The Human Immunodeficiency Virus ( Hiv ) - 1529 Words

Human Immunodeficiency Virus Typing Template for APA Papers: A Sample of Proper Formatting for the APA 6th Edition Sheela Jose Grand Canyon University: HIV Known as a Communicable Disease A communicable disease is known an illness that results from an infectious agent that occurs through transmission either indirectly or directly, from an infected individual. The human immunodeficiency virus is considered a communicable disease, and will be explored further in relation to the concepts of epidemiology and the role of the community health nurse. Epidemiology essentially responds to the questions of who, when, what, why, where and how of a disease and investigates the problem before everything is made evident (Grand†¦show more content†¦The next stage averages a length of 10 years (Holland, 2013). During this time, many generally lead asymptomatic lives. In the symptomatic stage, the individual’s viral load levels go increasingly high, signifying that the immune system is weakening. Antiretroviral medications will serve as treatment, if it has not already been utilized already. If such medication does not help, or treatment is not sought out, later-stage HIV infection symptoms can manifest. This involves recurring fever, loss of memory, weight loss, and diarrhea for more than a week (Holland, 2013). Since the immune system is compromised, opportunistic infections become far more probable to occur. The last stage involves the progression of HIV to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). If the CD4+ T-cell count goes under 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, and the individual is diagnosed with a condition related to HIV such as pneumonia, it is indicative of AIDS, generally (Holland, 2013). HIV is transmitted via semen, blood, breast milk, and vaginal and rectal secretions. An infected mother can pass HIV to her unborn child via placenta or during birth if the proper measures are not undertaken. Sharing needles can also infect an individual due to possible contamination of infected blood (Holland, 2013). There is no cure for HIV as of yet. Retroviral drugs are

The Stages Of Cognitive Development - 774 Words

The proposed four stages of cognitive development are developed by Piaget. He supposes that, in a specific order, all of society passed through the four stages that he established, generally with precise ages. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage. This earliest stage, occurring from birth to two years of age, involves differentiation of self from objects. The child participates in action and begins to act purposely. Then, child comes to understand that objects still remain in existence even when they are out of sight. As a limitation, this stage seems to only support thinking only by doing. The second stage is the preoperational stage, occurring roughly the time child begins speaking to possibly seven years old. During this period, intelligence is established through symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed. As a limitation, the preoperational stage lacks the concept of conversation. The third stage is the concrete operational stage, which occurs around the time a child is in first grade to possibly eleven years of age. In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. As a lim itation, operations are only carried out on concrete objects, and also limited two characteristics at the same time. The fourth and final stage is the formal operational stage, which happens around adolescence to adulthood. During this stage, intelligence is established through theShow MoreRelatedThe Stages Of Cognitive Development1395 Words   |  6 Pageschain of four serious stages of cognitive development, according to Jean Piaget, who is a well-recognized psychologist. Through the observations he made of children, Piaget established a theory of development involving four stages: the sensorimotor stage, which is from birth to the age 2, the preoperational stage, from age 2 to about the age of 7 and the concrete operational stage, ranging from age 7 to 11. The last stage of his development was the formal operational stage, which begins in adolescenceRead MoreThe Stages Of Cognitive Development1290 Words   |  6 Pagesstudy of cognitive development that researchers and scientis ts still use today. Piaget’s Cognitive Theory includes the four stages of cognitive development from birth to adulthood: Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete operational, and Formal operational. These stages include thought, judgement, and knowledge. He made the claim that children may enter these stages at different ages, but insisted that cognitive development always follows this sequence, cannot be skipped, and that each stage is markedRead MoreThe Four Stages Of Cognitive Development951 Words   |  4 Pagesmodel for the study cognitive development. This model explained how a child’s cognitive skills develop over their lifetime, which will eventually result in more of an adult way of thinking; or a more elaborate and logical way of thinking. Unlike other psychologists who were studying cognition, Piaget believed that children were not â€Å"tiny adults†, who had to eventually access a more complex way of thinking over time. Instead, he believed that a chi ld’s cognition progresses in stages through the processRead MoreStages Of Emotional And Cognitive Development1242 Words   |  5 Pagesand cognitive development in children and the role of nurture and nature. In understanding the emotional and cognitive development in children, many theorists including Bowlby and his attachment theory, Baumrind theory towards parenting styles and also Vygotsky and his theory on social development, have all worked hard over many years of research into producing theories on understanding how the development of children is important. It has been found that emotional and cognitive development are becomingRead MoreThe s Stages Of Cognitive Development1403 Words   |  6 Pagesamaroszaman Two characters that I choose for this assignment are John Bender and Brian Johnson. In reference to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, I categorized Bender and Brian in formal operational stage because of their age. Besides, both of them also shows characteristic of adolescent egocentrism. As for Bender, we can see that he had developed the sense of invulnerability because he had taken many physical risks and do not think about the negative consequences of his actions. Brian showsRead MoreStages Of Cognitive And Moral Development810 Words   |  4 PagesStages of cognitive and moral development, Interests and learning styles, and Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences To meet my students’ needs, I will begin supporting them psychologically, academically and develop classes that appeal to a wide range of different bits of intelligence. I am going to develop assorted techniques to construct my lesson activities that allow students to relate to the subject matter in ways that fit their interests, learning styles and strengths. IRead MorePiaget s Stages Of Cognitive Development1072 Words   |  5 Pagespsychology concepts including Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, psychoactive drugs, and dreams. The first concept that I can relate to is Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. Jean Piaget came up with this concept about how a child’s brain develops throughout their life. There are four stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The two stages I can specifically relate to are the sensorimotor and preoperational stages. I have a three year old cousin whoRead MorePiaget s Stages Of Cognitive Development Essay1495 Words   |  6 PagesJean Piaget developed a cognitive approach to studying and classifying behavioral growth in stages. He believed that each child matured and learned at a different rate, so even though children mature in the same cognitive sequence, there might be separation in the achievement of each level from one child to the next (Swartwood, 2012, p. 46). Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development are Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and Formal Operational (Swartwood, 2012, p. 49). PiagetRead MoreThe Individual s Stage Of Cognitive Development999 Words   |  4 Pagesher conservation skills using one of the tasks described on pp. 148-151 in your textbook. Describe both the test(s) and the results. What does performance on the object permanence or conservation task tell you about the individual’s stage of cognitive development in Piaget’s theory? If the individual is a child, adolescent, or adult, ask the individual to draw a picture of what a human being would look like if he or she had three eyes instead of two. Ask the individual where the thirdRead MorePiaget s Stages Of Cognitive Development930 Words   |  4 PagesThe Cognitive Development theory refers to the ability to learn through thinking and reasoning. Theorist Jean Piaget developed the stages of cognitive development according to age and how individuals learn through their environment and senses. Based on Education.com: Stages of Cognitive Development (Driscoll/Nagel ,2008), these stages are from infant to teenage years with specific abilities. The first stage of Piaget’s stages of development is called Sensorimotor, which starts at birth to two years

Islamic Culture in the Middle East-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss how these two scholars focus on Aisha in the context of the emergence of Islam, as a religious tradition, and vis--vis historical perspectives and questions. Answer: Religion is a subject that is taken with much weight in the society as it represents peoples believes concerning their ways of life and the way they relate to each other. Islam is one of the worlds leading religion after Christianity that has many followers from different regions all over the world and making significant impacts in the society (Al-Thani, Moore 192). Islam has many theories that explain its evolution and growth across the globe including the important events, people, and items that were crucial for its evolution. Muhammad, Aisha, Fatima, Hadiths and many more names are relevant in explaining the growth and development of the Islamic culture (Aslan 501). Aisha was an essential figure in the spreading and adoption of the religion as she was the wife of the great prophet Muhammad and also a creative writer and translator. Throughout her life before and after the death of the prophet, she acted as a medium of spreading Islam. Many authors have different approaches to explaining Aishas contribution to the society regarding the growth of the Muslim community. Her bibliography describes all the activities she has done towards the Islam community and their impacts towards her reputation and position. She represented the female figures in the society, and her different inputs defined the feminist view of the population in context (Khan, Farooq, Hussain 22). Some books and journals focused on her skills in the creative literature that lead to the translation of the Hadiths for native to understand more. She was famous not because of her position as the wife of Muhammad but because of her skills in Islamic literature (Jaschok, Shui nd). Other books focus on the impact she made as a Muslim leader. Her position of leadership impacted differently on people as the society did not recognize women leadership. She therefore portrayed the strength of women and greed for power to others. Regardless of the peoples take on her contributions, the truth is she was excellent influence towards Islam growth. According to the analysis by Roded (231), Aisha concentrated on fictional work that explained the experience of Islamic women. She used her personal experiences in her stories including the influence of French Colonials in Algeria and the types of activities that women went through during these times. In her writing, she revealed the chaining attitudes of women regarding Islam and the events facing them at the time. She used the bibliographies of Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima and related them to the evolution of Islam especially on the situation of women. The deaths of the prophet and his daughter defined womens role in the society including. One of her writings, Far from Medina explains that women were once strong and more aware of their rights. Feminism was, therefore, a major point that influenced the way Aisha made her efforts towards the evolution of Islam. Roded (229) describes her writing and interpretation skills as the main method that Aisha can be remembered when it comes to the growth of Islam as she made a lot of changes to the society with her skills. (Keddie, Baron nd) On the other hand, focus on the aspect of power and the way Aisha used her position to influence the society either positively or negatively. People recognized her as the wife to the great Muhammad, and due to this, she experienced privileges of her marriage even after her husbands death. These authors feel like more of her impact on the Islamic nature is because of her marriage to the great prophet. After his death, she began to portray her power by political succession and participation that was received differently. The young widow became publicly recognized after she participated in the Battle of the Camel (Al-Thani, Moore 196). Most people especially men to this act negatively as they found the act inappropriate for a woman. Women, however, realized that they could get involved in political activities just like their men counterparts. This book is, therefore, two-sided by describing Aishas life as mostly a public and political figure. Criticism on womens part icipation in power positions increased during this time and was considered by some to be a taboo. Feminism also thrived, and most women showed interest in power positions and to have some power over their lives and families (Eberhardt, Teal, 123). All in all, Aisha contributed much through her political life by changing the perspective that traditionally the society had towards leadership. Taking Ahmed and Rodes case into consideration, Islam is a religion that thrived fast through the influence of high religious leaders who had the power to influence an enormous audience all over the world. I find it appropriate to say that Aisha is one of the most significant contributors towards the growth of early Islamic believes. She was not considered as vital as the Prophet Muhammad, but according to my observation, she did just as much (Omair 136). Being the wife of the most important prophet in the Muslim culture, she had a voice in the society despite all the challenges and limitations due to her gender. 40 years later after the death of Muhammad, Aisha was still making an impact on the development of the Islamic religion. She used her power to enlighten women in the society who were always considered as inferior. Her creative nature and understanding of the Quran and other Islamic scriptures also helped the uneducated population to spread Islam. She was the female represent ation of the Islamic culture with many of the activities she conducted throughout her life focusing on women (Bajaj et al. 508). References Al-Thani, Aisha, and Judy Moore. "Nondirective counseling in Islamic culture in the Middle East explored through the work of one Muslim person-centered counselor in the State of Qatar." Person-Centered Experiential Psychotherapies 11.3 (2012): 190-204. Aslan, Reza. No god but God: The origins, evolution, and future of Islam. Random House, 2011. Sidani, Yusuf. "Women, work, and Islam in Arab societies." Women in Management Review 20.7 (2005): 498-512. Bajaj, Sarita, et al. "South Asian consensus statement on women's health and Ramadan." Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism 16.4 (2012): 508. Eberhardt, Markus, and Francis Teal. "Econometrics for grumblers: a new look at the literature on cross?country growth empirics." Journal of Economic Surveys 25.1 (2011): 109-155. Jaschok, Maria, and Shui Jingjun Shui. The History of Women's Mosques in Chinese Islam. Routledge, 2013. Keddie, Nikki R., and Beth Baron, eds. Women in Middle Eastern history: Shifting boundaries in sex and gender. Yale University Press, 2008. Khan, Bilal, Ayesha Farooq, and Zareen Hussain. "Human resource management: an Islamic perspective." Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration 2.1 (2010): 17-34. Omair, Katlin. "Typology of career development for Arab women managers in the United Arab Emirates." Career Development International 15.2 (2010): 121-143. Roded, Ruth. "Recreating Fatima, Aisha and Marginalized Women in the Early Years of Islam: Assia Djebar's Far from Medina (1991)." Hawwa 6.3 (2008): 225-253.

Psychoanaltiv and Trait Approach to Personality free essay sample

Psychoanalytic and Trait Approaches Personality may well be one of the most fascinating fractions in which many fields of psychology have spent decades trying to understand and explain. Because of the possible multiple dimensions involved in a single personality could offer explanation into why so many theories and sub-fields of psychology have been dedicated to this process. For the purpose of this students research the two approaches for gaining some understanding and explanation into personality will be the psychoanalytic approach and the trait theory approach. Throughout the following pages a omparison and contrast of the psychoanalytic approach and the trait theory approach will be examined. Two characteristics of each approach will be offered in which this student agree and two in which she does not agree along with an explanation for the agreement and disagreement. The oral and anal components of Sigmund Freud will be examined and offered to explain characteristic of personality. We will write a custom essay sample on Psychoanaltiv and Trait Approach to Personality or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Three of Freuds defense mechanisms will be presented along with real-life examples to illustrate each of these mechanisms. One of the five factors in the Big Five factor theory will be presented and used to describe this student and why this student elieves this to be the best fit. Finally, the approach, psychoanalytic or trait, will be shown in relation to which best suits this student. Comparison and Contrast In order to compare or contrast these two approaches, first, there must be a definition of each approach. The psychoanalytic approach understands us from the point of view of our unconscious and early childhood experiences. (Keegan, 2010, para. ) The trait approach to personality suggests that individuals personality are composed of broad dispositions. (Kassin, 2003, para. 5) The definition of each approach alone states the obvious differences in each approach. The psychoanalytic approach seeks to explain personality via expansion of behaviors based on an individuals experiences during childhood which shapes the individuals personality. However, the trait approach, believes that an individual is born with specific traits which are enhanced through environment and experiences over the individuals life- span. The only common ground these two approaches seem to offer is that both try to understand and explain personality. Characteristic The psychoanalytic approach contains many different characteristic, of which, a few this student can agree with. The first which agreeableness is found is defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are processes that the ego uses to distort reality to protect its self. (Friedman and Schustack, 2009, p. 7) While there are many different types of defense mechanisms, at some point in every individuals life, he or she will use this to either protect him or herself or avoid dealing with an unpleasant situation until he or she is ready to face the situation in a better frame of mind. The second characteristic of the psychoanalytic approach which agreeableness is found is the attempts to understand how the unconscious affects the conscious. The for variations is behaviors, which this student completely agrees with as a possibility. There are, however, a few characteristic of the psychoanalytic approach which this student disagrees with and the first would be the psycho sexual components. Penis enw would be on the top of this list. This student cannot agree that a young woman becomes consumed with wanting to be with her father or Jealous of the fact that he has a penis and she does not. The other characteristic of this approach which this student disagrees with is the fact that there is no way to empirically prove test results or compare data which is gained. For this student, any data collected must have a method to falsify. Trait approach also is founded in many different characteristic. The first of these characteristic which this student agrees is the Big Five theory. The Big Five model of personality represents five core traits that interact to form human personality and are as follows: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. (McCrae and Costa, 1997, p. 510) This student believes that all individuals are comprised of at least one if not more of these core traits. The second characteristic of this approach which this student agrees is ersonalities are relatively stable. This student believes that an individuals personality does not change but instead that different behaviors may be exhibited when introduced to different situations. Along with characteristic which this student agrees with within the trait approach are characteristic which this student disagrees. The trait approach tries to place personality into one category or another. This student does not believe that this is conducive to explaining personality or resulting behaviors which an individual may exhibit. The second characteristic which this tudent disagrees with is that Just because personalities are relatively stable, this makes them predictable. When an individual is introduced to a situation which could be considered traumatic or unstable, the reaction observed may be unpredictable and viewed as abnormal for that individual. Therefore, to rely on ones personality as a predictor for behavior, this student, feels is not accurate. Oral and Anal Components of Freuds Theory The oral stage of development explained by Freud, encompasses an individuals natural drives which are exhibited at birth, such as eating, being held, and sleeping. During this stage an infants only concerns are with satisfying the basics needs. The oral stage in Freudian stage of psychosexual development before the age one, when infants are driven to satisfy their drives of hunger and theist. (Friedman and Schustack, 2009, p. 0) Should a child become too dependent during this stage or too demanding, he or she may grow up to be introverted or overly dependent on others and have issues is establishing his or her own identity. The oral stage is followed by the anal stage which Freud associated with toilet training. Freud believed that this rocess could be to ridged causing the child to become obsessive, controlling, or rebellious in later years. That is, severe toilet training may lead to a great pleasure in control over feces that theoretically manifests its self in adulthood obstinacy and stinginess. (Friedman and Schustack, 2009,p. 71) Defense Mechanisms Repression Traumatic events in an individuals life can cause him or her to repress certain memories, emotions, or feelings as a method for protection. Repression is a defense Schustack,2009,p. 78) A real-life example of repression would be that of a child who was sexually assaulted by his or her parent. As a young child, he or she is unable to understand and deal with the emotions and feeling which accompany the assault and therefore, suppresses the memory. Later in life, however, these memories may resurface, and the individual will have to deal with the experience. Denial Denial may well be one of the most used of all defense mechanisms described by Freud. Denial allows an individual to move past a current situation which may be producing anxiety until a future time when the individual is more capable of dealing with the anxiety produced by the situation. Denial is defense mechanisms in which ne refuses to acknowledge anxiety provoking stimuli. (Friedman and Schustack, 2009, p. 4) A real-life example of denial would be an individual whom has a family member dyeing from cancer, yet refuses to admit that the death of the loved one is eminent. Through the use of denial, the individual is capable of helping the loved one better emotionally and at some later date deal with his or her own emotional issues which are associated with this event. Projection Projection is a defense mechanisms in which anxiety-arousing impulses are externalized by placing them, or projecting them, on to others. (Friedman and Schustack,2009. . 84) Projection most often occurs when an individual is under a great deal of stress and therefore, the individual may take out his or her frustrations on the nearest individual to him or her. A real-life example would be that a company is struggling and therefore, the owner takes out his or her anxiety, frustrations, and stress on his or her employees. While this is unhealthy and not good for company relations, the boss finds some relief from the anxiety and trys to regain composure. Extraversion: My Big Five Factor For this project, this student was asked to pick which of the factors within the Big Five actor best describes her personality and that would be extraversion. Extraversion trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. (McCrae and Costa, 1997,p. 514) If anyone would ask those who know this student to describe her two main things that would be said would be: sociable and assertive. This student spends much of her days at work dealing with not only her own clients but all the clients for the business as she is the manager and over all known greeter at the grooming shop. Assertiveness is part of what makes this student so business sa. . y, never being afraid to take a chance or state her opinion not only gains her respect of others but has also propelled her to the top of her field as a groomer. Never being afraid to learn something new and admitting when she is wrong is also part of what makes this student sociable and easily accepted by others. My Personality: Psychoanalytic Approach While there is so much of the psychoanalytic approach that this student disagrees with there is even more of the trait theory approach that this student disagrees with, therefore, this student will have to go with the psychoanalytic approach to describe her personality. This student does believe that the unconscious drives and motivates an individual as well as herself. This student also believes that she has in the past used defense mechanisms to get through anxiety provoking situations. Primarily, denial both times in her life when faced with the death of a loved one in which was no longer an option, and the emotions and feelings had to be dealt with in a healthy manner in order to move forward in life. Conclusion Throughout the proceeding pages a comparison and contrast of the psychoanalytic approach and the trait theory approach was examined. Two characteristics of each pproach were offered in which this student agree and two in which she does not agree along with an explanation for the agreement and disagreement.

How to Write a Well-Structured Essay

How to Write a Well-Structured Essay Introduction, body, and conclusion make a standard essay structure. Read the article to know the details. Essay Structure Essay structure allows you to align your thoughts and ideas logically, making them readable and easy to understand. Basic essay logic starts out with the introduction of the essay’s main idea and then explains it further in the body paragraphs and ends by summing everything up in the last paragraph the conclusion. To better understand why essay format is so important, try to imagine an essay that starts out with body paragraphs, followed by a thesis and a conclusion. Such essay would be impossible to read because of its faulty logic.  Let’s take a closer look at each of the components and learn how to structure an essay. How to Write an Essay Introduction The introduction is the main component within the structure of an essay. This part contains the main thought of the essay and states the purpose of your writing. The introductory paragraph typically consists of a thesis statement (also called a topic sentence) and a few more sentences that explain or expand the main statement. The topic sentence together with these few sentences is referred to as the introduction. Body Paragraphs The two or three paragraphs that follow the introduction are called the body of the essay. They are called so because they make up the body or the main bulk of the paper. This part of the essay usually contains research data and information that supports your thesis. Each paragraph should contain one main idea and should provide supporting details for your topic and thesis. The topic (introductory) sentence of each paragraph should support the main idea. Even though there are no strict rules regarding the body paragraph length, a general rule of thumb prescribes that a paragraph should  be neither too long (over 8 sentences) nor too short (under 2 sentences). Body paragraph size varies depending on the essay style: for example, the average paragraph length in business writing is generally 4-5 sentences, while the average paragraph length in academic writing is around 8-10 sentences. Academic writing tends to be longer because the author has to state a point, back it up with research data, and come to a conclusion. Such kind of writing usually requires a greater amount of writing. To connect your thoughts and make them logical youll need to use some connecting words and phrases: List of Connecting Words and Phrases The final part of the basic essay structure is a conclusion. It ends the essay and summarizes all ideas and thoughts written. Going further, read how to end an essay correctly. Conclusion: How to End an Essay The final part of the basic essay structure is the conclusion. It summarizes the points made in the introduction and the body paragraphs of your paper. The core function of the conclusion is not only to summarize ideas stated in the introduction and the body but to show how they relate to the thesis. A good technique is to use the conclusion starters: as we can see, therefore, naturally, summing up etc. Such connecting phrases help you to tie the points made previously with the actual text of the conclusion that you are writing. Once again, a conclusion should review your thesis and give a summary of your main ideas. Depending on your instructor’s requirements, your conclusion can range from one paragraph to a page in length. Reviewing your writing or the post-writing phase takes place when you are done writing your paper. It’s always a good idea to put your essay aside for a couple of hours and then come back to it later. It is important to read through each paragraph to make sure your ideas make sense and convey your points clearly. Also, be sure that you have not strayed away from the main point. Each paragraph should be relevant to your thesis. If you have found that any of your body paragraphs strays from your thesis, a rewrite or omission may be necessary. Note that there different types of essay  and essay formatting styles, e.g. essay format MLA  which require proper logic and structure. Some students find the writing assignments to be a daunting task  and start looking for a writing help.  In case you need help with the structuring or writing your essay,  feel free to contact our essay writers or place an order. Besides, we have a lot of essay examples written by the professional writers: Expository Essay Example | Definition Essay Examples  and many others. Reading the essay examples facilitates the writing and essay structuring process.

Eric Schmidt Management Styles and Skills

Eric Schmidt Management Styles and Skills Introduction Eric Schmidt moved from Novell to Google after he was employed by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the founders of Google. He had also worked as a Novell’s Chief executive officer, where he was in charge of management, technology innovation and implementation of policies. Eric’s aim ate Google is to form a company’s infrastructure which will be used to improve and maintain the effective developments within the company and allowing the product values and standards to stay high.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Eric Schmidt Management Styles and Skills specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In company with the two founders, Eric shares roles for Google’s daily processes. Eric experience at Novell ended a record of 20 years of success as technology specialist, industrialist and developer of enormous technologies and his great achievements and experienced goes together with Googleâ⠂¬â„¢s requirements as an energetic and fast developing search engine with an exclusive corporate culture. Eric Schmidt also worked at Sun Microsystems in a position of corporate executive officer where he showed great skills in managing the innovation of modern technologies. He also worked as a member of research panel at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) (Bloomberg, 2012). Eric pursued his undergraduate degree, electrical engineering, at Princeton University and later went to university of California, Berkeley to do his masters and Ph.D. in computer science. He joined the National Academy of Engineering in 2006, after he was acknowledged from his contribution on â€Å"the development of strategies for the world’s most successful Internet search engine company† (Bloomberg, 2012).In 2007, he became Hellman Follow at American Academy of Arts and Sciences and he presently cheers the New America Foundation’s board of directors (Bloomberg, 2012). Management Sty les and Skills Understanding Employees Eric’s achievements in all his former companies and now Google can be mainly contributed by his efforts at energizing software engineers. He is familiarly alert to their weaknesses and strengths, for instance the employees’ mania of being honest and specific. When workers are being ask anything, they are more probably to provide the answer to just that particular question and are so particular about being honest. Anybody who does not understand this conducts can consider that the engineer is hiding some facts or even cheating. Most professionals consider that society stereotypes technologists and engineers possess inappropriate social skills and they are very social within their society (Ahmed, 2011).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More They communicate successfully among other fellows and are put into sever al and separate sub-groups such as UNIX people, Linux Aficionados, and other sub-communities. Engineers often like publicity and they are intensely concerned in contributing to any impact, and creating the universe the better place. This management skill, which Eric employs, offers advantages on the Vision-Direction aspect. It aids Eric create a vision which his fans and partners are more probably to follow and be motivated by. Create Effective and Fair Work-Related Promotions Eric concluded that most engineers have never thought of having bigger positions like being managers or executives. The companies’ common way of promoting employees into managers is considered by engineers as unattractive. Eric proposed an effective system which will be used for promotion of employees and not related to the executive ladder. Eric proposes acknowledgement of employees for their productive work they do to the company and the company should implement some motivating events like stock optio ns grants. Most successful and active employees should be offered some incentives to acknowledge their performances. These strategies would boost their morale and would create them to be more innovative and active. These strategies were implemented by Eric while working at Novell and it showed good results where it boosted the morale of employees and later was seen from the income and performance of the company. Although the management attempts for these cognitions are minimal, it acts as a major incentive booster to the employees who are being acknowledged and improving their confidence and dedication to the company (Ahmed, 2011). Allow Employees to Adjust This leadership style is designed to understand company’s employees. Engineers often prefer to work on complex issues and they are stimulated by the challenge created by inflexible problems. They also work on issues which are important to them. A manager with good understanding of the desires of his employees can convert t he issue into one which the employees or engineers addicted to. The manager requires articulating a demanding and important end product, but count out the particular steps the employees should follow. This permits the employees to understand and internalize the objective using their innovative powers in attaining the leader’s objectives. This management strategy has being greatly used by Eric in all his positions to achieve company’s goals. Currently at Google, Eric has placed the company’s objective as Organizing the worlds information making it universally accessible and useful (Carlson, 2009). Google’s engineer indexing millions of web pages may simply make out using Eric’s praiseworthy objective. As a sensible issue, the aim of creating information generally available is a more consequential objective for the engineer involved in building his spot on the society, instead of an ordinary objective of rising Googles incomes by $400 million dollars . Eric believes this relocation of possession to be very vital to both the company and engineers.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Eric Schmidt Management Styles and Skills specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Let the Employees to Work outside the business Hierarchy The effective approaches to manage the employees are to allow them to work outside the business structure and this management type is mostly used by Eric to manage his engineers. He opposes limitation of employees since it makes them not to research more about the up-to-date technologies which should be innovated to meet the rapid change in the technology setting. The group leaders are answerable to the manager in the ordinary company hierarchy but it is not compulsory for them to spend all their time on the supervisors’ precedence. Through permitting engineers to select their own teams, it satisfies the engineers’ desire to fit in. As the participants joined without being directed by the management, they have a high likelihood of performing to their best. The employees as well have the freedom to work on an issue which interests them the most. Eric has allowed engineers at Google to have the freedom of spending 25% of their time to research for fields they believe interesting (Ahmed, 2011). This allows them to gain innovative spirits, hence providing Google unique competitive benefit over its opponents. Software history changes frequently, where people turn up with excellent brands of software. This effective technique of organizing groups has allowed Google produce creative and inventive results such as iGoogle and Google+. Assess Team’s Outcomes by a Trusted Employee Although the earlier management skills raise the likelihood of team achievement, it is not reliable. Groups of excellent engineers will become unsuccessful if they follow incorrect concept or have ineffective implementation. Analyzing and re viewing the steps frequently permit to identify issues. The problem is the way to communicate these undesirable issues to the team members and the management approach used by Eric is to allow the processes of the teams be evaluated by a person the team choices and respect. Most companies have at least one person who is most referred or generally respected than anybody else and this person has an approach of articulating codes and fine reminiscences. Teams are free to obtain responses or results even though the conclusion goes against them and this method mostly offers advantages in the Pride-Self-respect dimension (Carlson, 2009). Conclusion The above discussion on the management skills and styles used by Eric Schmidt talked about just engineers because they are workers he mostly manages. However, these types of management strategies can also be used in all kinds of employees. Briefly, Eric offers wide range of styles and skills except â€Å"Protection-Security. However, the exclus ion of Protection-Security dimension in his styles of leadership is not a big issue as it can initially appear because this factor has more significance during conflicts or crisis. Vision-Direction is the factor which gains most from leadership skills and styles employed by Eric.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Other elements which also gain from these types of managements are Achievement-Effectiveness, Inclusion-Belongingness and finally Pride-Self respect in that order. Successfully facilitating daring (arranging global information) and important (creating it collectively available) objectives permits the engineers at Google to be motivated and very dedicated. Through applying Eric’s objective and vision, Engineers would enhance their own understanding recognizing a series of inventive results. These expanded targets guarantee the consumers that they will obtain the highest and most applicable search products. Therefore Eric Schmidt, in his position as a person in charge, has expressed the correct conditions allowing his engineers’ achievements and as a result the Googles accomplishments. References Ahmed, M. (2011). Eric Schmidt (Ex CEO and current Chairman – Google) management style and CIO. Web. Bloomberg. (2012). Eric E. Schmidt Ph.D. Web. Carlson, N. (2009). Goo gle CEO Eric Schmidt: We Dont Really Have A Five-Year Plan (CLIP). Web.

Divorce Regulations in Great Britain Research Paper

Divorce Regulations in Great Britain - Research Paper Example One answer no doubt lies in what could be called 'the spirit of the age'. 1963 was, after all, the year in which (according to Philip Larkin) 'sexual intercourse began'. It was also the year of the so-called Profumo affair in which a Minister of the Crown admitted lying to Parliament about his relationship with a woman, and unprecedented press publicity was given to the surrounding events and rumors. (For example, another Minister was said to indulge in 'weird sexual practices' involving his appearing naked--save for a mask--at parties.) Lord Denning's exhaustive investigation into these matters (concluding that although there had indeed been orgies where guests indulged in 'sexual activities of a vile and revolting nature' and that it was true dinner had been served by a naked masked man yet there was not a 'shred of evidence' that the man in question was a Minister) did little to calm the fevered atmosphere. In the circumstances, it became increasingly difficult to believe that civ ilisation would be endangered by allowing the thousands of (often elderly and usually eminently respectable) couples living together in what came to be called 'stable illicit unions' to crush the 'empty legal shell' of an earlier marriage so that they could become in law what they had long been in fact (Castles and Flood, 1991). The massive increase in divorce associated with ...At a somewhat less lofty level, those concerned with the administration of the family justice system became preoccupied with avoiding its collapse under the apparently relentless pressure of divorce petitions. 1But even amongst those who firmly believed the ideal of marriage--in particular as a way of providing children the 'settled and harmonious life on which so much of their future happiness depends' --to be the traditional union 'for better for worse, for richer for poorer . . . till death we do part' there was concern about a lot of the hundred thousand or more people living apart from their legal spouses in stable unions to which the law denied recognition. The impossibility of legalizing such relationships against the will of an 'innocent' legal spouse denied many men and women (and in particular the children they bore) adequate social and financial protection (Ceschini, 1995).In 1951 in an attempt to meet this concern, Mrs. Eirene White had introduced a Private Member's Bill into the House of Commons, avowedly intended 'to deal with marriages in which the spouses have lived separately for seven years, but in which no hitherto recognized ground for divorce exists or in which one partner, having grounds for action, declines to take it and keeps the other partner tied against his or her will, generally for life'. The Bill did this by invoking 'a new principle, in that it looks to the breakdown of the marriage as the ground for divorce (whilst not prejudicing the right of an injured party to seek divorce under the existing matrimonial offense provisions). This was to be achieved by adding seven years' separation to the existing grounds for divorce.

Textual analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Textual analysis - Essay Example Although I agree with Talbot that the new generation needs a boost to accomplish more, I do not believe that neuroehancers is what our generation needs to get ahead in the white collar competition. Although there are many people out there who are using these drugs to try and get ahead of the competition, not all people are really making any progress in that direction. In fact, the people who are using these drugs are mostly already ahead of the competition that we wonder if these drugs actually even helped these people achieve their goals. Throughout the report of Talbot, we can clearly see that the people who used neuroenhancing drugs did not feel smarter or more creative. First, let us take a look at Alex the guy who recently graduated from Harvard. Alex is a classic example of a student who wants to achieve almost everything at once. He led a very hectic schedule so he needed an energy booster to keep him awake, alert and focused. Since Alex was admitted to Harvard and he ran a student organization, presumably, this guy is already smart and is ahead in terms of academic achievements. During his interview with Talbot, Alex clearly stated that the drug Adderall helped him focus his mind on the tasks at hand but it did not make him feel smarter. According to Alex, â€Å"The drug, along with a steady stream of caffeine, helped him to concentrate during classes and meetings, but he noticed some odd effects; at a morning tutorial he†¦ alternated between speaking too quickly and thoroughly on some subjects and feeling awkwardly quiet during other points of the discussion.† Lunch was a blur: â€Å"It’s always hard to eat much when on Adderall.† Based on the statement of Alex, we can clearly see that the effects of nueroehancers are not always good. The sudden bursts of mental activities followed by silence are not a good sign. If our generation wants stay competitive, we need more than just drugs that boost out mental

Ethiopia Essay Example for Free

Ethiopia Essay Ethiopia is one of the oldest nations of this world, dating back to almost 3000 years BC. The recent history of Ethiopia proves that it is a land which is cursed with natural and human miseries. Its geographic position also underlies the miserable state of affairs that this country has been through in the recent past. Taking inspiration from the air of human freedom which blew over the world in the twentieth century, Ethiopia has witnessed a change from the Marxist form of authoritarian governance to a free, emocratic form. The penetration of western concepts of education, science and technology, which was very fast in other third world countries like India and South Korea, is very slow over here. Ethiopia is highly underdeveloped and one of the poorest country on this world because of its geographic position, natural circumstances and human mistakes. Ethiopia is the land where the oldest human ancestors, dating back to almost 5 million years, used to exist. Today, it is a land-locked nation surrounded by countries like Sudan n the west, Kenya in the south, Somalia in the east and Eritrea in the north. With a total land area of about 43. 5 thousand square miles, it has a population of about 75 million people, in 2005. Islam is the major religion followed by 45 to 50 percent of the population which has almost 9 ethnic groups and speaks more than 75 different languages. The literacy rate was 43% in 2003 and the GDP stood at $ 60. 34 billion. The per capita income was a meager $ 80 in 2005. Only 11% of the total land is arable, and Platinum, Potash, Copper, natural gas and some traces of gold are its natural resources. Its exports touched $ 612 million in 2005 against a huge import bill of $ 2. 72 billion in 2005. The major industries of Ethiopia are cement, textiles, beverages, chemicals, and metal processing. In telecommunications, Ethiopia has 435 thousand main line users, followed by about 97 thousand cell phone users and 75 thousand internet users in 2003. The total rail network was of 681 kms in 2004, and the total distance covered by the highways was bout 33 thousand kms. in 2002 ( Ethiopia ) The progress of any nation is dependent on its agriculture, industrial output, infrastructure development and education. A strong economy is the biggest sign of a healthy nation. The current status of Ethiopia, as revealed by the figures in the above paragraph, is really poor. This necessitates investigation of the recent past history of the nation, to judge upon the parameters which contributed to the current state of affairs. The recent history of Ethiopia reveals the political transition from a military uthoritarian rule to a democratic republic nation. It tells about the devastating famines and the wars with Eritrea and the prolonged border dispute with it, and the military confrontation with Somalia. In addition, Ethiopia witnessed frequent rebellions from within the country, demonstrating the high level of dissatisfaction of the people with the military ruler and his policies. The famine, the wars and the rebellions have resulted in loss of lives for millions of Ethiopians. This is the darkest spot on the recent history of Ethiopia. The major events in the recent history are briefly described in the following paragraphs. Famines : Ethiopia witnessed two devastating famines in 1984 and 2002. BBC cites the words of Prime Minister Zenavi, â€Å" If the famine of 1984 was a nightmare, then this will be too ghastly to contemplate†. The 1984 famine killed nearly one million people. Another famine, much worse than that of 1984, struck the nation in 2002. Zenavi revealed to the BBC that nearly 15 million people faced starvation, and the international Red cross estimated that $ 11 million were needed to aid the suffering people of Ethiopia in 2002. This BBC report also cites Georgia Shaver, the World Food Program Director in Ethiopia, saying that about 14 million people needed food across the six countries in South Africa, the same number needs food in just one country, Ethiopia. Prime Minister Zenavi admits that they do not have any system to store the rain water. In the same report, BBC also cites Andrew Pendleton, Advisor to Christian aid to Ethiopia, s saying that Ethiopia’s continuing foreign debt, which is almost 10% of the state’s revenues, is the biggest hurdle in its efforts to cope with the famines. ( Massive famine stalks Ethiopia) Ethiopia and Eritrea have been fighting for the past many decades. Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, after a long guerrilla warfare. At this juncture, the border lines were never identified, marked or mapped. The dispute about the border resulted in frequent clashes, which heightened in 1998, resulting into a full fledged war or almost two years, till a peace treaty was signed between the two nations in 2000. This long, armed confrontation has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives on wither side, and ruptured the economies of both the nations. Almost 40 thousand soldiers have been killed in this war and armed troops to the number of 300 thousand remain engaged in guarding the 800 km border. All the civilians residing in the affected areas have fled, and both the armies are guarding empty villages. ( Pike John ) On the other hand, the warring factions of the Islamic fundamentalists have drawn attention from both Ethiopia and Eritrea. While Eritrea supports one faction with arms and troops, with an intention to prompt them to attack Ethiopia from its south east border, Ethiopia supports the other faction in all ways possible, to counter the move. (Pike John ) Such never ending warlike situations have taken a very heavy toll on the development of Ethiopia. The political status of Ethiopia has also undergone a sea-change in the recent past. In 1974, the Emperor was overthrown by a military coup, and Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam became country’s ruler in 1977. The policies of the military rule were widely unpopular and many rebellion groups became active in the country. These forces formed a coalition known as Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) which took control over the capital city of Addis Ababa on 28 May 1991. A transitional charter was approved in 1991, and since then Ethiopia is a democratic republic country. (History, politics, administration) The events of the recent history of Ethiopia prove that the country is hit with chronic problems, and options before the government are very few. The complexity of the situation created by these problems is so complex that a permanent solution seems impossible. The government is faced with political, military, geographic, and economic problems, the magnitude of which is mind blowing. The situation is not only tough, but seems to be so grim that only downward trend can be perceived with little or no hopes or improvement for a better future. The multiple characteristics of the problems, has almost ruptured the nation. It is beyond the scope of the government to handle the situation single handed. Ethiopia has been lucky to get the required aid from foreign countries, and international agencies. As a matter of fact, Ethiopia has been able to counter the problems , largely due to these foreign aid, which very often is generous also. Many agencies are functional in Ethiopia to help the local government and the local population. The military rule during the 1970s and 80s tried to revamp the economy by declaring radical measures. These measures vested total control of the economy in the hands of the state. Nationalization of all major industrial, financial and commercial companies took place in 1975. Villagization† was one more, most unpopular directive from the military ruler, under which people were compelled to move away from highland to lowland areas. The policy had to be abandoned in 1986. The democratic rulers were more sensible in their approach. Ever since it came into existence in 1991, it has been facing many serious challenges. Its first success is in offering political stability and forming strategies which appeal to the foreign help agencies. While no tangible results are seen at the ground level so far, the democratic government has demonstrated its resolve to fight with the chronic problems, and pursue the helping hands to get help. Today, many agencies are working in close co-ordination with the government to help implement the various strategies. The economy is still very ragile, and weak, the condition of people is still miserable, but the efforts put in by the government and the foreign agencies in the recent years, is likely to bring better results in the future. For example the schools and colleges established in the last ten years will present educated adults to the society after another 10 or 20 years. Strong development is not seen in any area not because the government or the people lack the will, but because of the enormity and complexity of the situation and the lack of resources to ackle them. The areas that need to be addressed on topmost priority are : 1. Food : Ethiopia needs to feed the millions of hungry people 2. Increase agricultural output: maybe by improvement in ways of farming. 3. Health care : Increase health care facilities to reach the remote areas also. 4. Water and irrigation : Water is a scarce commodity here, and technological advances have to be brought in to preserve water and utilize it appropriately. This is a very crucial sector which will help in fighting the devastating famines. 5. Reduction of poverty: In 2003, about 44% of the estimated 67 million people of Ethiopia lived below the poverty line, according to a World Bank report. ( Ethiopia) 6.  Strengthen the economy: By devising and effective implementation of schemes to increase the GDP and the Per Capita Income and decrease the huge gap between export and import bills. These are the areas where the state has been lacking, to a great extent. It has only made a beginning by devising plans and schemes in conjunction with foreign agencies. The role of the state in the development of Ethiopia is very limited, because the state treasury is always burdened with other issues, and has little or nothing to spare for the development projects. The UNDP example, cited below proves this point. One of the many sectors in which UNDP works in Ethiopia is poverty reduction. Agricultural development is a priority area in this program. It targets at : 1. Promotion of access and utilization of technological improvements in farming and up gradation of facilities for result oriented research. 2. Use of ICT for agricultural information management by establishing connectivity between federal and regional states. 3. Implement use of small scale irrigation. 4. Provide service to rural communities by effective implementation of small scale finance institutions. The following results were achieved : 1. Nearly 10,000 farmers and 4,000 farmers were trained on how to use the technologies in farming. On a national scale nearly 3. million farmers benefited and the agricultural yields were almost doubled in areas where the rainfall was adequate. 2. A study on national computerized agricultural system was conducted and its pilot phase is started in 2001. This is likely to benefit the sector by giving timely information. ( Agricultural development program ) Ethiopia faces many impediments which tend to strangle its development. In an interview, Michael Glantz, a political scientist working with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, says that if he had the liberty to add one more word to the title page of â€Å"Time’ magazine issue on Africa in 1984, he would say, â€Å" coup, corruption , onflict and climate’, are the main obstacles to development in Africa. Glantz Michael ) The same holds true for Ethiopia also. She is land locked in the horns of the African continent with two chronic enemies as her neighbors. Only 45% of the total land is arable and a meager 3% is irrigated. She does not have a port of her own, and the rainfall is totally unpredictable. There is no access to the vast seas or oceans. She is connected to the Red Sea through a neighboring country. The geographic position and the climate of Ethiopia is surely one of he biggest obstacles to the development of Ethiopia. Geography) Military aggressions have hit Ethiopia very hard. Ethiopia has to face it on two fronts, Eritrea in north and Somalia in south. Prolonged warfare with these nations, for many decades, has made a severe dent in the economy of the nation. Perhaps, this dent is permanent and irreparable. The country is already under immense debt pressure and there seems to be no end to the disputes with Eritrea. A report of International Monetary Fund suggests that if Ethiopia needs to maintain a growth level of 7% . Given the current state of affairs, this report raises serious doubts whether this is an achievable target or not. ( Andrews David, Erasmus Lodewyk Powell Robert ) Human mistakes, especially by the political leadership account for the third obstacle to the development of Ethiopia. The denial to accept the peace treaty with Eritrea, after signing it, is one example which proves this point. ( Ethiopia and Eritrea) All the attention, energy and finances have been focused on fights, coups and confrontations. The leadership as not advocated the uselessness of war, and concentrating on socio-economic issues instead. Conclusively it can be said that Ethiopia is cursed country in true sense, facing problems of famines, military confrontations geographic conditions and natural forces, which are colossal. This has already crippled the nations economy, and there seems to be no end to the misery of this nation. Elevation of Ethiopia from one of the poorest country to a middle level economy seems an uphill task. Will she be able to perform this task? Only time can tell. References http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107505.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2440093.stm http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/eritrea.htm http://www.et.undp.org/ethiopia/intro.htm#History http://www.et.undp.org/poverty/poverty.htm http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Obstacles_Development.html http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/ethindex.htm

The Tempest Is A Play About The Power And Dangers Of Creativity :: essays research papers

The Tempest is a play about the power and dangers of creativity. Discuss. "From beginning to end the play-write gives prominence to the problems of dominion, freedom, political failure and of repetition." Like Russ Mc Donald I also believe that Shakespeare devoted his last comedy largely to the exploration of the shapes and effects that possession and the search for power can have on persons. The Tempest's central character, Prospero, is also crucial to this interpretation. His unique magical gifts give him undefeatable power to wreak vengeance on his enemies. It is a position fraught with dangers both for him and for others. But he is not the only veichel. Entwined with this wizard's inventive qualities are questions over what can only be called, by a modern reader as the theme of colonialism in the play which pervades the minds of all the 'civilised' Italians; Caliban and Miranda are the two primary victims of this patriarchal society. One must also make a note of the motif of usurpation in the play and recognise its interesting implications. Shakespeare initiates a mood of danger and imagination from the off, as the play begins with the great tempest which threatens to bring the sailors to their doom. The tempest we also find out was the intention of Prospero rather than the will of nature thus immediately establishing Prospero as a character with unusual powers but with severe possibilities, this is highlighted by the juxtaposition of the pleading Miranda who says†¦.. This is not the only time in the play where she plays this role, when Ferdinand falls in love with Miranda Prospero treats him harshly and Miranda's leaps to his defence while telling Ferdinand †¦.. Her we see the danger that Propero's magic combined with his nature can prove too much for some. But there is more danger ahead as we shall see.

Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 1-2

PART ONE SATURDAY NIGHT Like one that on that lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And no more turns his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 1 THE BREEZE The Breeze blew into San Junipero in the shotgun seat of Billy Winston's Pinto wagon. The Pinto lurched dangerously from shoulder to centerline, the result of Billy trying to roll a joint one-handed while balancing a Coors tallboy and bopping to the Bob Marley song that crackled through the stereo. â€Å"We be jammin' now, mon!† Billy said, toasting The Breeze with a slosh of the Coors. The Breeze shook his head balefully. â€Å"Keep the can down, watch the road, let me roll the doobie,† he said. â€Å"Sorry, Breeze,† Billy said. â€Å"I'm just stoked that we're on the road.† Billy's admiration for The Breeze was boundless. The Breeze was truly cool, a party renaissance man. He spent his days at the beach and his nights in a cloud of sinsemilla. The Breeze could smoke all night, polish off a bottle of tequila, maintain well enough to drive the forty miles back to Pine Cove without arousing the suspicion of a single cop, and be on the beach by nine the next morning acting as if the term hangover were too abstract to be considered. On Billy Winston's private list of personal heroes The Breeze ranked second only to David Bowie. The Breeze twisted the joint, lit it, and handed it to Billy for the first hit. â€Å"What are we celebrating?† Billy croaked, trying to hold in the smoke. The Breeze held up a finger to mark the question, while he dug the Dionysian Book of Days: An Occasion for Every Party from the pocket of his Hawaiian shirt. He flipped through the pages until he found the correct date. â€Å"Nambian Independence Day,† he announced. â€Å"Bitchin',† Billy said. â€Å"Party down for Nambian Independence.† â€Å"It says,† The Breeze continued, â€Å"that the Nambians celebrate their independence by roasting and eating a whole giraffe and drinking a mixture of fermented guava juice and the extract of certain tree frogs that are thought to have magical powers. At the height of the celebration, all the boys who have come of age are circumcised with a sharp stone.† â€Å"Maybe we can circumcise a few Techies tonight if it gets boring,† Billy said. Techies was the term The Breeze used to refer to the male students of San Junipero Technical College. For the most part, they were ultraconservative, crew-cut youths who were perfectly satisfied with their role as bulk stock to be turned into tools for industrial America by the rigid curricular lathe of San Junipero Tech. To The Breeze, the Techies' way of thinking was so foreign that he couldn't even muster a healthy loathing for them. They were simply nonentities. On the other hand, the coeds of S.J. Tech occupied a special place in The Breeze's heart. In fact, finding a few moments of blissful escape between the legs of a nubile coed was the only reason he was subjecting himself to a forty-mile sojourn in the company of Billy Winston. Billy Winston was tall, painfully thin, ugly, smelled bad, and had a particular talent for saying the wrong thing in almost any situation. On top of it all, The Breeze suspected that Billy was gay. The idea had been reinforced one night when he dropped in on Billy at his job as night desk clerk at the Rooms-R-Us motel and found him leafing through a Playgirl magazine. In Breeze's business one got used to running across the skeletons in people's closets. If Billy's skeleton wore women's underwear, it didn't really matter. Homosexuality on Billy Winston was like acne on a leper. The up side of Billy Winston was that he had a car that ran and would take The Breeze anywhere he wanted to go. The Breeze's van was currently being held by some Big Sur growers as collateral against the forty pounds of sinsemilla buds he had stashed in a suitcase at his trailer. â€Å"The way I see it,† said Billy, â€Å"we hit the Mad Bull first. Do a pitcher of margaritas at Jose's, dance a little at the Nuked Whale, and if we don't find any nookie, we head back home for a nightcap at the Slug.† â€Å"Let's hit the Whale first and see what's shakin',† The Breeze said. The Nuked Whale was San Junipero's premier college dance club. If The Breeze was going to find a coed to cuddle, it would be at the Whale. He had no intention of making the drive with Billy back to Pine Cove for a nightcap at the Head of the Slug. Closing up the Slug was tantamount to having a losing night, and The Breeze was through with being a loser. Tomorrow when he sold the forty pounds of grass he would pocket twenty grand. After twenty years blowing up and down the coast, living on nickle-dime deals to make rent, The Breeze was, at last, stepping into the winners' circle, and there was no room for a loser like Billy Winston. Billy parked the Pinto in a yellow zone a block away from the Nuked Whale. From the sidewalk they could hear the throbbing rhythms of the latest techno-pop dance music. The unlikely pair covered the block in a few seconds, Billy striding ahead while The Breeze brought up the rear with a laid-back shuffle. As Billy slipped under the neon whale tail and into the club, the doorman – a fresh-faced slab of muscle and crew cut – caught him by the arm. â€Å"Let's see some I.D.† Billy flashed an expired driver's license as Breeze caught up to him and began digging into the pocket of his Day-Glo green surf shorts for his wallet. The doorman raised a hand in dismissal. â€Å"That's okay, buddy, with that hairline you don't need any.† The Breeze ran his hand over his forehead self-consciously. Last month he had turned forty, a dubious achievement for a man who had once vowed never to trust anyone over thirty. Billy reached around him and slapped two dollar bills into the doorman's hand. â€Å"Here,† he said, â€Å"buy yourself a night with an Inflate-A-Date.† â€Å"What!† The doorman vaulted off his stool and puffed himself up for combat, but Billy had already scampered away into the crowded club. The Breeze stepped in front of the doorman and raised his hands in surrender. â€Å"Cut him some slack, man. He's got problems.† â€Å"He's going to have some problems,† the doorman bristled. â€Å"No, really,† The Breeze continued, wishing that Billy had spared him the loyal gesture and therefore the responsibility of pacifying this collegiate cave man. â€Å"He's on medication. Psychological problems.† The doorman was unsure. â€Å"If this guy is dangerous, get him out of here.† â€Å"Not dangerous, just a little squirrelly – he's bipolar Oedipal,† The Breeze said with uncharacteristic pomposity. â€Å"Oh,† the doorman said, as if it had all become clear. â€Å"Well, keep him in line or you're both out.† â€Å"No problem.† The Breeze turned and joined Billy at the bar amid a crunch of beer-drinking students. Billy handed him a Heineken. Billy said, â€Å"What did you say to that asshole to calm him down?† â€Å"I told him you wanted to fuck your mom and kill your dad.† â€Å"Cool. Thanks, Breeze.† â€Å"No charge.† The Breeze tipped his beer in salute. Things were not going well for him. Somehow he had been snared into this male-bonding bullshit with Billy Winston, when all he wanted to do was ditch him and get laid. The Breeze turned and leaned back, scanning the club for a likely candidate. He had set his sights on a homely but tight-assed little blond in leather pants when Billy broke his concentration. â€Å"You got any blow, man?† Billy had shouted to be heard over the music, but his timing was off; the song had ended. Everyone at the bar turned toward The Breeze and waited, as if the next few words he spoke would reveal the true meaning of life, the winning numbers in the state lottery, and the unlisted phone number of God. The Breeze grabbed Billy by the front of the shirt and hustled him to the back of the club, where a group of Techies were pounding a pinball machine, oblivious to anything but buzzers and bells. Billy looked like a frightened child who had been dragged from a movie theater for shouting out the ending. â€Å"First,† The Breeze hissed, waving a trembling finger under Billy's nose to enumerate his point, â€Å"first, I do not use or sell cocaine.† This was half true. He did not sell since he had done six months in Soledad for dealing – and would go up for five years if he was busted again. He used it only when it was offered or when he needed bait when trolling for women. Tonight he was holding a gram. â€Å"Second, if I did use, I wouldn't want it announced to everybody in San Junipero.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Breeze.† Billy tried to look small and weak. â€Å"Third,† The Breeze shook three stubby fingers in Billy's face, â€Å"we have an agreement. If one of us scores, the other one gets cut loose. Well, I think I found someone, so cut loose.† Billy started to shuffle toward the door, head down, his lower lip hanging, like the bloated victim of a lynch mob. After a few steps he turned. â€Å"If you need a ride – if things don't work out – I'll be at the Mad Bull.† The Breeze, as he watched the injured Billy skulk away, felt a twinge of remorse. Forget it, he thought, Billy had it coming. After the deal tomorrow he wouldn't need Billy or any of the quarter-ounce-a-week buyers of his ilk. The Breeze was eager for the time when he could afford to be without friends. He strutted across the dance floor toward the blond in the leather pants. Having wafted through most of his forty years as a single man, The Breeze had come to recognize the importance of the pickup line. At best, it should be original, charming, concise but lyrical – a catalyst to invoke curiosity and lust. Knowing this, he approached his quarry with the calm of a well-armed man. â€Å"Yo, babe,† he said, â€Å"I've got a gram of prime Peruvian marching powder. You want to go for a walk?† â€Å"Pardon me?† the girl said, somewhere between astonishment and disgust. The Breeze noticed that she had a wide-eyed, fawnlike look – Bambi with too much mascara. He gave her his best surfer-boy smile. â€Å"I was wondering if you'd like to powder your nose.† â€Å"You're old enough to be my father,† she said. The Breeze was staggered by the rejection. As the girl escaped onto the crowded dance floor, he fell back to the bar to consider strategy. Go on to the next one? Everybody gets tubed now and then; you just have to climb back on the board and wait for the next wave. He scanned the dance floor looking for a chance at the wild ride. Nothing but sorority girls with absolutely perfect hair. No chance. His fantasy of jumping one and using her until her perfect hair was tangled into a hopeless knot at the back of her head had been relegated long ago to the realm of fairy tales and free money. The energy in San Junipero was all wrong. It didn't matter – he'd be a rich man tomorrow. Best to catch a ride back to Pine Cove. With luck he could get to the Head of the Slug Saloon before last call and pick up one of the standby bitches who still valued good company and didn't require a hundred bucks worth of blow to get upside down with you. As he stepped into the street a chill wind bit at his bare legs and swept through his thin shirt. Thumbing the forty miles back to Pine Cove was going to suck, big time. Maybe Billy was still at the Mad Bull? No, The Breeze told himself, there are worse things than freezing your ass off. He shrugged off the cold and fell into a steady stride toward the highway, his new fluorescent yellow deck shoes squeaking with every step. They rubbed his little toe when he walked. After five blocks he felt the blister break and go raw. He cursed himself for becoming another slave to fashion. Half a mile outside of San Junipero the streetlights ended. Darkness added to The Breeze's list of mounting aggravations. Without trees and buildings to break its momentum, the cold Pacific wind increased and whipped his clothes around him like torn battle flags. Blood from his damaged toe was beginning to spot the canvas of his deck shoe. A mile out of town The Breeze abandoned the dancing, smiling, and tipping of a ghost-hat that was supposed to charm drivers into stopping to give a ride to a poor, lost surfer. Now he trudged, head down in the dark, his back to traffic, a single frozen thumb thrust into the air beaconing, then changing into a middle finger of defiance as each car passed without slowing. â€Å"Fuck you! You heartless assholes!† His throat was sore from screaming. He tried to think of the money – sweet, liberating cash, crispy and green – but again and again he was brought back to the cold, the pain in his feet, and the increasingly dismal chance of getting a ride home. It was late, and the traffic was thinning to a car every five minutes or so. Hopelessness circled in his mind like a vulture. He considered doing the cocaine, but the idea of entering a too-fast jangle on a lonely, dark road and crashing into a paranoid, teeth-chattering shiver seemed somewhat insane. Think about the money. The money. It was all Billy Winston's fault. And the guys in Big Sur; they didn't have to take his van. It wasn't like he had ever ripped anyone off on a big deal before. It wasn't like he was a bad guy. Hadn't he let Robert move into his trailer, rent free, when his old lady threw him out? Didn't he help Robert put a new head gasket in his truck? Hadn't he always played square – let people try the product before buying? Didn't he advance his regulars a quarter-ounce until payday? In a business that was supposed to be fast and loose, wasn't he a pillar of virtue? Right as rain? Straight as an arrow†¦. A car pulled up twenty yards behind him and hit the brights. He didn't turn. Years of experience told him that anyone using that approach was only offering a ride to one place, the Iron-bar Hotel. The Breeze walked on, as if he didn't notice the car. He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his surf shorts, as if fighting the cold, found the cocaine and slipped it into his mouth, paper and all. Instantly his tongue went numb. He raised his hands in surrender and turned, expecting to see the flashing reds and blues of a county sheriff cruiser. But it wasn't a cop. It was just two guys in an old Chevy, playing games. He could make out their figures past the headlights. The Breeze swallowed the paper the cocaine had been wrapped in. Taken by a burning anger, fueled by blow and blood-lust, he stormed toward the Chevy. â€Å"C'mon out, you fucking clowns.† Someone crawled out of the passenger side. It looked like a child – no, thicker – a dwarf. The Breeze blew on. â€Å"Bring a tire iron, you little shit. You'll need it.† â€Å"Wrong,† said the dwarf, the voice was low and gravely. The Breeze pulled up and squinted into the headlights. It wasn't a dwarf, it was a big dude, a giant. Huge, getting bigger as it moved toward him. Too fast. The Breeze turned and started to run. He got three steps before the jaws clamped over his head and shoulders, crunching through his bones as if they were peppermint sticks. When the Chevy pulled back onto the highway, the only thing left of The Breeze was a single fluorescent-yellow deck shoe. It would be a fleeting mystery to passers-by for two days until a hungry crow carried it away. No one would notice that there was still a foot inside. PART TWO SUNDAY All mystical experience is coincidence; and vice versa, of course. – Tom Stoppard, Jumpers 2 PINE COVE The village of Pine Cove lay in a coastal pine forest just south of the great Big Sur wilderness area, on a small natural harbor. The village was established in the 1880s by a dairy farmer from Ohio who found verdant hills around the cove provided perfect fodder for his cows. The settlement, such as it was – two families and a hundred cows – went nameless until the 1890s, when the whalers came to town and christened it Harpooner's Cove. With a cove to shelter their small whaling boats and the hills from which they could sight the migrating gray whales far out to sea, the whalers prospered and the village grew. For thirty years a greasy haze of death blew overhead from the five-hundred-gallon rendering pots where thousands of whales were boiled down to oil. When the whale population dwindled and electricity and kerosene became an alternative to whale oil, the whalers abandoned Harpooner's Cove, leaving behind mountains of whale bone and the rusting hulks of their rendering kettles. To this day many of the town's driveways are lined with the bleached arches of whale ribs, and even now, when the great gray whales pass, they rise out of the water a bit and cast a suspicious eye toward the little cove, as if expecting the slaughter to begin again. After the whalers left, the village survived on cattle ranching and the mining of mercury, which had been discovered in the nearby hills. The mercury ran out about the same time the coastal highway was completed through Big Sur, and Harpooner's Cove became a tourist town. Passers-through who wanted a little piece of California's burgeoning tourist industry but didn't want to deal with the stress of life in San Francisco or Los Angeles, stopped and built motels, souvenir shops, restaurants, and real estate offices. The hills around Pine Cove were subdivided. Pine forests and pastures became ocean-view lots, sold for a song to tourists from California's central valley who wanted to retire on the coast. Again the village grew, populated by retirees and young couples who eschewed the hustle of the city to raise their children in a quiet coastal town. Harpooner's Cove became a village of the newly wed and the nearly dead. In the 1960s the young, environmentally conscious residents decided that the name Harpooner's Cove hearkened back to a time of shame for the village and that the name Pine Cove was more appropriate to the quaint, bucolic image the town had come to depend on. And so, with the stroke of a pen and the posting of a sign – WELCOME TO PINE COVE, GATEWAY TO BIG SUR – history was whitewashed. The business district was confined to an eight-block section of Cypress Street, which ran parallel to the coast highway. Most of the buildings on Cypress sported facades of English Tudor half-timbering, which made Pine Cove an anomaly among the coastal communities of California with their predominantly Spanish-Moorish architecture. A few of the original structures still stood, and these, with their raw timbers and feel of the Old West, were a thorn in the side of the Chamber of Commerce, who played on the village's English look to promote tourism. In a half-assed attempt at thematic consistency, several pseudo-authentic, Ole English restaurants opened along Cypress Street to lure tourists with the promise of tasteless English cuisine. (There had even been an attempt by one entrepreneur to establish an authentic English pizza place, but the enterprise was abandoned with the realization that boiled pizza lost most of its character.) Pine Cove's locals avoided patronage of these restaurants with the duplicity of a Hindu cattle rancher: willing to reap the profits without sampling the product. Locals dined at the few, out-of-the-way cafes that were content with carving a niche out of the hometown market with good food and service rather than gouging an eye out of the swollen skull of the tourist market with overpriced, pretentious charm. The shops along Cypress Street were functional only in that they moved money from the pockets of the tourists into the local economy. From the standpoint of the villagers, there was nothing of practical use for sale in any of the stores. For the tourist, immersed in the oblivion of vacation spending, Cypress Street provided a bonanza of curious gifts to prove to the folks back home that they had been somewhere. Somewhere where they had obviously forgotten that soon they would return home to a mortgage, dental bills, and an American Express bill that would descend at the end of the month like a financial Angel of Death. And they bought. They bought effigies of whales and sea otters carved in wood, cast in plastic, brass, or pewter, stamped on key chains, printed on postcards, posters, book covers, and condoms. They bought all sorts of useless junk imprinted with: Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, from bookmarks to bath soap. Over the years it became a challenge to the Pine Cove shopowners to come up with an item so tacky that it would not sell. Gus Brine, owner of the local general store, suggested once at a Chamber of Commerce meeting that the merchants, without compromising their high standards, might put cow manure into jars, imprint the label with Pine Cove, Gateway to Big Sur, and market it as authentic gray whale feces. As often happens with matters of money, the irony of Brine's suggestion was lost, a motion was carried, a plan was laid, and if it had not been for a lack of volunteers to do the actual packaging, the shelves of Cypress Street would have displayed numbered, limited-edition jars of Genuine Whale Waste. The residents of Pine Cove went about their work of fleecing the tourists with a slow, methodical resolve that involved more waiting than activity. Life, in general, was slow in Pine Cove. Even the wind that came in off the Pacific each evening crept slowly through the trees, allowing the villagers ample time to bring in wood and stoke their fires against the damp cold. In the morning, down on Cypress Street, the Open signs flipped with a languid disregard for the times posted on the doors. Some shops opened early, some late, and some not at all, especially if it was a nice day for a walk on the beach. It was as if the villagers, having found their little bit of peace, were waiting for something to happen. And it did. Around midnight on the night that The Breeze disappeared, every dog in Pine Cove began barking. During the following fifteen minutes, shoes were thrown, threats were made, and the sheriff was called and called again. Wives were beaten, pistols were loaded, pillows were pounded, and Mrs. Feldstein's thirty-two cats simultaneously coughed up hairballs on her porch. Blood pressure went up, aspirin was opened, and Milo Tobin, the town's evil developer, looked out the front window to see his young neighbor, Rosa Cruz, in the nude, chasing twin Pomeranians around her front yard. The strain was too much for his chain-smoker's heart, and he flopped on the floor like a fish and died. On another hill, Van Williams, the tree surgeon, had reached the limit of his patience with his neighbors, a family of born-again dog breeders whose six Labrador retrievers barked all night long with or without supernatural provocation. With his professional-model chain saw he dropped a hundred-foot Monterey pine tree on their new Dodge Evangeline van. A few minutes later, a family of raccoons who normally roamed the streets of Pine Cove breaking into garbage cans, were taken, temporarily, with a strange sapience and ignored their normal activities to steal the stereo out of the ruined van and install it in their den that lay in the trunk of a hollow tree. An hour after the cacophony began, it stopped. The dogs had delivered their message, and as it goes in cases where dogs warn of coming earthquakes, tornadoes, or volcanic eruptions, the message was completely misconstrued. What was left the next morning was a very sleepy, grumpy village brimming with lawsuits and insurance claims, but without a single clue that something was coming. At six that morning a cadre of old men gathered outside the general store to discuss the events of the night before, never once letting their ignorance of what had happened interfere with a good bull session. A new, four-wheel-drive pickup pulled into the small parking lot, and Augustus Brine crawled out, jangling his huge key ring as if it were a talisman of power sent down by the janitor god. He was a big man, sixty years old, white haired and bearded, with shoulders like a mountain gorilla. People alternately compared him to Santa Claus and the Norse god Odin. â€Å"Morning, boys,† Brine grumbled to the old men, who gathered behind him as he unlocked the door and let them into the dark interior of Brine's Bait, Tackle, and Fine Wines. As he switched on the lights and started brewing the first two pots of his special, secret, dark-roast coffee, Brine was assaulted by a salvo of questions. â€Å"Gus, did you hear the dogs last night?† â€Å"We heard a tree went down on your hill. You hear anything about it?† â€Å"Can you brew some decaf? Doctor says I've got to cut the caffeine.† â€Å"Bill thinks it was a bitch in heat started the barking, but it was all over town.† â€Å"Did you get any sleep? I couldn't get back to sleep.† Brine raised a big paw to signal that he was going to speak, and the old men fell silent. It was like that every morning: Brine arrived in the middle of a discussion and was immediately elected to the role of expert and mediator. â€Å"Gentlemen, the coffee's on. In regard to the events of last night, I must claim ignorance.† â€Å"You mean it didn't wake you up?† Jim Whatley asked from under the brim of a Brooklyn Dodgers baseball cap. â€Å"I retired early last night with two lovely teenage bottles of cabernet, Jim. Anything that happened after that did so without my knowledge or consent.† Jim was miffed with Brine's detachment. â€Å"Well, every goddamn dog in town started barking last night like the end of the world was coming.† â€Å"Dogs bark,† Brine stated. He left off the â€Å"big deal† – it was understood from his tone. â€Å"Not every dog in town. Not all at once. George thinks it's supernatural or something.† Brine raised a white eyebrow toward George Peters, who stood by the coffee machine sporting a dazzling denture grin. â€Å"And what, George, leads you to the conclusion that the cause of this disturbance was supernatural?† â€Å"Woke up with a hard-on for the first time in twenty years. It got me right up. I thought I'd rolled over on the flashlight I keep by the bed for midnight emergencies.† â€Å"How were the batteries, Georgie?† someone interjected. â€Å"I tried to wake up the wife. Whacked her on the leg with it just to get her attention. I told her the bear was charging and I have one bullet left.† â€Å"And?† Brine filled the pause. â€Å"She told me to put some ice on it to make the swelling go down.† â€Å"Well,† Brine said, stroking his beard, â€Å"that certainly sounds like a supernatural experience to me.† He turned to the rest of the group and announced his judgment. â€Å"Gents, I agree with George. As with Lazarus rising from the dead, this unexplained erection is hard evidence of the supernatural at work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have cash customers to attend to.† The last remark was not meant as a dig toward the old men, whom Brine allowed to drink coffee all day free of charge. Augustus Brine had long ago won their loyalty, and it would have been absurd for any one of them to think of going anywhere else to purchase wine, or cheese, or bait, or gasoline, even though Brine's prices were a good thirty percent higher than the Thrifty-Mart down the street. Could the pimple-faced clerks at the Thrifty-Mart give advice on which bait was best for rock cod, a recipe for an elegant dill sauce for that same fish, recommend a fine wine to complement the meal, and at the same time ask after the well-being of every family member for three generations by name? They could not! And therein lay the secret of Augustus Brine's ability to run a successful business based entirely on the patronage of locals in an economy catering to tourists. Brine made his way to the counter, where an attractive woman in a waitress apron awaited, impatiently worrying a five-dollar bill. â€Å"Five dollars worth of unleaded, Gus.† She thrust the bill at Brine. â€Å"Rough night, Jenny?† â€Å"Does it show?† Jenny made a show of fixing her shoulder-length auburn hair and smoothing her apron. â€Å"A safe assumption, only,† Brine said with a smile that revealed teeth permanently stained by years of coffee and pipe smoke. â€Å"The boys tell me there was a citywide disturbance last night.† â€Å"Oh, the dogs. I thought it was just my neighborhood. I didn't get to sleep until four in the morning, then the phone rang and woke me up.† â€Å"I heard about you and Robert splitting up,† Brine said. â€Å"Did someone send out a newsletter or something? We've only been separated a few days.† Irritation put an unattractive rasp in her voice. â€Å"It's a small town,† Brine said softly. â€Å"I wasn't trying to be nosy.† â€Å"I'm sorry, Gus. It's just the lack of sleep. I'm so tired I was hallucinating on the way down here. I thought I heard Wayne Newton singing ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus.'† â€Å"Maybe you did.† â€Å"The music was coming from a pine tree. I'm telling you, I've been a basket case all week.† Brine reached across the counter and patted her hand. â€Å"The only constant in this life is change, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Give yourself a break.† Just then Vance McNally, the local ambulance driver, burst through the door. The radio on his belt made a sizzling sound as if he'd just stepped out of a deep fryer. â€Å"Guess who vapor locked last night?† he said, obviously hoping that no one would know. Everyone turned and waited for his announcement. Vance basked in their attention for a moment to confirm his self-importance. â€Å"Milo Tobin,† he said, finally. â€Å"The evil developer?† George asked. â€Å"That's him. Sometime around midnight. We just bagged him,† Vance said to the group. Then to Brine, â€Å"Can I get a pack of Marlboros?† The old men searched each other's faces for the right reaction to Vance's news. Each was waiting for another to say what they were all thinking, which was, â€Å"It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy,† or even, â€Å"Good riddance,† but as they were all aware that Vance's next rude announcement could be about them, they tried to think of something nice to say. You don't park in the handicapped space lest the forces of irony give you a reason to, and you don't speak ill of the dead unless you want to get bagged next. Jenny saved them. â€Å"He sure kept that Chrysler of his clean, didn't he?† â€Å"Sure did.† â€Å"The thing sparkled.† â€Å"He kept it like new, he did.† Vance smiled at the discomfort he had caused. â€Å"See you boys later.† He turned to leave and bumped straight into the little man standing behind him. â€Å"Excuse me, fella,† Vance said. No one had seen him come in or had heard the bell over the door. He was an Arab, dark, with a long, hooked nose and old; his skin hung around his piercing gray-blue eyes in folds. He wore a wrinkled, gray flannel suit that was at least two sizes too big. A red stocking cap rode high on the back of his bald head. His rumpled appearance combined with this diminutive size made him look like a ventriloquist's dummy that had spent a long time in a small suitcase. The little man brandished a craggy hand under Vance's nose and let loose with a string of angry Arabic that swirled through the air like blue on a Damascus blade. Vance backed out the door, jumped into his ambulance, and motored away. Everyone stood stunned by the ferocity of the little man's anger. Had they really seen blue swirls? Were the Arab's teeth really filed to points? Were, for that moment, his eyes glowing white-hot? It would never be discussed. Augustus Brine was the first to recover. â€Å"Can I help you with something, sir?† The unnatural light in the Arab's eyes dimmed, and in a humble, obsequious manner he said, â€Å"Excuse me, please, but could I trouble you for a small quantity of salt?†

Why Understanding Learning Style Is Useful Education Essay

Harmonizing to Honey ( 2006 ) define larning manner is a method through which pupils use to get the hang his or her learning manner, by believing and to work outing jobs. It is besides called ‘orientations or ‘approaches ‘ to larning. Honey ( 2006 ) identified four distinguishable larning manners such as are Activist, Theorist, Pragmatist and Reflector. Persons use these four acquisition attacks to larn. Learning is really indispensable for life ; it is the key and it reinforces everything. Learning is formal every bit good as informal and a procedure every bit good as an result. It is witting and unconscious. We learn because we want to larn. Reece and Walker ( 2002 ) stated that â€Å" as a pupil, you should hold the competency and the cognition to use all your accomplishment in pattern and be able to analyze and measure the service user nursing attention comprehensively. For scholars to derive understanding and cognition they need to listen and understand what was taught. In add-on a construct of larning manner is used to depict people ‘s differences by which they learn. Each person have method to absorb and treat experiences every bit good as information. Learning manners has become of import for persons, pedagogues, parents companies and to understand the good acquisition environment allows persons differences. For illustration, research workers have suggested that one ‘s larning environment affects the pupils ‘ public presentation with respects to the consistence with their acquisition penchants. Learning manner is a method through which pupils use to get the hang his or her learning manner, by believing and to work outing jobs. It is besides called ‘orientations or ‘approaches ‘ to larning. Kolb ( 1984 ) and Bastable ( 2003 ) , both agreed in their statement that larning manners should non be perceived as fixed personality traits but as adaptative. Students have their peculiar manner of acquisition and will larn best when there is a assortment of larning chances which will enable them to larn in their ain manner. Hence, the pupil will be observed for any alterations to find if any acquisition has taken topographic point utilizing brooding, observation, concrete experience, active experimentation and abstract conceptualization. They can get down at any phase and are uninterrupted ( McgiII & A ; Beaty, 1995 ) . Harmonizing to Honey and Mumford ( 1998 ) , learner ‘s manner of larning will act upon instructor ‘s instruction method. However, as a pupil nurse cognizing my acquisition manners will enable me to derive assurance as an grownup scholar. Understanding my learning manner will assist me to cognize how to travel about my acquisition methods. Knowing my acquisition manner has besides helped me to be in the right environment which is suited for my acquisition. Students have their curious ways of acquisition manners and will larn best when there is a assortment of larning chances which will enable them to larn in their ain manner. Hence, the pupil will be observed for any alterations to find if any acquisition has taken topographic point utilizing brooding, observation, concrete experience, active experimentation and abstract conceptualization. Moreso, it is utile for me to understand my acquisition manner because this will assist me to cognize how to make my class surveies and every bit good as being able to understand how to utilize my larning manner to measure the patient ‘s demands and support. It is utile for pupil nurse because it helps them pass on with their patient in the best manner the patient can understand every bit good as utilizing it to reply, get cognition and accomplishments on how to make my surveies. On the manus, my learning manner was confirmed following the completion of an audit questionnaire Honey ( 2006 ) . My learning manner is a reflector. Reflector are cautious people and thoughtful people who into consideration all possible angles, deduction before taking any action I.e. They explore many different positions. They are people who like to detect people and listen to what they have to state before they come to decision. I learn by detecting. I ever listen to people when they are talking to cognize what they are stating before coming to a decision. An illustration is when we have group activities in our talks or seminars, I normally listen to the thoughts of others first before I come up to thoughts of my ain. In my old topographic point of pattern were I did my arrangement, I observed nurses when they are making some undertaking like the readying for giving terminal injection. Before they begin the disposal, the two nurses foremost of all did some observations by look into ing the expiring day of the month, name of the client, day of the month of birth, the path, clip, and they besides checked the medical specialty cabinet temperature and it was recorded in the book where they do enter it. The prepared the injection, ready to be given. And both of them signed the book. The nurse put on baseball mitts this to avoid cross taint. Then after the injection was given, the acerate leaf was disposed in the crisp box. However, my weaker manner is activist, militant are people who engages themselves in batch of activities. They try to experiment. They ne'er think about effects before the act. As this is my weaker manner of acquisition, I will be affecting myself in a batch of activity because pattern makes perfect. I will besides seek to do instant determinations, inquire to be given group activities in category and be unfastened to new experiences. Furthermore, I will develop my weaker manner of acquisition by pull offing my clip efficaciously. I would seek to cut down the times I invest in thought and reflecting utilizing it more to seek out practical things such as inquiring that I give patients the endovenous out in pattern as opposed to watching and reflecting on the effects that could go on if I was given to make it. This manner I would be able to larn with people of different acquisition manners and be a batch more flexible both in pattern and in schoolroom activities. Like what I mentioned above, pattern makes perfect, hence I need to larn how be much more confident on prosecuting myself in activities that are more hands-on. Militant, are persons who involves themselves in a batch of activities. They are unfastened to seek out new experiences. They think of the effects of their action after they have already carried out the action in tonss of activities. They are unfastened to seek out new experiences the think of the effects after they have already carried out the action. They like to be the Centre of the activity. Harmonizing to Kolb ( 1984 ) , scholars learn better when the topic affair is presented in a manner consistent with their preferable acquisition manner. Theorist, are logical people, they think through everything before the act. They are more like perfectionist who analyse and synthesise. They are more on the nonsubjective side than on the subjective side. They reject anything non-logical and they maximise certainty. Pragmatists are people who open to seeking out thoughts and experimenting. They are down to earth people who act fast and confidently on any thought they come across. They are job convergent thinkers that make practical determinations. They take every job as a challenge. Reflectors are cautious people and thoughtful people who take into consideration all possible angles, deductions before taking any action. For illustration: they explore many different positions. They are people who like to detect people and listen to what they have to state before they come to a decisio n. Kolb ‘s acquisition distinguishes four acquisition manners which are perceivers, minds, deciders and actors. Each of these has strength and failing. It is of import that pupils become more cognizant of their learning strengths and work on their failing. Perceivers are people who beliefs in existent event of life they like listening to other peoples experiences and travel back to believe about it. They are speculative scholars desiring to cognize how to use it in their acquisition. The methodological analysis used in collating the grounds for set uping my acquisition through the questionnaire we completed is called qualitative method. However, the literature reappraisal provided me a secondary method in collating farther grounds of what is already known in the field. In decision, I have learned a batch from larning manners and every bit good as deriving cognition and accomplishments. I recognised the different types of acquisition manners and cognizing my ain method of larning. In the hereafter being able to understand my single acquisition manner will let me to be able to reassign the cognition acquired in a schoolroom scene to pattern. This will profit my experience as a pupil nurse.