, in an effort to challenge current translation practices, should attempt a ‘foreignising’ approach to translation. What this mean in practice is the production of texts that read as translations and the suggested method to achieve this effect is a theory of translation that emphasise heterogeneity of language.Languages are never monolithically homogeneous entities: different agents will employ language in a different way, according to whom, and in what manner, is an utterance is addressed. Standard literary English is language that exists only in translated foreign literature. Foreignising translation then should attempt to disrupt the homogeneity imposed by textual ‘transparency’ and ‘fluidity’ of the reading experience by inserting traces of heterogeneous language (slang, dialect, archaism, cliques, etc†¦ ) into an otherwise canonical translation. Foregnisation, according to Venuti, â€Å"can alter the way translations are read as well as produced† (Venuti 1995, p. 24).Whether foregnisation can achieve the results that Venuti’s cultural political agenda aim towards is still unclear; Venuti himself reports that critical reviews of his translated works did indeed cause some reactions; some reviewers found this choice of words unconvincing, suspecting that Italian romantics would not have expressed themselves with the obvious colloquiali sm that Venuti strategically employed (Venuti 1998, 19). Such criticism only goes to confirm Venuti’s belief: â€Å"the fact is that Italian romantics would not have used most of the words in my translation because they wrote in Italian, not English† (Venuti 1998, 19-20). The reader had to suspend her cultural and linguistic expectations towards to the foreign text and was forced to take notice of the mediated nature of the translated text, exposing in the criticism the â€Å"dominant narrative form† and â€Å"a prevalent ethnic stereotype† (Venuti 1998, 20). Pym (Venuti’s Visibility Anthony Pym Target 8/2 (1996), pp. 65-177) is unconvinced about the passage from foregnisation to the professed democratic agenda: â€Å"if translators refuse to produce fluent texts, if they make themselves visible through the use of â€Å"resistant† strategies†¦all the rest will surely change too. Such would appear to be the gung-ho reasoning that makes Venuti so visible (Pym 2010, p. 2). The passage from a disrupted reading experience to the wider democratic agenda that Venuti takes for granted is rather unclear. Supposing a reader ‘gets’ what Venuti is trying to do and is taken out of the illusion of being actually reading the words of the original author: the reader becomes aware of the translation being a translation. How can this, beyond achieving a degree of visibility for the translators, achieve further goals?Venuti himself is aware of these difficulties and asks â€Å"what would happen if a translator tried to redirect the process of domestication by choosing foreign texts that deviated from transparent discourse and by translating hem so as to signal their linguistic and cultural differences? Would this effort establish more democratic cultural exchanges? Would it change domestic values? Or would it mean banishment to the fringes of Anglo-American culture? † (Venuti 1995, pp. 40-41). Central to Venutià ¢â‚¬â„¢s concerns, however, there is an aspect of translation that Pym recognizes as key to contemporary translation practices: the question of copyrights. Copyrights Venuti dedicated a chapter of his 1995’s work to the Italian writer Iginio Ugo Tarchetti (1839-1869) (Venuti 1995, 148-186). In 1865, Tarchetti plagiarised Shelley’s tale â€Å"the mortal immortal† by translating it into Italian without acknowledging the English author.While Venuti recognises that â€Å"the shrewdness and sheer audacity of Tarchetti’s plagiarism may make it attractive to dissidents in Anglo-American literary culture†, he also recognises the practical limits of such practice: â€Å"Tarchetti’s translation practices cannot be imitated today without significant revision. Plagiarism, for example, is largely excluded by copyright laws that bind translators as well as authors†¦ to publish an unauthorized translation of a copyrighted foreign text is to invite le gal proceedings whose cost will far exceed the translator’s income from even a bestselling translation† (Venuti 1995, 185). Venuti advice to contemporary English-language translator is not break the law, but rather, to choose carefully what to translate: The choice of a foreign text for translation can be just as foreignising in its impact on the target-language culture as the invention of a discursive strategy.At a time when deviations from fluency may limit the circulation of a translation or even prevent it from getting published in the first place, Tarchetti points to the strategic value of discriminating carefully among foreign texts and literatures when a translation project is developed† (Venuti 1995, 185-186). Venuti calls attention to the manner in which contracts and copyright laws regulate the production of translated literature. Translation, according to the Berne international copyright convention is defined as ‘derivative’ work (WIPO art icle 2 (3)). Therefore, translation is morally and legally bound to the will of the original author (WIPO article 8).Copyright law varies according to nations, the US and UK lacking the concept of ‘Author’s rights’ that is present in most continental Europe’s laws, while the US and UK have clearly defined ‘fair use’ clause that are not present in continental Europe. Pym agrees that copyright law on translation need revision: â€Å"The idea of limiting the author’s translation rights to a short period of perhaps five years sounds like an excellent practical way of stimulating translationsâ€Å" but at the same time, he is sceptical of drastic measures: â€Å"But is our complaint really that â€Å"the translator’s authorship is never given full legal recognition†? (Venuti 1995, p. 9) Do we have to do away with the distinction between author and translator, or even with copyright altogether? † (Pym 2010, p. 4).Intern ational Copyright law reinforces the idea that translation is not ‘transformative’ work, which is defined more narrowly in terms of criticism or parody. Translation as derivative work falls within the category of ‘copy’ that is regulated by ‘copy-rights’. While much translation theory in the past 20 years since the emergence of translation studies as an academic discipline has struggled to establish translation as a serious intellectual endeavour worthy of scholarly attention, the commercial reality that regulates the production of translation tells a strikingly different tale: literary translation, as a form of cultural production, is regulated by the practices of the publishing industry.The translation of foreign literature is subject to norms, laws and market restrictions, as well as architectural conditions. Lessing model of restriction that applies to all cultural commodities (i. e. : culture that is bought and sold, of which translated li terature is part of (Lessing 2005, 133). Lessing sees cultural commodities as subjected to restrictions that until the 20th century were fairly balanced: publishers’ rights were regulated by copyrights law, so as to limit their monopoly over the production and distribution of culture. This guaranteed the exclusive ability to reproduce and translate literary works on behalf of the author for a limited time.The concept of a ‘limited monopoly’ was balanced by the fact that once such monopoly expired, artistic works would fall into the public domain and so become available for the general public to read, print, distribute and translate without the need to acquire the copyright holder permission. Unlike the law in continental Europe, according to common law practices in the US and UK, the copyright holder could control the distribution and translation of a work regardless of the author’s wishes. In continental Europe, by contrast, the concept of ‘authorâ €™s rights’ recognise the moral right to claim authorship of a work and to retain the ability of stop distribution of his work.One might wonder if, before the introduction of copyright laws, translators indulged indiscriminately in the plagiarism of foreign works as in the example of Tarchetti. The truth is that until 1790, in the United States the right granted by a copyright only gave the author the exclusive right to ‘publish’ a particular book and did not extend to derivative works: â€Å"it would not interfere with the right of someone other than the author to translate a copyrighted book, or to adapt the story to a different form (such as a drama based on a published book)† (Lessing 2005, 136) It seems almost impossible in the contemporary world to imagine a time where the right of translators matched those of the foreign author.It seems natural to imagine the chaos that lack of copyrights would cause: an infinite number of translators plagiarisi ng the work of foreign authors and passing them as their own creations. It is this anxiety in regards to plagiarism, of a lack of clearly established standards of authorship that drives suspicion about translation. Authorship as creative genius is a value that is attached to a person or a work of art. This value can be seen reflected in the idea of ‘intellectual property’ which depicts copyrights rights as a natural state of affairs, that is, a natural property right. However, according to William Patry, copyrights are created solely the government and therefore should not be understood as an end in itself, but instead an end to a social objective: furthering learning (Patry moral panic, 103).Patry argues that the essence of property is not absolute dominion over things, but rather, it is determined by a system of social relationships: â€Å"property is quintessentially and absolutely a social institution. Every concept of property reflects†¦those choices that we – as a society- have made† LAURA UNDERKUFFERLER, 203, 54 IN PATRY 103 (Patry 103). That means that copyrights, and the idea of authorship that underpins copyrights, are determined by social practices and therefore reflected in social norms, and finally and more concretely, in the legislation that regulate copyrights. Before copyright renewal in the United States became automatic in 1992, only a small percentage of authors claimed them, and even smaller percentage applied for renewal (Patry, 67-68).Paradoxically, copyright became valuable to corporations only when they were given automatically without authors having to do anything to claim it: â€Å"Survey of renewal rates in the United Stes from 1910 to 2001 found a range between 3 percent in 1910 to 22 percent in 1991†¦of all the books published the united states in 1930, and therefore under copyright until 2025, only 174, or 1. 7 percent, are still in print† (Patry 68). The boundary that separates a legiti mate creative response to a work of art and an illegitimate one is made tangible in law by the prohibition to copy, adapt or translate without the consent of the foreign author. Such law, which seems almost common sense in contemporary society, has a relatively short history. Changing attitudes towards intellectual property rights reflect contemporary anxiety in regards to originality and authorship, which contributes to the marginality of translation.According to Venuti â€Å"whereas authorship is generally defined as originality, self-expression in a unique text, translation is derivative, neither self-expression nor unique: it imitates another text given the reigning concept of authorship, translation provokes the fear of inauthenticity, distortion, contamination† (Venuti 1998, 31). This anxiety affects the most those concerned about plagiarism, especially academic institutions and academic publishing: â€Å"translation is rarely considered a form of literary scholarship, it does not currently constitute a qualification for an academic appointment in a particular field or area of literary study, and, compared to original compositions translated texts are infrequently made the object of literary research† (Venuti 1998, 32). Here Venuti is critical of the academic deference towards the ‘original’ at the expenses of translation.The concept of authorship here joins that of fluent translation in an attempt to present the foreign author as the one who is ‘speaking’ through the medium of the text, in order to â€Å"ascertain the authorial intention that constitutes originality† (Venuti 1998, 31). The Translator hence become an uncomfortable middle man that must hide, as much as possible, both the facts that the text in question is a not the original, and that the foreign author did not employ the language of the translation. The middle man goes unnoticed, not by mere oversight, but quite deliberately. Copyright law, a lso reflected in translation contracts, perpetuate this neglect. Copyright, as we have seen, by defining translation as derivative work, justify contracts that employ translators as work-for-hire, so that the product of their work belongs to the publishing company who do not have to acknowledge the translator.Practical example of this is the lack of the translator’s name on the cover of a volume or in library catalogue indexes, or the disparity between the royalties that the translator receives in comparison to those of the foreign author. The disparity between authorship and translation affects the whole production of commercially translated literature. What i would like to explore next is the side of contemporary translation that is not affected by commercial consideration or in need of academic recognition. Here the terminology varies from non-commercial translation to amateur translation or fan-translation, but from the point of view of copyright holders it represents a m ore straightforward phenomenon: theft of intellectual property, or in other words, piracy. PiracyAs Castells and Cardoso points out, we usually look at media consumption, of which translated literature is an example of, starting from a media industry definition (Castells and Cardoso 2012). In other words, the content that is normally available to us to read, watch or listen to is usually made available through the payment of a fee or because it is supported by advertising. The commercial relationship that binds together media companies and individual is regulated by a set of rules that are legally formalised into rights and obligations (Castells and Cardoso 2012). Piracy, by infringing these rights and obligations, can be a usefully employed to illustrate some of the issues that characterise the status of translation in the current world, how translation is produced and distributed.In short, the argument I would like to put forward is such: piracy is used to describe everything that is not in the public domain but that can be obtained from non-authorised sources, shared with others, whether for free or not. This means that piracy could be whatever is made available to share that contain even parts, or traces, or adaptations, of existing copyrighted works. A pirate here is defined as anybody who makes use of existing copyrighted material in order to express something of his own (with the exception of criticism or parody, which are allowed by law) (WIPO? ). On one side of the debate there are internet users and in particular peer-to-peer (P2P) networks function as efficient tools of distribution of digital content. On the other, litigious media corporations fighting a moral crusade against intellectual theft.The sides of this war, however, assume different connotations depending on who is doing the description: for the copyright holding corporations, authors are being robbed of the fruits of their work; here the fight is described as one between intellectual cop yright owners and thieves. On the other side, is it estimated that more than 40 million American citizens have used the internet to download content; hence a substantial part of US citizens is being criminalised. Lessing asks: â€Å"Is there another way to assure that artists get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure that artists get paid without transforming America into a nation of felons? † (Lessing 2005, 202).The model of distribution of culture that once revolved around a few selected corporations is now being challenged by technological innovations that were unimaginable a generation ago. Digital content can be shared across the world free of physical constrains (such as books, shops, printing press, etc. ) but also free from the editors, publishers, and reviewers which Venuti sees as the source of neglect of foreign texts and translation practices that emphasise heterogeneity of discour se. The sharing possibilities offered by the net act as a source of heterogeneity: they provide easily accessible, free to share, translated foreign literature that constitutes an alternative to what is available commercially.Venuti limited his theory of translation within the boundaries of commercial translation, albeit as a form of dissidence in respect to the practices enforced by institutional channels. What is of interested here from the point of view of translation are the possibilities offered by working outside the commercial paradigm, the translation practices of those communities that focus on literature, like dojinshi, that are not accessible to the translators working within the legitimate sphere, whether due to social norms, ideology, poetics, of purely economic reasons. The net provides a venue (cultural space? Deleuze and Guattari) for that sub-cultures that are neglected by commercial organizations (and that could not be catered for legally by other institutions). 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