The eNotes Blog What Distinguishes Young Adult Fiction From AdultFiction

What Distinguishes Young Adult Fiction From AdultFiction As a genre, young adult (YA) fiction has blossomed in popularity within the last few decades. We might attribute part of this to John Green’s popular body of YA works, including The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns. Green’s novels, and their corresponding movie adaptations, are often name-dropped in discussions of why YA has suddenly become so much more popular and respected. But it’s worth noting that there is a long tradition of writing books that speak to the experiences of young adults (roughly twelve to eighteen years of age), from the works of Judy Blume and Laurie Halse Anderson to those of J. K. Rowling and Jenny Han. But what exactly is YA fiction? How is it different from its more grown-up counterpart? Is YA inherently â€Å"trashier† or less complex than â€Å"serious fiction? Ever since the genre got its own label, book lovers have been worried about these questions. These discussions have sparked some heated online essays and debates, ranging from defenses of YA to counterpoints stating â€Å"you should be embarrassed when what you’re reading was written for children.† It’s true that YA generally uses a simpler level of diction and syntax than adult fiction does. It’s also true that it usually features teenage protagonists and often takes place in a high-school setting (or a dystopian or magical equivalent). But these things don’t automatically make YA less complex than adult fiction- it’s just a different set of experiences and a different vocabulary. At the most basic level, YA’s distinguishing feature is that it typically centers on the experiences of young adults. But even this creates a tricky in-between category where we find works with teenage protagonists that generally aren’t considered YA, such as The Catcher in the Rye, Romeo and Juliet, and My Sister’s Keeper. Personally, I like the definition YA author David Levithan sent to The Atlantic: â€Å"The defining characteristic of YA literature is emotional truth. Even if we’re not the same as the characters we read, they are all dealing with things- issues of who they are, who they should be, what they should and shouldn’t do- that we all deal with, in their own ways.† Young adulthood is typically a stage of life where you’re figuring yourself out- your identity, beliefs and principles, interests and tastes- and experiencing a lot of shifts, like in your responsibilities and the myriad roles you play on a daily basis. So it makes sense that YA fiction seeks to address this. But it would be silly to pretend that this process stops when you turn eighteen and that adults aren’t going through this same process of self-definition. Maybe this is why consumers over eighteen make up over half of YA sales. I’ve just turned nineteen, and my birthday wasn’t marked with a ceremonial burning of all my John Green books. I didn’t go to the library and load up on all the Jules Verne and George Eliot in sight; in fact, I’m reading more YA than ever (probably because I got over my complex about only reading â€Å"classic† literature). In between my coursework for school, I’ve been enjoying books by Becky Albertalli, Kiersten White, and Angie Thomas. The Hate U Give was one of my favorite books last year- it changed my life and almost single-handedly broke me out of my reading rut. The fact is, no matter where you try to slice up the continuum of human existence- whether you use age eighteen as a marker of â€Å"maturity† or not- we are all complex beings with complex emotions. For this reason, fiction that is deemed â€Å"young adult† has the potential to resonate with anyone. Likewise, some young readers really enjoy and prefer â€Å"adult fiction. More than anything, these are marketing labels and don’t need to impact your personal choices. So many different genres have historically been decried as â€Å"less serious† than adult, realistic, non-romantic fiction (like fantasy, science fiction, romance, and now YA), but the fact is that so-called serious fiction is only one aspect of a diverse potential reading experience.

Agnon Judaism through Metaphors

Agnon Judaism through Metaphors Introduction Shmuel Yosef was a writer and a key figure in contemporary Jewish fiction. His writings tackle â€Å"conflicts in traditional living in Judaism, language, and contemporary world† (Balaban 420). As he said, religious books, viz. Talmud and Torah, mostly swayed the works of Agnon.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Agnon: Judaism through Metaphors specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More He acquired the name â€Å"Agnon† from one of his stories influenced by the Jewish term Agunah that represents a woman that is not capable of remarrying after being refused a divorce or being abandoned by her husband. Some argument has been raised as to what could have led to Agnon choosing this name with some claiming that it is metaphorical to the abandonment of Israel by deity (Balaban 419-420). The metaphor as illustrated in Torah concerns the moment that Israel had turned away from God and God abandoned them for th eir disobedience. In many stories, ordinary themes of Jewish traditions are portrayed through journeys. This paper discusses the stories of Agnon and the manner in which they metaphorically signify and characterize the customs and traditions of Judaism. Agunot At the start of the story â€Å"Agunot†, Agnon employs the styles of symbolism and metaphor that act as a foundation of the ensuing plot. In stating that â€Å"a thread of grace is spun and drawn out of the deeds† (Yefet 440) and that â€Å"Holy One, blessed be He, in His glory, sits and weaves† (Yefet 440), it is insinuated that God intertwines a shawl of prayers that is woven from substances consisting of deeds of the Jewish people. Like the midrashic starting ends, the deeds of the Jewish people are structured in accordance with love. Out of the deeds of accomplished and pure love, God intertwines with the help of the threads (mercy and grace). The aforementioned metaphor comes up at the opening of the story. From the â€Å"Agunot† story, the author acquired his name â€Å"Agnon†. In this story, the author has altered the term â€Å"Agunah† from a law in Judaism to psychological status of being. In Judaism, â€Å"Agunah† denotes a woman that is married but has lost his husband (perhaps in battle or indifferent settings where he could be believed to have passed on). When the whereabouts of the husband s not identified, the wife turns out to be lawfully â€Å"attached†. The word â€Å"Agunah† is obtained from a Hebrew name â€Å"Ogen† that signifies â€Å"attached†. Therefore, the wife cannot be married again before being issued with a divorce by her husband. In this regard, the wife is in an indefinite state, caught up in two worlds.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the â€Å"Agunot†, the author chang es the lawful Agunah into a psychological Agunah, portraying multiple instances of personified souls destined to be terribly attached to their desire for things they cannot acquire. The real plot narrates the story of a rich person who arrives in Jerusalem to assist in the reconstruction of the city. The rich man by the name Sire had a daughter, whom he wanted to get married to Ezekiel. Being an intellectual, Ezekiel was offered a teaching job by the rich man (Yefet 439). For the function of constructing an impressive ark in the temple, Sire employed a famous artisan whose name was Ben-Uri. Ben-Uri was a dedicated craftsman, and he dedicates his entire efforts towards his inventive function of constructing the ark. During the construction of the ark, Ben-Uri starts to sing. At this point, Dina gets so much attracted to Ben-Uri. However, Ben-Uri pays no attention to Dina and dedicates all his concentration and zeal to his task of art until he is through with the construction of the a rk, placing it near a window. When Ben-Uri dozes off in a backyard when it is already dark, Dina gets interested in knowing why Ben-Uri has stopped singing. In her nightdress, Dina goes closer to where Ben-Uri had been working and finds the completed ark near a window. When she was admiring the complex and beautiful artistic work in which Ben-Uri had totally dedicated his time and efforts to, Dina is overcome by a swift satanic urge in the form of jealousy and she throws out the ark thru the window (Yefet 441). Ben-Uri is blamed of the act and is forced to leave Jerusalem, and instead of the ark he had made, a simple one was prepared. Overpowered by guilt prior to get married to Ezekiel, Dina opens up to the rabbi and disclosed that she damaged the ark that Ben-Uri had made. The rabbi termed it as an accident. Even if Dina got married to Ezekiel, their marriage was never consummated. Both Dina and Ezekiel sat in different corners in the bedroom reflecting on the different things tha t had earlier transpired. On the same night, Ezekiel decides to divorce Dina and flees from Jerusalem (Yefet 442). The story ends on a mystical instance with assumptions of where rabbi headed to after he also leaves Jerusalem. Some of the metaphors that ensue are in some names of the characters. Ben-Uri symbolizes the Bezalzel in the bible who constructed God’s Tabernacle. Ezekiel symbolizes the Ezekiel in the bible who was a prophet and Dina symbolized the Dina in the bible who is represented as a raped woman. He says, Our sages of blessed memory said that when a man puts his first wife away from him, the very altars weep, but here [with Ezekiel and Dina] the altars had dropped tears even as he took her to wife (Agnon 7)Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Agnon: Judaism through Metaphors specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Kerchief In the story of â€Å"The Kerchief†, there comes up a boy as he moves th rough an entrance, when he starts to learn to join his childlike notions with the accountabilities of living in the world. While he lies in the bed of his dad, the boy gets a dream of the Christ, a magical realism (Agnon 8). He integrates his supernatural practicality of his juvenile and relates it to the function of mitzvot. As the boy grows up, his voice is augmented as the sounds of his parents diminish. His parents are reprieved, shifting to the backdrop as his real individuality, his desires and thoughts shift to the forefront. During his father’s absence, the boy would spend the nights in his bed and think of the likelihood of the return of Messiah. The Messiah as the boy believed, having intermingled with beggars, was immediately set to be identified as the Redeemer and King. In accordance with the boy, in the times that the Messiah would come back, his family could not have any distance separating them. Instead of journeys to work or to school, they would live togethe r, matching together in the courts of deity (Balaban 424). The boy could keep a record of the times of the absence of his dad by attempting a fresh loop in his fringes, after waking up every morning. The section outlined when the boy’s dad could come back from the fair is impressively gorgeous. This part carries the dream of the boy concerning his family, the value of closeness, and reverence, which are a radiance of light that grips the kids of a given family from cohort to cohort. The presents that the head of the family would bring home were valued, but temporary thus vanishing and lost after a moment (Balaban 425). Past the contentment of his riches, the storyteller is somewhat taken by a kerchief that his dad gave to his mum. The boy’s mum wears the scarf on different occasions. Nevertheless, during the Bar Mitzvah (an initiation rite in Judaism indicating 13 years of age of a Jewish lad and representing the start of religious accountability) of the boy, the mothe r ties it perfectly around the neck of the boy as a symbol of reputation. On the day of the ceremony, a beggar finds his way to the urban dwelling and he is avoided by everyone who gets near him. As the boy was on his way home, he meets the beggar and hands the exceptional kerchief to the beggar who uses it to cover his sores (Balaban 421-422). When the boy gets home, his mum immediately assures him that instead of a punishment for handing the kerchief to the beggar, he is applauded in joy for his lovely deed. In this regard, the existence of his parents, his dream concerning splendor of loving and lasting affection of his family get strongly achieved.Advertising Looking for essay on religion theology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The digit 13 is metaphoric of a custom in Judaism. It is a number that illustrates a given maturity, a signpost of the maturity of a child. This number also symbolizes the traits of God, as earlier comprehended from a biblical perspective. Additionally, in Judaism, there exist 13 standards of faith. In the story of â€Å"The kerchief† the boys appears to make his parents contented with his deeds, illustrating the lines delineated for him, which is just the same way as a person could complete a written Torah (Balaban 423). The kerchief acquires a key and changing position in the attentiveness of the boy. The kerchief acts as the connection between the dad and mum and when the boy offers it to the beggar on the day of his Bar Mitzvah, the boy symbolizes Elijah, accomplishing a kind-hearted deed that could lead to redemption in the future. In this regard, the boy embraces both the greatest ambitions of human lessons and every one of the Godly qualities, a principle that symboliz es the best of traditions in Judaism stranded by tight traditions and kind family. Torah satisfies the Talmud. Additionally, the Talmud satisfies the scientific investigation and finally, the whole story makes the traits of a well-built person. From Lodging to Lodging The importance of this story heightens with the remembrance that Agnon initially shifted to Palestine in 1908 at the time of the second occurrence of mass migration to Palestine that took place from around 1904 until the World War I started. The aforementioned occurrence encompassed countless believers of Judaism that turned up not for the fact that they were idealists or Jewish backers of Zionism, but since riots and dire lack compelled them to (migration to Palestine was economical as compared to migration to America). The story commences with the narration of both winter and summer. The motives of sickness against those of well-being discussed at the beginning keep coming up throughout the story. The lodgings rent o ut in Tel Aviv are very close to the main bus terminus (Vais 31). The noise at the terminus keeps the narrator awake during nighttime with the sleepiness making him weary throughout the day, in such a great way that he could not actually benefit from being near the sea. Escalating the sense of sickness, the reader learns that the landlord had a kid who after being abandoned by his mum, eats dirt and is in a very pitiful state. The child cries through out the night. Even if flies could crawl over the wounds of the narrator, he was very tired to chase them away. The friends of the child’s father speak to him the way people speak to the ailing individuals. Moreover, they persistently tell him to move from one lodging to another, especially because he seemed to hate being kept awake throughout the night in Tel Aviv (Hagbi 90-95). The narrator states that Talmud’s teachings point out that individuals must never keep moving from one quarter to another, but his pals ignored h im and one of them searches new lodgings for him. The lodgings are not just new, but as well ideal. In this regard, they symbolize the dreams of a restored, healthy Israel and healthy individuals. In this story, the small house is positioned on a grassy hill away from the rowdy residents of the city and in the vineyards grown by the landlord. The portrayal of the house as well as nurturing of the land around it creates the metaphor of the resurgence of the land adored by the youthful Jewish innovators. The images of sickness and well-being keep occurring as the child’s father longs for the unique relaxation that he will experience when he gets into the house (Hoffman 147-148). Meanwhile, prior to his doing so, he generates an illness of his eyes and he is cautioned against touching the eyes to prevent them from turning out to be worse. Nevertheless, when he goes back to the lodgings in Tel Aviv, the boy, who has sick eyes and unclean fingers, keep on touching the eyes of his father even after being stopped. The representation of the illness strongly differs with the speaker’s finding when walks to the roads: I passed through the land and I saw that we had several more villages. Places that had produced only thistles and thorns had become like a garden of God. And like the land, so too the people were happy in their labors and rejoicing in building their land, their sons and daughters healthy and wholesome. Their hands were not soiled, and their eyes were not diseased (Agnon 18). The fable of the goat This story tells of an old man who falls sick and the sickness makes him get a severe and bad cough. As his treatment, the physicians prescribe the milk from a goat. The old man thus obtains a goat that demonstrates a queer pattern of conduct. Each day, the goat would disappear for a short time and come back with its udders filled with very sweet milk that calmed the cough. Puzzled by this queer conduct, the son to the old man is determined to unders tand this occurrence (Hagbi 127). The son to the old man ties the goat with a very long rope and stealthily follows her. When he followed the goat by the rope, the goat directed him to a very lengthy cave. The journey through the cave landed them to the land of Israel. Turning his eyes about the land, the son saw an attractive land that looked like the Garden of Eden. With the notice that he had reached the â€Å"promised land†, the son wrote a note to his dad directing him on the way to come after the goat on its way to this land. He attached this note at the ear of the goat as it started its journey back home. On seeing the goat without the company of his son, the old man assumed that the goat had led to the death of his son (Hagbi 129). He thereby reacted with wrath and killed the goat, only to find the note when the goat is already dead. This story ends on a sad note of disconnection of the father from his son as the cave strangely vanished with the death of the goat. The father thus forever remains in exile. The position of exile is represented as a sickness. A characteristic theme of exile from Israel in the bible as well as in the Jewish scriptures is a curse and reprimand. The affirmation of coughing from his heart rather than from his lungs symbolizes that the old man was not sick physically but psychologically (Hoffman 149-150). The reality that the milk carried by the goat originates from Israel and calms the coughing of the old man symbolizes Israel as a treatment to the psychological sickness of exile. The journey to Israel through the cave is symbolic of a spiritual walk to the Promised Land. In Hebrew, the word cord used to represent the rope tied to the goat has a pronunciation of ‘Meshicha† that calculatedly is pronounced almost the same as the Hebrew term for Messiah. To accept to have a grip on the cord â€Å"then your journey will be secure, and you will enter the Land of Israel† (Agnon 23) represents a real messia nic acceptance. Conclusion Shmuel Yosef was an author and a significant contributor in contemporary Jewish creative writing. As Yosef said, religious scriptures, Talmud and Torah, habitually influenced his writings. The stories of Agnon metaphorically signify and characterize the customs and traditions of Judaism. At the beginning of the story â€Å"Agunot†, Agnon utilizes metaphor that acts as a basis of the subsequent plot. It is from this story that the author gained his name â€Å"Agnon†. The figure 13 in â€Å"Kerchief† is metaphoric of a tradition in Judaism. The lodgings in â€Å"From Lodging to Lodging† are not merely new, but as well perfect, symbolizing the dreams of a reinstated, healthy Israel and healthy persons. In â€Å"The fable of the goat†, the journey to Israel via the cave is symbolic of a divine walk to the Promised Land. As evident in this paper, the writings of Agnon embark upon conflicts in traditional living in Judaism, lan guage and modern-day world. Agnon, Shmuel Y. A book that was lost and other stories, California: Schoken, 1995. Print. Balaban, Avraham. â€Å"A different reading of S. Y. Agnon’s story, â€Å"The kerchief.† Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 11.3 (2012): 419-425.  Print. Hagbi, Yaniv. Language, Absence, Play: Judaism and Superstructuralism in the Poetics of SY Agnon, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2009. Print. Hoffman, Anne. Language, Absence, Play: Judaism and Superstructuralism in the Poetics of SY Agnon. European Journal of Jewish Studies 5.1 (2011): 147-150. Print. Vais, Hilel. Agnon and Germany: The Presence of the German World in the Writings of SY Agnon, Ramat Gan: Bar-Ilan University Press, 2010. Print. Yefet, Karin. Unchaining the Agunot: Enlisting the Israeli Constitutional in the Service of Womens Marital Freedom. Yale Journal of Law Feminism 20.1 (2008): 439-442. Print.

Feminist Criticsm Gendered Lives Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Feminist Criticsm Gendered Lives Paper - Essay Example No doubt, the whole show has captivated millions if not billions of television viewers many of whom are glued to their seats relishing every action, words, color, walk and talk of the regal queens, kings, princes, princesses and the nobility from London and elsewhere. Their stately, dignified bearing also equals the royal showcases of the UK from the Goring Hotel and Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey. All the color and splendor of the occasion has greatly enhance the relevance of the monarchy in our time through the power of media notably television. Keyword: UK – United Kingdom 3 That television is educational can no doubt be more explicit and strategically relevant through a quadrant of colors and technology in one of the most widely covered television programs of our generation that is the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London, England. Probably one of the most elaborately detailed programming in television and video industry, the coverage has gi ven everyone not only inspired viewing but an idea of the workings of the royalty in present times and a glimpse of its rich historic past. That’s information and television programming at its most effective medium participated in by all accredited stations from all corners of the world via satellite lead by such giants in the trade as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC is known as the world’s oldest and biggest broadcasting outfit) playing the role as the anchor station for its partners from all points of the world. Without modern television, the event would be just one of a small family affair as Prince William has been reported to have quipped in jest to his father-in-law. How could it be when the British royalty has been in constant public censure for taking a huge chunk of taxes paid for its upkeep. They must rekindle the reputation, pride and joy of Her Majesty, Queen of England as one of the few surviving monarchies in the world. Television programming an d sharing the regal splendor, pomp and color to the world is the biggest and world-widest way in reliving what was once and still mighty and proud monarch. This time with some twists bigger but surprisingly silent as a non-issue compared to that of Diana’s breach of the time-honored royal protocols (The deceased Princess of Wales has been 4 known to be at odds with the royal family on the issue of her close affinity and constant contact with the public). Subjects and Kings are supposed to be miles apart. But not anymore, traditions have been effectively broken with television bringing the unspoken words of the breach in festive streaming colors. Television brings wedding pageantry to the world, as AP (2011) said in the entertainment headline. Prince William maybe the man of the hour, his boyish grins and toothed smiles captured on the wide screen but it was Kate, lovely in her long gown and made more adorable with her sympathetic eyes, who represented the dreams and aspiratio ns of the common people. What would life be without women? Have you ever thought of this very lonely situation of living in a world without women? The situation is pretty much the same of the question in reverse of a world without men. However, that is not the case in the original order of things (Creation story). Without women,

Environmental studies and ecological sustainability Assignment

Environmental studies and ecological sustainability - Assignment Example The main themes include the element of place and time in constituting environmental management knowledge. Apparently, the Aboriginal people took into consideration the importance of place in developing their indigenous knowledge on ecology. The authors assert that these people derived their ecological relationship principles by recognizing the influence of the variable and complex lowland river ecology of the Darling River system around their habitat (Muir, Deborah and Sullivan 262). One area of interest is when the writers develop a contrast on the aspect of place between western cultures and that adopted within the indigenous knowledge. It creates a distinction between western theories and indigenous principles. In addition, another theme that develops within the text regards human conflict of interest and ecological management. Based on principles adopted by indigenous knowledge, specifically the Aboriginal people of Australia, the state of environment reflect the nature of human beings living within that eco-system (Muir, Deborah and Sullivan 264). This theme extrapolates the connection between social and ecological system within any given society. Article 2 Janis Alcorn and Antoinette Royo are the primary authors of the articles on a reputable social movement of the Dayak village in Indonesia. Both authors work for Washington’s Biodiversity Support Program. The program, which is supported by numerous non-profit organizations including USAID, deals with programs aimed at addressing challenges facing the world’s biological diversity.

Psychology and Conducive Learning Environment Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Conducive Learning Environment Essay Discipline is one of the basic requirements of a civilized life. Every society has to set certain norms for people to follow. Everything in this world is governed by a definite set of laws. If everything goes on in a definite routine and the discipline is maintained then there would not be any chaos anywhere. Discipline is the backbone of the national unity. Citizens of disciplined nations can work more smoothly and are filled with the spirit of unity, brotherhood and co-operation. However, discipline does not mean strictly, the withdrawal of personal liberty and authority: on the other hand it provides one with the guideline to use its freedom in a right manner. But that too is possible only if they do not take law in their own hands. Anywhere we go discipline is necessary in any institution whether it is an educational institution, or even in the political field, in social or religious matters, even on street and even while you are sitting in your own house. But unfortunately we note that discipline in our schools and colleges has perished. Students do not show respect to their teachers, misbehave in the classroom, organize strikes and try to take law in their hands. So an atmosphere of indiscipline is created which is a great setback not only to the individual, but to the nation also. Moreover, the teachers themselves do not show any discipline. They are also busy in strikes as to show their discontent against their pay scales, their posts and that affects their quality of teaching. Similarly discipline is an important component of political and social life. Until and unless everybody follows the rules and regulations proper satisfaction cannot be achieved. Anywhere you will find people out of their offices. Govt. employees busy in chatting, ladies busy in knitting at the hours of their duty. All workers show indifference to their duties and hence the work and unattended files keep on accumulating. So if each person imposes on himself or herself discipline and performs his or her duty with devotion, there will be no problem. Even in public places, people create chaos due to indiscipline behavior. People often show lack of law and order, while boarding buses etc. Black-marketing and hoarding and adulteration are also some of the examples of indiscipline. Eve-testing is another example of irresponsible behavior on the part of our youth. In the political sphere also, personal ambitions do come on the way and therefore they pose danger to the society. Discipline is important even in domestic life. If children are grown up in an atmosphere of love and brotherhood, they tend to be good citizens. It is the duty of parents to raise their children in an atmosphere conducive for everybody. The children from divorced parents and from broken homes are generally indiscipline. Therefore, parents should bring up their children in a disciplined manner. Discipline In School School discipline is the system of rules, punishments and behavioral strategies appropriate to the regulation of children and the maintenance of order in schools. Its aim is to create a safe and conducive learning environment in the classroom. A disciplined student is in compliance with the school rules and codes of conduct. These rules may, for example, define the expected standards of clothing, timekeeping, social behavior and work ethic. The term discipline is also applied to the punishment that is the consequence of breaking the rules. The aim of discipline is to set reasonable limits which protect students from harm and teach them what is safe and what is not. Discipline At Home Children are learning how to behave and need parents and caregivers to help them during that process. Because they are always learning, they will misbehave. Psychological studies show that behaviors are more effectively shaped by rewarding positive behaviors than by punishing negative ones. Spanking may have the short-term effect of stopping an undesired behavior, but it may have long-term consequences. Spanking by parents or others may cause harm by teaching children to use violence and by showing them that those who should love and protect them have the right to physically hurt them. The best way for parents to prevent challenging behaviors is to support positive behaviors. How can they do this? Use any opportunity as a teachable moment to talk about simple rules about behavior Put those rules into action. Follow through with praise for following instructions or consequences for disobeying. Discipline is the training of the mind and character; the exercise, development and control of the character, intended to produce obedience and orderly behavior. The definition above is apt enough for the type of discipline intended for the young people at school. The need for disciplining young people cannot be over-emphasized. A wise saying goes â€Å"Spare the rod and spoilt the child†. An undisciplined child becomes a spoil child. The disciplining does not necessarily involve the use of cane. It should normally take the form of corrections by the educators through the setting of good examples and verbal corrections. It is the repeated and deliberate tendencies to incorrigibility that should involve punishments from the educator. These punishments should also be corrective and directly related to the offence. The question then arises; who is to discipline the child, the school or the home? The unequivocal answer is both the school and the home. The efforts of these two agencies to direct the life of the child should be complementary. The all-round development of a person cannot be achieved if one of the parties withdraws its own contribution. Before a child is of school age the discipline is solely the business of the home. At that stage, a child is already in the preparatory stage of being potentially bad or good child. The mind of the new born child being so flexible has had certain impressions made on it. The child learns to act and behave mainly through imitation. These picked-up acts and behaviour which a child goes to the school will form the foundation upon which the school is to be built. Hence the school either inherits a light or a heavy job in this regard. Some schools are lucky to have under their care children who are already good natured and the school only needs to build and improve upon this good foundation. On the other hand the school may inherit other types of children who are real problems. For them â€Å"Please use a soft voice†, instead of â€Å"Stop yelling! † Discipline is a must at home and in school. So in todays society, it is very essential to live with co-operation, and brotherhood amongst each-other. Absence of discipline may lead to failure and backwardness of nation. But one can overcome these problems if everyone follows a personal code of conduct and maintain self-discipline for prosperity of the nation.

Ghost Story of the Basement in a Haunted House :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends

The Door in the Basement This story was told by a 19 year old Caucasian male. The story was related in an informal, one on one setting between classes at the University. The storyteller did not personally experience the events in the story, but he heard the story directly from the people involved in it. The telling of the story was recorded, and the following transcript is nearly verbatim, with only minor modifications for the sake of clarity: Ok, so I guess this story happened probably about fifteen years ago, maybe more than that. One of my parents’ friends had just bought a house. He and my parents’ other friend, names being Bill and Bernie, were going to the house to fix it up before Bill actually moved in. So, they’re looking around this house, and they were working on it for probably a week or two, and during the week they had noticed that there was this black door in the basement. And it had a red X mark across it. They couldn’t open the door; it had never actually been opened before as far as they knew. But it was just sort of weird and creepy, just had a really bad feeling to it, and again the door never really opened, so they didn’t think too much of it. Well, one night while they were working in the basement where the door was, Mr. Bernie had to leave to go get some extra parts or extra tools or something, so he got up and left. Mr. Bill was still working down in the basement. Well, it was maybe fifteen or twenty minutes later, and Mr. Bill was working in the basement not paying much attention to what’s going on, when he hears footsteps upstairs. So he thinks it’s Mr. Bernie coming back. He’s waiting, and the footsteps are walking around. They go into the kitchen area, they go into the living room area, and they’re just walking around. Eventually he yells up the stairs ‘Bern, what are you doing? Get down here, help me out!’ There was no reply. Mr. Bill waits for another minute or two, and still no reply, but he still hears the footsteps. So he starts to walk upstairs, ready to drag Mr. Bernie back downstairs and getting really mad at him that he’s walking around upstairs not helping hi m out while Mr. Bill’s trying to do some work downstairs.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 23~25

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Clair Stirs a Brainstorm For all his admiration for the field biologists he'd worked with over the years, secretly Clay harbored one tiny bit of ego-preserving superiority over them: At the end of the day, they were going to have only nicked the surface of the knowledge they were trying to attain, but if Clay got the pictures, he went home a satisfied man. Even around Nathan Quinn he'd exercised an attitude of rascally smugness, teasing about his friend's ongoing frustration. For Clay it was get the pictures and what's for dinner? Until now. Now he had his own mysteries to contend with, and he couldn't help but think that the powers of irony were flexing their muscles to get back at him for his having lived carefree for so long. Kona, on the other hand, had long paid homage to his fear of irony by, like many surfers, never eating shark meat. â€Å"I don't eat them, they don't eat me. That's just how it work.† But now he, too, was feeling the sawtoothed edge of irony's bite, for, having spent most of his time from the age of thirteen knocking the edge off his mental acuity by the concerted application of the most epic smokage that Jah could provide (thanks be unto Him), he was now being called upon to think and remember with a sharpness that was clearly painful. â€Å"Think,† said Clair, rapping the surfer in the forehead with the spoon she had only seconds earlier used to stir honey into a cup of calming herbal tea. â€Å"Ouch,† said Kona. â€Å"Hey, that's uncalled for,† said Clay, coming to Kona's aid. Loyalty being important to him. â€Å"Shut up. You're next.† â€Å"Okay.† They were gathered around Clay's giant monitor, which, for all the good it was doing them, could have been a giant monitor lizard. A spectrogram of whale song from Quinn's computer was splashed across the screen, and for the information they were getting from it, it might have been the aftermath of a paint-ball war, which is what it looked like. â€Å"What were they doing, Kona?† Clair asked, spoon – steaming with herbal calmness – poised to strike. As a teacher of fourth-graders in a public school, where corporal punishment was not allowed, she had years of violence stored up and was, truth be told, sort of enjoying letting it out on Kona, who she felt could have been the poster child for the failure of public education. â€Å"Nate and Amy both went through this with you. Now you have to remember what they said.† â€Å"It's not these things, it's the oscilloscope,† Kona said. â€Å"Nate pulled out just the submarine stuff and put it on the spectrum.† â€Å"It's all submarine,† Clay said. â€Å"You mean subsonic.† â€Å"Yeah. He said there was something in there. I said like computer language. Ones and ohs.† â€Å"That doesn't help.† â€Å"He was marking them out by hand,† Kona said. â€Å"By freezing the green line, then measuring the peaks and troughs. He said that the signal could carry a lot more information that way, but the whales would have to have oscilloscopes and computers to do it.† Clay and Clair both turned to the surfer in amazement. â€Å"And they don't,† Kona said. â€Å"Duh.† It was as if a storm of coherence had come over him. They just stared. Kona shrugged. â€Å"Just don't hit me with the spoon again.† Clay pushed his chair back to let the surfer at the keyboard. â€Å"Show me.† Late into the night the three of them worked, making little marks on printouts of the oscilloscope and recording them on yellow legal pads. Ones and ohs. Clair went to bed at 2:00 A.M. At 3:00 A.M. they had fifty handwritten legal-pad pages of ones and ohs. In another time this might have felt to Clay like a job well done. He'd helped analyze data on shipboard before. It killed some time and ingratiated him to whatever scientist was leading the project he was there to photograph, but he'd always been able to hand off the work for someone else to finish. It was slowly dawning on him: Being a scientist sucked. â€Å"This sucks,† said Kona. â€Å"No it doesn't. Look at all we have,† said Clay, gesturing to all they had. â€Å"What is it?† â€Å"It's a lot, that's what it is. Look at all of it.† â€Å"What's it mean?† â€Å"No idea.† â€Å"What does this have to do with Nate and the Snowy Biscuit?† â€Å"Just look at all of this,† said Clay, looking at all of it. Kona got up from his chair and rolled his shoulders. â€Å"Mon, Bwana Clay, Jah has given you a big heart. I'm goin' to bed.† â€Å"What are you saying?† Clay said. â€Å"We got all the heart we need, brah. We need head.† † ‘Scuse me?† And so, in the morning, with the promise of a colossal piece of information for barter (the torpedo range) but without a true indication of what he really needed to know in return (everything else), Clay talked Libby Quinn into coming to Papa Lani. â€Å"So let me get this straight,† said Libby Quinn as she paced from Clay's computer to the kitchen and back. Kona and Clay were standing to the side, following her movement like dogs watching meatball tennis. â€Å"You've got an old woman who claims that a whale called her and instructed her to have Nate take him a pastrami sandwich?† â€Å"On rye, with Swiss and hot mustard,† Kona added, not wanting her to miss any pertinent scientific details. â€Å"And you have a recording of voices, underwater, presumably military, asking if someone brought them a sandwich.† â€Å"Correct,† said Kona, â€Å"No bread, or meat, or cheese, specified.† Libby glared at him. â€Å"And you have the navy setting off simulated explosions in preparation to put a torpedo range in the middle of the Humpback Whale Sanctuary.† She paused meaningfully and pivoted thoughtfully – like Hercule Poirot in flip-flops. â€Å"You have a tape of Amy doing a breath-hold dive for what appears to be an hour, with no ill effects.† â€Å"Topless,† Kona added. Science. â€Å"You have Amy claiming that Nate was eaten by a whale, which we all know is simply not possible, given the diameter of the humpback's throat, even if one were inclined to bite him, which we know they wouldn't.† (She was just a deerstalker, a calabash, and a cocaine habit short of being Sherlock Holmes here.) â€Å"Then you have Amy taking a kayak out for no apparent reason and disappearing, presumed drowned. And you say that Nate was working on finding binary in the lower registers of the whale song, and you think that means something? Have I got that right?† â€Å"Yeah,† said Clay. â€Å"But you have the break-in to our offices to get the sound tapes, and you have my boat being sunk, too. Okay, it sounded more connected when we were talking about it last night.† Libby Quinn stopped pacing and turned to look at both of them. She wore cargo shorts, tech sandals, and a running bra and appeared ready at any moment to just take off and do something outdoorsy and strenuous. They both looked down, subdued, as if they were still under the threat of Clair's deadly spoon of calm. Clay had always had a secret attraction to Libby, even while she'd been married to Quinn, and it was only within the last year or so he'd been able to make eye contact with her at all. Kona, on the other hand, had studied dozens of videotapes on the lesbian lifestyle, especially as it pertained to having a third party show up in the middle of an intimate moment (usually with a pizza), so he had long ago assigned a ;hot; rating to Libby, despite the fact that she was twice his age. â€Å"Help us,† Kona said, trying to sound pathetic, staring at the floor. â€Å"This is what you guys have, and you think because I know a little biology I can make something of all this?† â€Å"And that,† said Clay, pointing at the now arranged and collated pages of ones and ohs on his desk. Libby walked over and flipped through the pages. â€Å"Clay, this is nothing. I can't do anything with this. Even if Nate was on to something, what do you think? That even if we recognize a pattern, it's going to mean something to us? Look, Clay, I loved Nate, too, you know I did, but –  » â€Å"Just tell us where to start,† Kona said. â€Å"And tell me if you see anything in this.† Clay went to his computer and hit a key. A still of the edge view of the whale tail from his rebreather dive was on the screen. â€Å"Nate said that he had seen some markings on a whale tail, Libby. Some writing. Well, I thought there was something on this whale, too, before it knocked me out. But this is the best shot of the tail we have. It could mean something.† â€Å"Like what?† Her voice was kind. â€Å"I don't know what, Libby. If I knew what, I wouldn't have called you. But there's too much weird stuff going on that almost fits together, and we don't know what to do.† Libby studied the tail still. â€Å"There is something there. You don't have a better shot?† â€Å"No, this is something I do know about. This is the best I have.† â€Å"You know, Margaret and I were helping a guy from Texas A&.M who was designing a software program that would shift perspective of tail shots, so edge and bad-angle views could be shifted and extrapolated into usable ID photos. You know how many get tossed because of bad angles?† â€Å"You have this program?† â€Å"Yes, it's still in beta tests, but it works. I think we can shift this shot, and if there's something meaningful there, we'll see it.† â€Å"Cool runnings,† Kona said. â€Å"As far as this binary thing, I think it's a shot in the dark, but if it's going to mean anything, you're going to have to get your ones and ohs in the computer. Kona, can you type?† â€Å"Well, on ones and ohs? I shred most masterful, mon.† â€Å"Right. I'll set you up with a simple text file – just ones and ohs – and we'll figure out if we can do anything with it later. No mistakes, okay?† Kona nodded. Clay finally looked up and smiled. â€Å"Thanks, Libby.† â€Å"I'm not saying it's anything, Clay, but I wasn't exactly fair to Nate when he was around. Maybe I owe him one now that he's gone. Besides, it's windy. Fieldwork would have sucked today. I'm going to call Margaret, have her bring the program over. I'll help you if you promise that you'll put all your weight into stopping this torpedo range and you'll sign Maui Whale on to the petition against low-frequency active sonar. You guys have a problem with that?† She was giving them the â€Å"spoon of death† look, and it occurred to both of them that this might be something that was innate to all women, not just Clair, and that they should be very, very afraid. â€Å"Nope,† said Kona. â€Å"Sounds good to me. I'll put on a pot of coffee,† said Clay. â€Å"Margaret is absolutely going to shit when she hears about the torpedo range,† said Libby Quinn as she reached for Clay's phone. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Orientation to the Blues A small explosion went off over his head, and Nate dove under the table. When he looked up, Emily 7 was bent over staring at him with her watery whale eyes and a mild expression of distress, and Nu;ez was crouched at the other end of the table smiling. â€Å"That was the blow, Nate,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"A little more intense than the humpback's, huh? These ships act like real whales, remember. The blowhole is right above our heads. Vented to the rest of the ship, but, you know, every twenty minutes or so it's going to go. You get used to it.† â€Å"Sure, I knew that,† said Nate, crawling out from under the table. He'd been out off of Santa Cruz searching for the blues. You usually found them by the sound of their blows, which you could hear up to a mile and a half away. He looked up, expecting to see sky through the blowhole, but instead he saw just more smooth whaleskin. â€Å"They behave like whales, but the physiology is completely different to allow for the living quarters. I don't really understand it, but for instance the blowhole is vented down the sides somewhere to some axillary lungs that do the oxygen exchange with the blood. I don't know how they got us electricity at all. I mean, I said I wanted a coffeepot, and they put in an outlet. There are circuits all over the bridge for our machinery. The other bodily functions seem to be handled by smaller versions of liver, kidneys, and so forth around the outside of the cabins. The main spine runs over the top of the ship. There's no digestive system. The ship's digestive system is at the base; it hooks up and pumps nutrient-rich blood into the ship, which stores enough energy in blubber to run it for six months at sea, or around the world at least once. We can cruise at twenty knots as long as no one is watching.† â€Å"What do you mean, ‘no one is watching'?† â€Å"I mean you guys. Biologists. If one of you guys is watching us, we have to slow it down after a couple of hours. Especially if we're tagged.† â€Å"This ship has been satellite-tagged? What do you do?† â€Å"We go to silent running for a while. Then we dive, and one of the whaley boys goes outside and pulls the tag off. We've been tagged twice by that Bruce Mate guy from Oregon State. That guy's a menace. Probably has a satellite tag on his wife to track her trips to the can. If they'd asked me, he'd be the one riding with us now.† â€Å"You know who he is?† Nate was aghast. As a scientist, you were always fighting being overwhelmed by what you don't know, but the magnitude of this whole operation – it was too much. â€Å"Of course. Since commercial whaling backed off, cetacean biologists have been the main focus of our intelligence program. Why do you think you're here?† â€Å"Okay, why am I here?† â€Å"I don't know the whole story, but it's something to do with the song. Evidently you were a little too close to finding our signal in the song, so they yanked you.† â€Å"The aliens were that interested in what I was doing?† â€Å"What aliens?† â€Å"These aliens,† Nate said, nodding toward the pilots and Bernard and Emily 7, who had moved to another table on the other side of the corridor. â€Å"The whaley boys aren't aliens. Who told you that?† â€Å"Well, Poynter and Poe implied that they were.† â€Å"Those jerks. No, they're not aliens. They're a little weird, but not from-another-planet weird.† Bernard looked up from what appeared to be a chart of some sort and gave a half-assed signature raspberry. â€Å"They do that a lot,† Nate said. â€Å"If you had a tongue four inches wide, you'd do that a lot, too. It's sort of a display move with them, like the penis waving that Bernard was doing.† â€Å"Like male killer whales do.† â€Å"Bingo. See, a guy with your background, this is easy to explain. I didn't understand squat at first.† â€Å"I'm sorry, but I can't believe that this ship, the whaley boys, the whole perfection of the way they work, could possibly be products of natural selection. There had to be a design. Someone made all this.† Cielle nodded, smiling. â€Å"I've known a number of scientists in my lifetime, Nate, but I'm sure this is the first time I've heard one arguing in favor of a grand designer. What's that called, the ‘watchmaker argument'?† She was right, of course. It was an accepted premise that intelligent design in nature was not necessarily a product of intelligence, but merely the mechanism of natural selection of traits for survival and really, really long periods of time for the selections to assert themselves. Nate's life's work had been built on that assumption, but now he was giving Darwin the old heave-ho simply because his – Nate's – mind was too small to adapt to the idea of this craft. Well, yes, damn it. Screw Darwin. This was too strange. â€Å"I'm sorry, I'm just having a little trouble getting my head around this. I don't know how you take to being a prisoner, but I don't care for it. On top of that, I could barely sleep on the humpback with the blow going off every few minutes, and I haven't eaten anything but raw fish and water for about five days. I'd be addled even if this didn't seem impossible.† Bernard made a whimpering noise, and Skippy and Scooter followed along in a moment until they sounded like a basketful of hungry puppies, and then they all broke out into wheezing snickers. Emily 7 frowned at them. â€Å"Of course, I understand, Nate,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"Maybe you should finish up your coffee and go to your quarters. I have a few sports shakes in my cabin that will get some carbohydrates to your brain, and I can get you something to help you sleep – the ship's doctor has a full stock of Pharmaceuticals.† She patted his hand maternally. Nate felt a little ashamed for having complained. â€Å"You're not the only human on this ship, then?† â€Å"No, there are four humans and six whaley boys on board. The others are in their quarters. But they're all excited to meet you. Everyone's been talking about it for weeks.† â€Å"You've known for weeks you were going to take me?† â€Å"Well, sort of. We were on standby. We just got the go-ahead the day before we took you.† â€Å"And you, and the rest of the crew, you're prisoners, too?† â€Å"Nate, every person on this ship, on any whale ship, has been pulled out of a sinking or sunken ship, a plane crash at sea, or some other disaster that would have killed them. This is a gift of time, and frankly, once you accept where you are and what you're doing, I'm going to ask you where you'd rather be. Okay?† Nate searched her face for any sign of sarcasm or malice. All he found was a gentle smile. â€Å"Okay.† â€Å"You go to your quarters now. I'll send around your supplies in a bit. Bernard, would you show Dr. Quinn to his quarters?† â€Å"I'm not really a doctor,† Nate whispered. â€Å"Take whatever respect you can get from them, Nate.† Bernard waited at the entry to the corridor, rubbing his shiny-smooth stomach and grinning. A white coffee mug stood out in contrast against Bernard's abdomen, suspended as it was in the grasp of his penis. â€Å"I've always wanted to do that,† said Nate, deciding that he wasn't going to let the whaley boy get the satisfaction of intimidating him. â€Å"Would be really handy for driving.† Nate bowed toward the corridor. â€Å"Lead on, Bernard.† Bernard skulked down the hall in what would have been a full pout posture, had he any lips to do the actual pouting. He spilled a trail of coffee along the way. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The Inner Secrets of Cetacean Sluts Nate was just settling into the idea of the organic bunk he was going to be sleeping on before actually settling into the bed. He was not a God kind of guy, but he found himself thanking one nonetheless for the crisp cotton sheets and pillowcase on a feather pillow. He didn't think he really wanted to sleep with his face against whaleskin. There was a soft whistle outside the portal, and the great flap of skin retracted to open to the corridor. Emily 7 stood there with a tray that held two cans of protein shake, a glass of water, and a single small pill. She grinned but did not try to step into the cabin. The small portal required a bit of a crouching and climbing action for Nate to enter, so he guessed she'd dump the tray trying to get through. Then again, she might just be trying to be polite. She waited while Nate took the cans from the tray and set them on the low table, then swung around to take the pill and water from her. Emily 7 whistled and gave him a sidelong glance, causing her right eye to bulge out at him, as he'd actually seen humpbacks do when checking out a boat at the surface. She gestured for him to take the pill. â€Å"You're not leaving until you see me take my medicine?† Emily 7 nodded. â€Å"Well, I guess if you guys wanted to get rid of me, it would have been a lot easier to kill me without bringing me all the way out here to poison me.† Nate took the pill, downed the water, and opened his mouth to show that the pill was gone. â€Å"That okay, nurse?† Emily whistled and nodded, then gently took the empty glass from Nate's hand. She reached up to hit the node, and the portal closed between them. Nate heard her whistle the first few bars of a lullaby. She's sweet, Nate thought, in a tall, malevolent rubber-puppet sort of way. For almost a week the only sleep Nate had been able to get was while he was restrained in the chair in the humpback, and even then it was restless – with the ship blowing every few minutes and the whaley boys whistling communications – so, despite the blow of the blue-whale ship, he fell into a deep sleep filled with vivid dreams. He dreamed of himself and Amy, their naked bodies entwined, slick with sweat under soft candlelight. Strangely, even as he dreamed, he had the semilucid thought that before, whenever he'd taken a sleeping pill, he didn't remember ever dreaming. But that thought was pushed away by the feel of Amy's smooth skin, his fingers softly caressing her muscular legs, her four long, webbed fingers wrapped lovingly around his – â€Å"Hey!† Nate opened his eyes. A softly lit fence of spiky teeth smiled over at him, steamy fish breath washed over his face. â€Å"Uh-oh,† said Emily 7, her voice high and rasping, verging on duck-speak. Nate leaped out of bed and bounced off the wall on the other side of the cabin. Emily 7 pulled the sheet up over her head and burrowed against the wall, digging her melon under the pillow. Then she lay still. Nate stood trying to catch his breath. As soon as he'd hit the floor, the biolighting had come up to high. He pushed back against the flexible wall, then suddenly became self-conscious and pulled his T-shirt off the back of the chair to cover his erection, which was rapidly losing its will to live. She was just lying there. â€Å"Hello? I can see you.† Curled up. Not moving. There under the sheets. All whaley. â€Å"You aren't fooling anyone. You're bigger than I am. You're not hidden.† Just the soft sound of her blowhole opening and closing. Nate realized that it might be easier to hide under the covers if one had a blowhole, as one could cover one's mouth and face and still breathe. Addled by sleep deprivation, residual sleep medication, two cups of coffee, and now a few endorphins, he started to speculate on how a creature might adapt for hiding under the covers, then shook off the biologist rising up in him. â€Å"Come on, we're different species and stuff. That's creepy.† Now a bit of a squeak, more like a whimper, followed by a tiny â€Å"Uh-oh,† like a small elf had been mashed under the covers with a heavy book and had uh-ohed its last pathetic gasp. â€Å"Well, you can't stay here.† He remembered how he'd felt when Libby had left him and by way of explanation she'd said, â€Å"Nate, I don't know, I don't even feel like we're the same species.† At the time he'd felt as if his stomach were being turned inside out. It had ruined him socially for more than a year. Longer than that if he counted the fiasco attraction to Amy. He stepped over to the bunk. Emily 7 scrunched into the corner between the wall and the bed. Nate worked the edge of the sheet loose and cautiously slid one leg under the covers. The lump that was Emily 7's head moved as if she was listening. â€Å"You have to stay on your side, okay?† â€Å"Okay,† wheezed Emily 7 in the mashed-elf voice. Nate awoke to the exhultations of killer whales – high-pitched hunting calls. The pod seemed to be gleefully celebrating a hunt, or at least calling another pod to come along and help. It occurred to him that he was actually riding in a craft that qualified as food for the orcas, and the ship might be in danger of attack. He'd have to ask Nuà ±ez about that. He swung his feet off the bunk, and the lights came up. He realized that he was alone and sighed with relief. There was a fresh set of khakis hung over the chair and a bottle of water on the table. There was a small basin on the wall opposite the bunk, no bigger than a cereal bowl and made out of the same skin as the rest of the ship. He hadn't even noticed it the night before. There were three lit nodules above the basin, like those used to activate the portals, but Nate could see nowhere for the water to come out. He pushed one of the nodules, and the basin started filling from a sphincter in the bottom. He pushed another, and the water was sucked out the same orifice. He tried to foster scientific detachment toward the whole thing but failed miserably: He was creeped out. Nate desperately needed a shave and a shower, but he didn't want to try to wash his whole six-foot-two-inch body in an eight-inch bowl with a†¦ well, a butt hole at the bottom. He'd had just about enough of advanced poop-chute technology, thank you. He splashed some water on his face and dressed in the khakis, wonde ring as he did if the whale ship could actually grow a mirror for him to shave in if he needed it. The whole crew appeared to be up and milling about the bridge when Nate came in. There were four whaley boys at the table with the charts to the right of the hatch, the two pilots at their consoles. Nuà ±ez stood by the table to the left of the hatch, where there were seated a blond woman in her thirties and two men, one dark, perhaps in his early twenties, and one bald and gray-bearded, a healthy fifty, maybe. Not a very military-looking bunch. Everyone turned when Nate came in. All conversations – words or whistles – stopped abruptly. The echo of killer-whale calls bounced around the bridge. Emily 7 turned away from Nate's gaze. Nuà ±ez was leaning against the wall near the nook that housed the coffeepot, actively trying not to look at him. â€Å"Hi,† Nate said, catching eye contact with the bald guy, who smiled. â€Å"Have a seat,† said the bald guy, gesturing toward the empty seat at the table. â€Å"We'll get you something to eat. I'm Cal Burdick.† He shook Nate's hand. â€Å"This is Jane Palovsky and Tim Milam.† â€Å"Jane, Tim,† Nate said, shaking hands. Nuà ±ez smiled at him, then looked away quickly as if the coffeepot needed some immediate attention or she was going to crack up – or both. Everyone at the table nodded, sort of staring at the spot in front of them, like So here we are on a giant blue-whale ship, hundreds of feet below the surface of the ocean, with killer whales calling about us, and Nate fucked an alien, so†¦ â€Å"Nothing happened,† Nate said to the whole bridge. â€Å"What?† said Jane. â€Å"Your quarters satisfactory, then?† asked Tim, an eyebrow raised. â€Å"Nothing happened,† Nate repeated, and even though nothing had happened, from the tone of his voice he wouldn't have believed it either. â€Å"Really.† â€Å"Of course,† said Tim. All of the whaley boys except Emily 7 were snickering. When he looked around, all the males were waving their willies back and forth in time in the air, as if swaying to a pornographic Christmas carol. Emily 7 put her big whaley head down on the table and covered it with her arms. â€Å"Nothing happened!† Nate shouted at them. Silence again on the bridge, just the echo of killer-whale calls. â€Å"Are we in danger?† Nate asked Nuà ±ez, trying desperately to change the subject. â€Å"Are they going to attack the ship? Those are feeding calls, right?† Often, when killer whales found a whale that was too big to be taken by their family pod, or when they happened on to an especially rich school of fish, they would call to other pods for help. Nate recognized the calls from some work he'd done with a biologist friend in Vancouver. â€Å"No, these are residents,† Nuà ±ez said. â€Å"They're just excited about a bait ball they've found. Probably sardines.† Resident killer whales ate only fish; transients ate mammals, whales and seals. Over the last few years scientists tended to refer to them as completely different species, even though they appeared the same to the layman. â€Å"You know what they are by their call?† â€Å"More than that,† Cal said, â€Å"we know what they're saying. The whaley boys can translate.† â€Å"All killer whales are named Kevin. You knew that, right?† said Jane. She had a slight Eastern European accent, Russian maybe. She looked a little amused, her blue eyes dark under the yellow cast of the bioluminescence, but she didn't appear to be joking. She patted the seat next to her, indicating that Nate should sit down. â€Å"Like all the pilots are named Scooter and Skippy?† Nate said. â€Å"Actually, they have numbers like Emily – their choice, by the way – but since there are never more than one pair of them on a ship, we don't bother with the numbers.† Nate suddenly realize that in all his time on both of the whale ships, except when one of the pilots had gone outside to catch fish, the pilots always seemed to be at the controls. â€Å"Don't they ever sleep?† â€Å"Sure,† said Jane. â€Å"We're pretty sure they sleep with half their brain at a time, like whales, so between two of them the ship always has a full pilot. Without one of them at the controls, it's basically a big lump of meat.† â€Å"You said that you're pretty sure. You don't know?† â€Å"Well, they don't know for sure,† said Jane, â€Å"and they're not very excited about our doing experiments on them. Now that you've joined us, though, maybe you'll be able to figure out what's going on with them. We sort of play it all by ear. The whaley boys and the Colonel run things. Cielle, you didn't tell him all this?† â€Å"He was pretty beat,† Nu;ez said. â€Å"I tried to get him settled in as soon as I could.† Nate wanted to protest the â€Å"settled in† comment. After all, he was a prisoner here, but these people didn't behave at all like captors. They immediately impressed him as having the same dynamic that he'd seen in research teams, a â€Å"we're all in this together, let's make the best of it† attitude. He didn't want to yell at these people. Still, it made him a little uncomfortable that she was so forthcoming with information. When your kidnappers showed you their faces, they were giving you the message that you weren't going home. Nu;ez set a plate down in front of him. It had a salad of mixed seaweeds, carrots, and mushrooms, a piece of cooked fish, which looked like halibut, and what appeared to be rice. â€Å"Eat up,† she said. â€Å"A couple of nutrition drinks aren't going to get you back up to speed. We do eat a lot of raw fish, even on the blue, but you need some carbs until you adjust to this diet. There's plenty of rice when you finish that.† â€Å"Thanks.† Nate dug in while the others, all but Cal, excused themselves to work in other parts of the ship. The older man had obviously been charged with Nate's second orientation lecture. Cal scratched his beard, looked around at the pilots, then leaned over to Nate and spoke in a lowered voice. â€Å"They're very promiscuous. You know how dolphin females will mate with all the males in the pod so no one can be assured of who the father of her calf is? They think it keeps the males from murdering her calf when it's born.† â€Å"That's the theory,† Nate said. â€Å"They're sort of like that, and back at base you have a big pod to deal with. You start down that path†¦ well, you've got a lot of whaley boys to sex up.† â€Å"I didn't sex her up,† Nate hissed, spraying rice out over the table. â€Å"I'm not sexing up any whaley boys†¦ er, girls – ; â€Å"Whatever. Look, they're very close. Here on the ship they don't have separate quarters – they share one big cabin. Sex is very casual with them, but they understand that we're a little more hung up about it. Some of them seem to affect human shyness. We generally don't mix sexually with them. It's not forbidden, but it's†¦ you know, frowned upon. It's only natural for a guy to be curious –  » Nate put down his fork. â€Å"Cal, I did not have sex with anyone – I mean, anything.† â€Å"Right. And be careful around the males. Especially if you're in the water with them. They'll bung-hole you just to watch you twitch.† â€Å"Jeez.† â€Å"I'm just telling you for your own good.† â€Å"Thanks, but I'm not going to be around long enough to worry about it.† Might as well throw it in their faces, Nate thought. The older man laughed, almost shooting coffee out his nose. When he recovered, he said, â€Å"Well, I hope you mean you plan on dying soon, because no one ever leaves.† Nate leaned into Cal's face. â€Å"Doesn't it bother you, that you're a prisoner?† â€Å"There's not one of us here who wouldn't be dead if the whaley boys hadn't picked us up.† â€Å"Not me.† â€Å"Especially you. You were always twelve hours from dead since we started watching you. Certainly it had to occur to you how much easier it would have been just to kill you?† Nate just stared for a second. Actually, it had occurred to him, and he didn't see the logic in keeping him alive if all they wanted to do was stop his research. He wasn't going to make that argument verbally, but still†¦ â€Å"Don't overthink it, Nate. If you ever doubted that life was an adventure, it definitely is now.† â€Å"Right,† Nate said. â€Å"But before you ask me where I'd rather be, let me remind you that there's a sphincter in the bottom of my sink.† â€Å"You haven't seen the shower, then? Just you wait.† After he ate, Cal loaned him a copy of Treasure Island to read, but when Nate returned to his cabin, he could barely concentrate on the book at all. Funny what you learn about yourself in a short conversation. One, that he would rather have been accused of having sex with another species than with another male (even of another species). Interesting prejudice. Two, that he actually was grateful, not only to be alive, but grateful to be having completely new experiences every moment, even as a prisoner. Three, that learning was still a high, but he burned to share it with someone. And finally, that he was feeling a little jealous, a little less special, now that he knew that Emily 7 was having sex with all the male whaley boys on board. That fickle little slut. He dozed off with Robert Louis Stevenson on his chest and the sound of killer whales calling in the distance. Outside, the pod of twenty killer whales, most the sons or daughters of the matriarch female, were calling frantically to each other as they worried away at a huge bait ball of herring. Biologists had long speculated on the incredibly complex vocabulary of the killer whale, identifying specific linguistic groups that even  «spoke » the same dialect, but they had never been able to put meaning to the calls other than to identify them as â€Å"feeding,† â€Å"distress,† or  «social » noises. However, had they had the benefit of translation, this is what they would have heard: â€Å"Hey, Kevin, fish!† â€Å"Fish! I love fish!† â€Å"Look, Kevin, fish!† â€Å"Mmmm, fish.† â€Å"You, Kevin, take a run down that trench, fake left, go right, hit the bait ball, nothing but fish!† â€Å"Did someone say ‘fish'?† â€Å"Yeah, fish. Over here, Kevin.† â€Å"Mmmmm, fish.† And it went on like that. Actually, orcas aren't quite as complex as scientists imagine. Most killer whales are just four tons of doofus dressed up like a police car.

Home Depot Employee Benefits Essay

The first case is against an employee Gunderson working at JMI agency owned by Brown Corporation. It is filed by Brown on account of the defendant’s violation of the employee agreement by joining a competing company after working there continuously for seven months and soliciting and servicing Brown’s customers and disclosing confidential information. The summary judgment was made in favor of the defendant because an employment of seven months is not enough under Illinois law to support the limiting agreement. (Findlaw, 2008) The second case is against an employee Robert M. Bono working at Chicago Transit Board who was discharged from his job on account of misconduct by calling a customer while working though his job duties did not require calling any customers. The call was personal and social in nature involving a sexual joke. The court affirmed the decision of Chicago Transit Board as being reasonable and appropriate. (Findlaw, 2008) Issues:Â  The issue being discussed in the first case is the claim by the parent company of breach of contract by the employee. But since the employment period of Gunderson was only seven months so according to Illinois law no charges can be made against him In the second case, the issue discussed is of an employee misbehaving with a customer on telephone and making personal use of the phone though he is not allowed to do so. Therefore, he dismissed by the company. Implications for Home Depot:Â  At Home Depot, each employee should be clearly told of his/her duties and the consequences of not acting accordingly. Secondly, the employee contract at Home Depot should specify clearly all the terms and conditions specially the time period after which he can be accused of the violation of the contract. Conclusion: Through the analysis of the above cases, I learned that minor mistakes by an employee can result into big troubles and court procedures. Therefore, one should remain cautious every time while working on his job.

Love In Midsummer Nights Dream Essays - Fiction, Theatre, Hermia

Love In Midsummer Night's Dream Essays - Fiction, Theatre, Hermia Love In Midsummer Night's Dream Love is something that will never be defined. No one knows what love is. When Egeus describes it as being feign, and cunning, he is, for the most part, corredt. Love can sneak on a person, or a person can sneak up on it. I can back the former from personal experience. Love can be truly cunning, and when it is, it hurts. For example, Hermia and Lysander have to make plans to elope because otherwise they cannot be together because of her father, Theseus. Theseus wants her to marry Demetrius because Theseus likes him better. This makes the love that Lysander and Hermia have for each other hurt more than love already should, and then puts them in danger when they decide to elope. Thus, love can be a problem. One solution to this would be for Lysander to challenge Demetrius to a duel, as was a custom in Shakespeares days. If Lysander won, then he and Hermia would no longer have to worry about him, and they could be wed. In this however, there is a problem in the solution. Love is one of t hose things where there is no real Gray Area. Many people know if they are or if they arent. Its something that just comes. Often at the wrong times, like when it is not returned. Love can be a blessing, though, when it is returned, and can lead to many years of joy and prosperity, as long as the love is respected. Often times though, love is deceitful, and can stop on a dime. There is no solution for that.

Fluorine Facts - Atomic Number 9 or F

Fluorine Facts - Atomic Number 9 or F Fluorine is a halogen that exists under ordinary conditions as a pale yellow diatomic gas. The element is found in fluoridated water, toothpaste, and refrigerants. Here are facts about this interesting element. Fluorine Atomic Data Atomic Number: 9 Symbol: F Atomic Weight: 18.998403 Discovery: Henri Moissan 1886 (France) Electron Configuration: [He]2s22p5 Word Origin:  The name fluorine comes from the Latin and French fluere: flow or flux. Sir Humphry Davy proposed the element name, based on its presence in fluoric acid. The -ine suffix is consistent with the naming of other halogens. However, the element is named fluor in Greek and Russian. In early papers, it is referred to as fluorum. Properties: Fluorine has a melting point of -219.62 °C (1 atm), boiling point of -188.14 °C (1 atm), density of 1.696 g/l (0 °C, 1 atm), specific gravity of liquid of 1.108 at its boiling point, and valence of 1. Fluorine is a corrosive pale yellow gas. It is highly reactive, participating in reactions with virtually all organic and inorganic substances. Fluorine is the most electronegative element. Metals, glass, ceramics, carbon, and water will burn with a bright flame in fluorine. It is possible that fluorine can substitute for hydrogen in organic reactions. Fluorine has been known to form compounds with rare gases, including xenon, radon, and krypton. Free fluorine has a characteristic pungent odor, detectable at concentrations as low as 20 ppb. Toxicity: Both elemental fluorine and the fluoride ion are highly toxic. The recommended maximum allowable concentration for a daily 8-hour time-weighted exposure is 0.1 ppm. Neither fluorine nor its ion, fluoride, are considered trace nutrients for human nutrition. However, fluoride does impact bone strength. Uses: Fluorine and its compounds are used in producing uranium. Fluorine, in the form of fluorite, is added during smelting to help reduce the melting points of metals. Fluorochlorohydrocarbons are used in refrigeration applications. Fluorine is used to produce many chemicals, including several high-temperature plastics. The presence of sodium fluoride in drinking water at the level of 2 ppm may cause mottled enamel in teeth, skeletal fluorosis, and may be associated with cancer and other diseases. However, topically applied fluoride (toothpaste, dental rinses) may help reduce the incidence of dental caries. Sources: Fluorine occurs in fluorspar (CaF) and cryolite (Na2AF6) and is widely distributed in other minerals. It is obtained by electrolyzing a solution of potassium hydrogen fluoride in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in container of transparent fluorspar or metal. Element Classification: Halogen Isotopes: Fluorine has 17 known isotopes ranging from F-15 to F-31. F-19 is the only stable and most common isotope of fluorine.Density (g/cc): 1.108 ( -189 °C) Appearance:  At room temperature and pressure, pure fluorine is a very pale, greenish-yellow, pungent, corrosive gas. Liquid fluorine, like chlorine, is bright yellow. Solid fluorine is found in alpha and beta allotropes. The alpha form is opaque, while the beta form is transparent. Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 17.1 Covalent Radius (pm): 72 Ionic Radius: 133 (-1e) Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.824 (F-F) Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 0.51 (F-F) Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 6.54 (F-F) Pauling Negativity Number: 3.98 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 1680.0 Oxidation States: -1 Lattice Structure: Monoclinic CAS Registry Number: 7782-41-4 Fluorine Trivia Fluorine in the form of the mineral fluorite was used in the 1500s to aid in ore smelting.Fluorine was suspected to be an element as early as 1810 but wasnt successfully isolated until 1886. Many chemists trying to isolate the element would be blinded or even killed by the violent reactions that generally accompany fluorine gas.Henri Moissan earned the 1906 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for being the chemist who finally successfully isolated fluorine (and also invented the electric arc furnace).Fluorine is the 13th most common element in the Earths crust.Fluorine is the 24th most abundant in the universe. Fluorine Fast Facts Element Name: FluorineElement Symbol: FAtomic Number: 9Appearance: Pale yellow gas.Group: Group 17 (Halogen)Period: Period 2Discovery: Henri Moissan (June 26, 1886) Sources Emsley, John (2011). Natures Building Blocks: An A–Z Guide to the Elements (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-960563-7.Greenwood, N. N.; Earnshaw, A. (1998). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann. ISBN 0-7506-3365-4.Moissan, Henri (1886). Action dun courant à ©lectrique sur lacide fluorhydrique anhydre. Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des sà ©ances de lAcadà ©mie des sciences (in French). 102: 1543–1544.Nielsen, Forrest H. (2009). Micronutrients in Parenteral Nutrition: Boron, Silicon, and Fluoride. Gastroenterology. 137 (5): S55–60. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2009.07.072Patnaik, Pradyot (2007). A Comprehensive Guide to the Hazardous Properties of Chemical Substances (3rd ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-71458-3.

The reason for the crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The reason for the crisis - Essay Example It can be said that the United States government failed and one of the reasons why the crisis happened is on the policies that they had engaged. The â€Å"easy money† policy can be said to have contributed to the U.S. crisis but cannot be blamed solely for what happened. â€Å"Easy money† policy created the U.S. housing bubble that can be said to have a very important effect on the U.S. economy. The United States housing bubble is an economic bubble which affects many parts of the United States housing market. In early 2005, the housing market reached its peak. There has been unprecedented rise in the average price of housing globally. There was a huge price hike of the housing. Though there were intermittent cooling effects of prices, these were not enough to off-set the price hike. This can be said to have contributed to the financial mess of the United States. Any collapse of U.S. housing bubble has a direct effect not only on home valuation but also on the nationâ⠂¬â„¢s mortgage market such as real estate. The lower interest rates for the long term, fixed-rate mortgage also contributed to the U.S. financial crisis. I dissent about how Mr. Greenspan blamed the outside forces, which the government cannot control, as the reason of the U.S. financial crisis. Interest rate is a very influential and dominant factor in economics.

Social work methods work with families Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Social work methods work with families - Essay Example Murdoch adds that a family stays in a common household, shares economic interdependency, and is involved in sexual and reproductive relations (Lamanna & Riedmann 4). Today however, a lot of societal changes have occurred that the definition of a family has likewise evolved (Lamanna & Riedmann 5). Family members do not have to be bound by legal marriage, consanguinity, or adoption. The family now includes commuter couples, no custodial parents, parents with adult children living elsewhere, extended kin such as aunts and uncles, and adult siblings and stepsiblings. The emphasis has been placed on spontaneity, individuality and intimacy rather than the customary heterosexual married-couple social roles. In fact, federal regulations have now qualified unmarried low-income heterosexual and homosexual couple as families and have consequently allowed them to live in public housing. Some courts have considered unmarried heterosexual gay or lesbian couples, elderly people and their caregivers, institutionalized handicapped people living together and even co-resident groups of students as families (Lamanna & Riedmann 6). Furthermore, single-parent households and childless unions are also considered families. With this, the family could be any number of people as long as they are bound together by feelings of love and care for each other (Aymer). In the workplace, specifically in San Francisco and New York, special privileges have been granted to families with domestic partners who may not be married but share each other’s lives in a committed relationship and in the expenses of daily living (Bishop qtd. in Lamanna & Riedmann 10). On the other hand, these changes in the family set-up are consequences of the challenges that families have encountered in the past decades. The family has been bombarded by a lot of problems that have adversely affected the very purpose for which it was