Theory X and Theory Y Theories of Employee Motivation free essay sample

Douglas McGregor in his research has developed theories in the human resource management that describe contrasting models that if applied by managers in the organizational behaviour of workers, organization communication and organization development can enhance maximum production from the human work force. This analysis enabled the generation of two opposing perceptions about people, i.e. theory X and Theory Y.Comparing the two Theories, The Following Are The Differences. In terms of the management style, theory X emphasises on Authoritarian management as the managers opt for a close supervision rather than delegation of the managerial roles in order to ensure work is done while in Theory Y, the management and duties are decentralised in the bid to help develop the potential of the employees towards the common goal as that of the company in question.Theory X, the managers has a perception that employees are naturally lazy, unmotivated, avoid responsibility and need to be closely supervised and comprehensive control systems are needed while in theory Y, Assumes that individual believe going to work is the only way of achieving their high level of satisfaction and self-respect therefore go to work on their own accord. We will write a custom essay sample on Theory X and Theory Y: Theories of Employee Motivation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Theory X emphasises on a well clearly defined roles in an organization which are mostly repetitive to enhance proper supervision of work done whereas in theory Y the workers tend to work in a wider areas of skills and knowledge as employees are encourage to exercise their innovation skills in making improvements.Carrot and Stick. This is an approach that offers the combination of motivation and punishment on employees to induce behaviour. In the theory X the approach is used since performance appraisal as part of the overall mechanism of control and remuneration whereas, in Theory Y, as much as appraisal is important and regular, it is always offered separate from the organization. Employees in this case are given various opportunities for promotion.In conclusion, the two theories that McGregor talks about in his book â€Å"The human side of enterprise† demonstrates the approaches used in the management of people as either through the authoritarian style of management or the d emocratic style of leadership, each of them are adopted by most mangers in the human management.

ACNE essays

ACNE essays Almost everyone has acne at one time or another in life. Acne is a skin condition that can cause pimples such as, white heads and black heads to appear on the face, chest, back, neck, and shoulders. Most teenagers have acne for about five years, but for others it clears up much faster. Not only teenagers go through acne, but women that did not experience acne during puberty, can also get acne in there twenties and thirties. Women can also get minor acne before there menstrual period. All of us are affected by acne at one point in time or another, and some less than others, but all of us experience it and just have to deal with it because the best remedy for getting rid of acne is time. Acne begins in the upper part of the hair follicle, where sebaceous glands discharge sebum, an oily substance that keeps skin from drying out. During puberty, the sebaceous glands enlarge dramatically. If pores near these glands become clogged with dead skin cells or oily cosmetics, the sebum accumulates underneath, causing inflammation in the surrounding skin. The acne is further aggravated when bacterial enzymes break down the sebum into irritating substances that add to the inflammation and swelling. If several follicles in the same area become inflamed, scarring can also occur. There are several forms of acne, but the most common is vulgaris, found mostly in teenagers, whose hormonal changes cause a large increase in the size of the sebaceous glands and in sebum production. As stated before the best remedy for acne is time, and just letting acne go away on its own is the best. People with moderate cases of acne may use topical antibiotics, and also take small doses of antibiotics given orally over long periods of time. Other therapies that have been found effective include the topical use of retinoic acid or benzoyl peroxide. Most experts agree that greasy or oily cosmetics should not be used, and that water-based cosmetics should be used instead...

Immigration ( Microeconomics) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Immigration ( Microeconomics) - Essay Example Infact the issue of immigration has assumed a transnational importance in the last three decades. It is not without a reason that immigration has become a hot topic throughout the Western world in the contemporary times. Politicians and informed citizens are highly polarized in their opinion regarding immigration because of the impact it may have or is supposed to have on the demography, culture and especially the economy of the concerned nations. More then half a million people from varied countries and ethnic backgrounds enter the US every year. As per some conservative estimates, nearly 12 million illegal immigrants presently call the United States their home. The very magnitude of immigration in North America, EU and Australia raises many disturbing questions. Is immigration good for the countries having liberal immigration laws Will the immigrants have a salubrious influence on the economies of these nations Should the immigration laws be further liberalized Do the economies of these countries have the ability and the potential to absorb the large scale skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workforce generated by accommodating immigration policies Will immigration lead to many related problems like terrorism, radicalism and surplus workforce Pragmatically speaking, immigration is bound to stimulate the Western Economies. At least, the available demographic and economic data points towards this conclusion.It is a basic economic fact that the fast growing economies do have an insatiable hunger for resources, physical capital and above all human capital. So the fundamental query should be that are the major Western economies growing at a pace where they need tremendous input in terms of human capital from other countries It will be really interesting to look into the economic prospects of some of the topmost Western economies. As for the US economy, the data furnished by the authentic and reliable global organizations like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, targeted at the eight years of Bush's presidency indicate a pink and plump state of affairs (Perry). According to the World Bank statistics, the GDP per capita in the United States rose to $ 41,813 in 2005 (Perry). As per an IMF report, between the years 2001-2008, the real American GDP "grew at an average annual rate of 2.2 % (Perry)." The unemployment rate in the US also stood at a tolerable and stable figure of 4.7 % between 2001-2007 (Perry).Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth - United States - USA (%) 2.5 3.7 4.5 4.2 4.4 3.7 0.8 1.6 2.5 3.9 3.2 3.4 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Growth - United States - USA (%), Source: Eurostat(euroekonom.com) European Union, which is the largest economic and trading block of the world, is also expected to outperform the past expectations in terms of economic

Organizational Communication Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Communication Issue - Essay Example However this form of change was not coordinated well throughout all the departments as team leaders had to manage employees possessing different skills and attitudes. In order to lead the departments through organizational change it is essential that all the team members are aware about the benefits associated with the change (Boxall and Purcell 97). This will help to set up a common vision for all the team members and reduce the barrier between team leaders and employees of Hi-Fli Fireworks. On the other hand, a participative leadership approach needs to be implemented in the system so that team members can contribute their innovative ideas regarding change taking place in the system. I would rather choose Jasmine as my team leader than George simply because she believes in giving the required opportunity to her team members so that they are able to bring forth creative ideas. The chaos theory which she believes in, states that, often creative ideas are born out of rich soil such as chaos. There are other qualities present in her that makes her the best team leader such as being a charismatic leader, believing on her team mates, facilitating more of self managed work, and giving more importance to individual imagination of team mates. Hence she will prove to be a good leader in the process since she is more inclined towards creative thoughts in comparison to traditional approach of management. Hi-Fli Fireworks has adopted the best approaches toward organizational change and the firm has even appointed experts belonging to different fields so as to lead the change. However in such a scenario where there are two different management styles and different interpretations toward champion roles it is obvious that some form of organizational conflict will result. In personal context, I would prefer to have an organization that is free of any such conflict (Mumby 45). The major reason behind such opinion is that conflict open results into

Analyzing a Pricing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analyzing a Pricing Strategy - Essay Example The company chosen here for the pricing strategy analysis is â€Å"Givenchy† which is a world renowned firm for perfumes and luxury goods. This company has maintained its market value and product quality since years and their pricing strategy is well balanced with their customer demand and need. The customers are the life of any business and their needs and demands are evaluated by studying the market segmentation and their value attribution. The Company’s pricing strategy is entirely formulated with the aim of delivering highly qualitative products which can be identified as the status symbol of wealthy people. The company has different product line as perfumes, clothes, jewellery and other fashion accessories. The company has a phenomenal product value among the world wide consumers and for the very same reason it does not compromise much on its pricing. This is because the price of the product is which conveys the consumers about the value and quality of the product. Market segment is a sub set of consumer market, which caters to the profitability of a firm. A company creates value for a market segment by adding advantages and benefits to their products in accordance with customer tastes. Givenchy is an international firm which manufactures branded goods and luxury items and hence its customers are mainly aristocrats and wealthy population. Here the value for products is given by attributing quality and uniqueness to product they sell. This is because the wealthy consumers look primarily for a product which is of outstanding quality with extra – ordinary features. Givenchy being a renowned luxury brand creates value for their product in the international market by establishing their brand image, quality consistency and status symbol quotient. In order to create product value in their market segment, the company makes use of various endorsements, promotional offers, discounts and advertisement campaigns. The endorsement of Givenchy products are done by international celebrities who are considered as fashion icons and divas. This ensures the consumers that the Givenchy product lines are highly in vogue and have the characteristics of unique designer wear. Moreover, advertisement is considered as the potential means of creating brand image and value among market segments. Givenchy employs top rated models for their products launch and as their brand ambassadors. This delivers the consumers a message that the pr oduct is of exquisite standard and flamboyance. Additionally, the sophisticated company website and services offered, re-instates their product value and brand image among its consumers worldwide. 2. Does the company use different price offerings for different market segments? Describe these and evaluate how effective they are. A. â€Å"Givenchy† being an international brand has well planned strategies to absorb effectively into the global market. The pricing strategy of a company is based on a market research performed by the company in different market segments. A company keeps in mind, the demand for a particular product, competitor’s price, purchasing power of the customers and the good will of the product to formulate a viable pricing strategy for their products. Even though, Givenchy has wide market segments around the globe, there price offerings are

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community

Effect of Media Bias in Arab World on Palestinian Community Research Proposal Ghaida Ayesh Proposed Research Topic: The Effect of Biased Media in the Arab World on the Palestinian Community. Research Question: Why Palestinians believe media even though there are different sources with different opinions on the same topic? Introduction and Purposes: In September of 2013, there were billboards around Bethlehem city attracted my attention saying â€Å"Did you know a 3rd tower fell on 9/11?† and this sentence followed by a website to be checked if someone interested of getting more details, it was www.rethink911.org, I checked the website. It was all about introducing facts about what happened in the 11th September, 2001. And there was a documentary video which presented by agroup of Architects Engineers who try to unveil the truth behind the fell of the World Trade Center Twin Towers on that day, and the surprising thing that there was a third building fell on that day called the World Trade Center Building 7 that didn’t hit by plan and collapsed in free fall 7 hours after the twin towers collapsed, I didn’t remember that on that day I heard about the existence of a third building and no news mentioned a story about the third building. I wondered how could media hide such a thing, why did they do that especia lly the U.S media, who could control all the main media networks around the word for not reporting about the third tower, and why did the audience believe them? While reading several articles about the issue trying to explore some facts, I realised that media coverage followed accusations by government authorities that pointed toward Al Qaeda as the group that carried out the attack on the United States and Osama bin Laden as leader of that group. Those news reports on the attack and the aftermath shaped public  opinion to support the war on terrorism.Other ways to influence public opinion include political advertising.Subsequently I realised that media plays the role of the invisible hand in this universe and controls the audiences’ minds in a strange way, so what makes media’s audiences believe what they hear or see? Therefore, I plan to conduct a research about the media impact in the Arab world, and my purpose of this research is to see how the news reporting now adays by affect people’s opinion toward what’s going on in the Arab world. And how the biased media can control people’s political thinking? It will also aim to tackle issues such as is media report or create news? Moreover who are the parties that control media in the Arab world? Background and Methods: In order to get data for my research, first I will read articles and researched conducted to a related topics, and will conduct a survey that target under graduate university students in Bethlehem University, also a group of people who used to set in Cafà ©s and watch, read and listen to news, so this will enable me to gather relevant information, ultimately giving me the necessary tools to be able to compare people’s perspectives about today’s media, besides what is their relevance source of media, how their believe in media changed in the last years? Also to see if they make sure about the news they read before sharing it with other people in social networks. Further, I will prepare for a focus group of university students with different political views about what’s going on in the Middle East, and during this focus group I will introduce different resources of media with different opinion specifically about the Syrian revolution because I have noticed that th ere are many conflicted opinions in the Palestinian community about it and cannot find group of people have the same political analysis about what’s going on there in Syria, and during the discussions that will arise I will observe how this group of people going to react and comment about the differences in media and opinions. I choose surveys because using this tool will make me able to collect different opinions about media, and the creating of focus group is efficient to see immediate reaction and different opinions about media and this will give me information about what is the source of news that people prefer and trust, and how people evaluate the reliability of the reported news? I think about targeting university students and people who usually set in cafà ©s to watch news when distributing the surveys and creating the focus group; because these types of groups gathers people with different values and believes in one spot. And this will make the data I gather more efficient. Literature Review Watching news, reading newspaper or magazine, or listening to a radio station are one of the main activities in every day’s life. And these media become part of culture. While reading about the media effect and impact on people’s opinion and beliefs I found that there are three main sociological perspectives on the role of media, the first called the Limited-effects theory (1940s-1950s) this theory supports the assumption that people has the control of their own choices and choose what to watch, what believe and what to not; so the studies of the media influence showed that well- informed people relied more on personal experience, prior knowledge and their own reasoning unlike those who are less- informed ones. However for me there is a missing point in this theory that makes me disagree with it, the point is that when someone wants to get some knowledge about something he looks for information through media, if not through media, he will ask other people for informatio n and for sure these people didn’t get this knowledge from nothing, they got it for example, from books, magazines, TV or internet which all considered as media. And another important thing is that this theory was created when the existence, availability and dominance of media was far less widespread which make it out dated (Entman 1994). The second theory is Class-dominant theory this theory follow the postulation that media is owned by a minority elite who controls it, and this elite group is cooperating with each other as a result, they can control what people see or hear, in addition because the main source of income for media is advertising, when a big company that finance large advertising campaigns in media do something unethical this media protect the image of this company because it is not for her benefit to harm the image of the company because this will make the media lose a big source of income (Mills 1956). The third and final theory called Culturalist theory (19 80s-1990s), this theory combined the other two theories and it believes that people interact with media in a way so they create their own meanings out of the images and messages received form media, moreover this theory has two standpoints, the first is how audiences interact with media, and the other standpoint focuses on the producers of media. For the first standpoint because people choose what to watch, how much to watch and may choose to not watch; studies done by sociologists and linguists found that audiences interpretation of what they choose to watch is based on their own knowledge and experience. Therefore, culturalist theorists claim that, while a few elite in large corporations may exert significant control over what information media produces and distributes, personal perspective plays a more powerful role in how the audience members interpret those messages. (The Role and Influence of Mass Media 2013). Several reports and studies showed that the media can influence the audiences’ political view, and voting decision, for instance a study conducted in one of NBER working paper series, the study took the introduction of Fox News into a cable market as a case to analyze its news reporting impact on the federal election, they collected data for 28 states in the United States of America. After that they compared the change in the Republican vote share between 1996 and 2000 for the towns that had adopted Fox News by 2000 with those that had not. And the result showed that Fox News had a significant impact on the 2000 elections. The entry of Fox News increased the Republican vote share in presidential elections by 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points, depending on the specification. Since Fox News in 2000 was available in about 35 percent of households, the impact of Fox News on the two-party vote share in 2000 is estimated to be 0.15 to 0.2 percentage points, 200,000 votes nation-wide. (De llaVigna and Kaplan 2006). Another study find that Fox News watchers were 50 percent more likely that viewers of other networks to believe (erroneously) that weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. (Steven, Ramsay and Lewis 2003). These statistics raised in my mind why did people believe median in such a case? Is it because it represents their inner affiliation? Or because the way it is presented is coming straight to the point that interest them? Or is it all about the credibility that a channel may be having? These are another minor questions of what I am looking for, and may lead me to study the case through some focus groups with different affiliation. In addition other studies found that over 70 percent of Americans believe that there is a great deal or a fair amount of media bias in news coverage (Pew 2004). Evidence of bias ranges from the topic choice of the New York Times (Puglisi 2006) to the choice of think-tanks that the media refer to (Groseclose and Milyo 2005). Media bias was even more prevalent in the late 19th and early 20th century (Gentzkow 2006). There is another theory addressed by Dr. Max McCombs and Dr. Donald Shaw, which is Agenda- Setting Theory it describes the powerful influence of media by telling what issues are important, they came out with this theory by studying the influence of media on the 1968 presidential election, the study titled 1968 Chapel HillStudy, the conclusion of this study is that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. (McCombs and Shaw 1972). Biased Media: The media is biased whenever it provides fake images or out of context facts to support a certain viewpoint. The media is also biased whenever it â€Å"framing† issues of eventer on a certain way to fake the facts. Many scholars argue that framing can actually decide how we view a situation. (Kuypers 2002). A biased media affects the publics understanding of current events and issues without giving the public all the facts. Opinions based on biased information are not usually the same as opinions based on neutral information. So for the public to make informed decisions on issues and politics, they must be given neutral information. (Kelly and Pax 2004) As shown, media has powerful impact on people’s beliefs, and is controlled by group of people, furthermore there is agreement about the existence of biased media, and most of studies are conducted in western areas. That is why the current research study will be aimed to find out why people in the Arab world, from Palestine, in Bethlehem believe what media reports. Limitation: Unfortunately I will not be able to collect audience’s interaction with the reported news about what’s going on in the Arab world specially about what so called the Arab’s Spring because I have no access to audiences from other countries. In addition I can’t get statistics about what are the news media people in the Arab world watch, read or listen. As a result I am limited to Bethlehem University undergraduate students only. Because of that, I will be restricted to only normal audiences in the Palestinian community. In addition, there is no available technology for media that give statistics about what people watch on TV. And what are the main news TV channels they watch such as Nielsen technology. Bibliography DellaVigna, Stefano, and Ethan Kaplan. 2006. The FOX News Effect: Media Bias and Voting. NBER Working Paper, Cambridge, MA: NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH. Entman, Robert M. 1994. Reopening the Black Box: Toward a Limited Effects Theory. Political Communication 11 (3): 313 314. Gentzkow, Matthew. 2006. Television and Voter Turnout. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 931-972. Groseclose, Tim, and Jeffrey Milyo. 2005. A Measure of Media Bias. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 1191-1237. Kelly, and Pax. 2004. Think on Journalism. July 1. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.jour.unr.edu/think/bias.html. Kuypers, Jim A. 2002. Press Bias and Politics: How the Media Frame Conoversial Issues. London: Praeger. McCombs, Maxwell E., and Donald L. Shaw. 1972. The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. The Public Opinion Quarterly (American Association for Public Opinion Research) 36 (2): 176-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2747787. Mills, C. Wright. 1956. The Power Elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004. NEWS AUDIENCES INCREASINGLY POLITICIZED. Study, Washington, D.C.: PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS. Puglisi, Riccardo. 2006. BEING THE NEW YORK TIMES: THE POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR OF A NEWSPAPER. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/. April. Accessed January 26, 2014. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/19292/1/Being_the_new_york_times.pdf. Steven, Kull, Clay Ramsay, and Evan Lewis. 2003. Misperceptions, The Media, And The Iraq. Political Science Quarterly 118: 569-598. 2013. The Role and Influence of Mass Media. CliffNotes. May 7. Accessed January 27, 2014. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/contemporary-mass-media/the-role-and-influence-of-mass-media.

An Era of Inhumanity :: American America History

An Era of Inhumanity Writers differ in the purpose for which they write. Some aim to entertain, but the more serious and skilled writers usually have the goal of expressing a serious idea. Writers such as Hariet Beecher Stowe and Alex Haley are writers who write for more than mere entertainment. Uncle Tom's Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe, had a political purpose. Stowe intended to help America realize the inhumanity of slavery and the pain it brought upon African-Americans by writing a melodramatic novel. She despised the South for practicing slavery and the North as well for their prejudice against blacks. Roots was written by Alex Haley in search of his origin. His hunger for knowledge of who he was and who his ancestors were inspired him to carry out numerous years of research and countless interviews in order to finish his book. Although Alex Haley wrote Roots in search of his origin and Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin for a political purpose, both authors lead readers to sympa thize with the predicaments of African-Americans by putting a human face, as well as a racial one on the tragedy of slavery, thus involving all readers in the inhumanity of the institution. In Uncle Tom's Cabin we are cordially introduced to Uncle Tom. He is a "large, broad-chested, powerfully-made man, of a full glossy black, and a face whose truly African feature [are] characterized by and expression of grave and steady good sense, united with much kindliness and benevolence"(Stowe 24). By her description of Tom, Stowe contradicts the common stereotype that blacks are savages and inhumane by giving Uncle Tom the characteristics of an ideal, honest man. He is described as being "kind" and "benevolent" as well as having an "expression of good sense". Stowe also portrays Uncle Tom as a perfect being. It seems as if his personality is without a flaw and seems too good to be true. By giving Uncle Tom this flawless characteristic, Stowe is able to show that he too is human although his difference in skin color. As one is introduced to the setting of Uncle Tom's cabin, one feels at home and very relaxed. Aunt Chloe's cooking of various tasty dishes adds to the serene environ ment of the cabin and as we see Uncle Tom learning how to read and write from his young "Mas'r George," it seems as though there are no worries, hardships are unknown, and an utopia exists within the walls of the cabin.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 34~36

34 Water Hazard Jefferson Pardee was trying desperately not to look like a sea turtle. He'd managed to find the surface, catch his breath, and put his mask on. Blood from his nose was now swishing around inside it like brandy in a snifter. After locating the floating garbage bag that contained his clothes and propping it under his chest as a life preserver, his main focus was not to look like a turtle. To a shark living in the warm Pacific waters off Alualu, sea turtles were food. Not that there was any real danger of a shark making that particular mistake. Even a mentally challenged shark would figure out that sea turtles did not wear boxer shorts printed in flying piggies, and no turtles did not wear boxer shorts printed in flying piggies, and no turtle would be yattering streams of obscenities between chain-smoker gasps of breath. Still, a couple of harmless white-tipped reef sharks smelled blood in the water and cruised by to check out the source, only to retreat, regret-ting that in one hundred and twenty million years on the planet they had never evolved the equipment to laugh. The surf was calm and the tide low, and considering Pardee's buoyancy, the swim should have been easy. But when Pardee saw the two black shadows cruise by below him, his heart started playing a sternum-rattling drum solo that kept up until he barked his knees on the reef. An antler of coral caught the plastic bag, stopping Pardee's progress long enough for him to notice that here on the reef the water was only two feet deep. He flipped over on his back, then sat on the coral, not really caring that it was cutting into his bottom. Waves lapped around him as he fought to catch his breath. He lifted his mask and let the blood run down his face and over his chest to expand into a rusty stain in the water. Tiny blue and yellow reef fish rose around him looking for food and nipping at his skin, tickling him like teasing children. He looked toward the beach, perhaps two hundred yards away. Inside the reef the danger of sharks was minimal – minimal enough that he would sit here and rest for a while. He watched the waves breaking softly around him, lapping against his back, and realized, with horror, that he was going to have to do this again in a few hours, against the waves and probably the tide. He'd have to find someone with a boat; that was all there was to it. Ten minutes passed before his heart slowed down and he was able to steel his courage enough to swim the final leg. He picked out a stand of coconut palms above a small beach and slid across the reef toward the is-land. He kicked slowly, scanning the water around him for any sign of sharks. Except for a moment of temporary terror when a manta ray with a seven-foot wingspan flew out of the blue and passed below him, the swim to the beach was safe and easy. If manta rays are going to be harmless, they should look more harmless, Pardee thought. Fuckers look like aquatic Draculas. He sat in the wash at the water's edge and was tearing the tape that held the fins on his feet when he heard a sharp mechanical click behind him. He turned to see two men in black pointing Uzis at his head. Pardee grinned. â€Å"Konichi-wa,† he said. â€Å"You guys have a dry cigarette? I seem to have torn my garbage bag.† A seven iron, Tuck, thought. After all these years I need a seven iron. Tucker Case did not play golf. He'd tried it once, and although he'd en-joyed the drinking and driving the little electric car into the lake, he just didn't get the appeal. It seemed – and he'd examined the game closely be-cause his father had loved it – an awful lot like a bunch of rich white guys in goofy clothing walking around on an absurdly large lawn hitting ab-surdly small white balls with crooked sticks. If the greens were at opposite ends of the same fairway and foursomes had to play against each other, defending their own green while assaulting the opponents' and risking getting hit with a ball or a club at close quarters, well, then you'd have a game. If the game was scored on how quickly one got through the eighteen holes instead of the fewest strokes and they dropped small-block Chevys into the little carts, why, then you'd have yourself a game. (Maybe put those little Ben-Hur food processors on the wheels and make it legal to hamstring competitors.) But traditional golf, as it was, had always left Tuck cold. Strange, then, that he absolutely yearned for a seven iron, or maybe a shotgun. Tuck had been up since before dawn, awakened rudely and kept awake by what seemed like eight million roosters. It was now ten o'clock and they were still going strong. What joy to feel the thwack of a seven iron on red feathers, the satisfying impact of balanced metal on poultry (suddenly si-lenced and somewhat tenderized for your trouble). He saw himself wading into a bucket of roosters, swinging his seven iron madly (but always keeping his head down and his left arm straight), dealing death and de-struction like the Colonel's own avenging angel. Welcome to Tucker Case's chicken death camp, my little feathered friends. Now, kindly prepare to have your nuggets knocked off. Tucker Case was not a morning person. He decided that he'd give them five more minutes to shut up, then he was going to get dressed and go borrow a seven iron from the doc. Five minutes later he was preparing to leave when Beth Curtis knocked and opened his door without waiting for an answer. She was wearing disposable surgical blues and a hairnet; she wore no makeup and the vapid housewife smile was gone from her eyes. â€Å"Mr. Case, we need you to be ready to fly in two hours. Can you do it?† â€Å"Uh, sure. I guess. Where are we going?† â€Å"Japan. The navigational settings should already be programmed into the plane's computer. I need you to have your preflight finished and the Lear fueled and on the runway, ready to go.† Tucker felt as if he was talking to a different person than the one he had seen for the last week. There was no hint of the soft femininity, just hard business. â€Å"I haven't had time to go over the controls for the Lear.† â€Å"You took the job, didn't you? Can you fly it?† Tuck nodded. â€Å"Then be ready in two hours.† She turned and marched toward the hospital building. Tuck started to follow her, then noticed movement through the trees, down by the beach: men unloading fuel drums from a longboat onto the pier. He could see a white freighter anchored outside the reef. â€Å"Mrs. Curtis!† he called. She turned and regarded him like an annoying insect. â€Å"Yes, Mr. Case.† â€Å"That ship. You didn't tell me there was a ship.† â€Å"It doesn't concern you. They are simply delivering some supplies. Now please, prepare the plane.† â€Å"But if they're delivering supplies, why do we need to†¦?† â€Å"Mr. Case,† she barked, â€Å"do your job. The doctor needs me.† She threw open the hospital door and stepped inside. â€Å"Ask him if I can borrow his seven iron,† Tuck said weakly. Tuck shuffled back toward his bungalow. Just a few seconds in the sun had given him a headache and he felt as if he would pass out any second. He was going to fly again. He was sick and dizzy and suffered from talking bat hallucinations and he was going to get to do the only thing he had ever been any good at. It scared the hell out of him. It had been fifty years since men with guns had entered the village of the Shark People. As the four guards went from house to house, Malink walked the paths of the village, his cordless phone in hand so the people could see that he had things under control. He'd been calling the Sorcerer since the four Japanese had arrived in the village, but he'd only gotten the answering machine. He had told everyone to go inside their houses and not to resist the guards, and even now the village seem deserted, except for the sobs of a few frightened children. He could hear the guards kicking their way through the coconut husks that had been piled in the cookhouses for fuel. Suddenly Favo was at his side. Favo, who had seen the coming of the Japanese during the war, had seen the killing. â€Å"Why does Vincent allow this?† Malink really didn't have an answer. He had lit the Zippo and asked Vincent that very morning. â€Å"It is the will of the Sorcerer, so it must be the will of Vincent. They want the girl-man.† â€Å"We should fight,† Favo said. â€Å"We should kill the guards.† â€Å"Spears against machine guns, Favo? Should the children grow up without fathers like we did? No, they will find the girl-man and they will go away.† â€Å"The girl-man has gone to live with Sarapul. Did you tell them?† â€Å"I told them. I took the Sorcerer there.† The guards came out of the old church and crunched in single file down the path toward Favo and Malink. The old men stood their ground, making the guards walk into a stand of ferns to get around them. They made no eye contact and said nothing. Favo hurled a curse at them, but it had been too long since he had spoken Japanese and it was not a language suited for swearing. He ended up telling them that their truck tires smelled of sardines, which elicited no response whatsoever. â€Å"Excellent curse,† Malink said, trying to raise his friend's spirits. â€Å"It needs work. English is the best for swearing.† â€Å"They have machine guns, Favo.† â€Å"Fuckin' mooks,† Favo said. â€Å"Amen,† Malink said, crossing himself in the sign of the B-26 bomber. The two old men fell in behind the guards, following them from house to house, waiting outside on the path so the villagers could see them when they were roused out of their houses. For the guards' part, it was a wholly unsatisfying endeavor. They had been looking forward to kicking in some doors, only to find that the Shark People had no doors. There were no beds to throw over, no back rooms to burst into, no closets, no place, in fact, where a man could hide and not be exposed by the most perfunctory inspection. And the doctor had told them that no one was to be hurt. They did not want to make a mistake. For all the appearance of military efficiency, they were screwups to a man. One, a former security guard at a nuclear power plant, had been fired for taking drugs; two were brothers who had been dismissed from the Tokyo police department for accepting Yakuza bribes; the fourth, from Okinawa, had been a jujitsu instructor who had beaten a German tourist to death in a bar over a gross miscarriage of karaoke. The man who had recruited them, put them in the black uniforms, and trained them made it clear that this was their last chance. They had two choices: succee d and become rich or die. They took their jobs very seriously. â€Å"He might be in the trees,† Favo said in Japanese. â€Å"Look in the trees!† The guards scanned the trees as they marched, which caused them to bump into each other and stumble. Above them there was a fluttering of wings. A glout of bat guano splatted across the Okinawan's forehead. He threw the bolt on his Uzi and the air was filled with the staccato roar of nine millimeters ripping through the foliage. When at last the clip was empty, palm fronds settled to the ground around them. Frightened children screamed in their mothers' arms, and Favo, who was lying next to his friend with his arms thrown over his head, snickered like an asthmatic hyena. The guards scuffled for a moment, not sure whether to disarm their companion or shove their clips home and begin the massacre. Above the crying, the scuffle, the snickering, and the tintinnabulation of residual gunfire, a girl giggled. The guards looked up. Sepie stood in the doorway of the bachelors' house, naked but for a pair of panties she'd recently ac-quired from a transvestite navigator. â€Å"Hey, sailors,† she said, trying out a phrase she'd also acquired from Kimi, â€Å"you want a date?† The guards didn't understand the words, but they got the message. â€Å"Go inside, girl,† Malink scolded. Women, even the mispel, were not permitted to show their thighs in public. Not even when swimming, not when bathing, not when crapping on the beach, not ever. â€Å"Go back inside,† Favo said. â€Å"When they go away, you will be beaten.† â€Å"I have been beaten before,† Sepie said. â€Å"Now I will be rich.† â€Å"Tell her,† Favo said to Malink. Malink shrugged. His authority as chief worked only as long as his people willingly obeyed him. The key to retaining their respect was to find out what they wanted to do, then tell them to do it. He levied the most severe punishment he knew. â€Å"Sepie, you may not touch the sea for ten days.† She turned and wiggled her bottom at him, then disappeared into the bachelors' house. The stunned guards ceased their scuffle and moved tentatively toward the doorway, looking to each other for permission. â€Å"This is your fault,† Malink said to Favo. â€Å"You shouldn't have started giving her things.† â€Å"I didn't give her things,† Favo said. â€Å"You gave her things for† – and here Malink paused, trying to catch himself before losing a friend – â€Å"for doing favors for you.† 35 Free Press, My Ass Jefferson Pardee sat on a metal office chair in the corner of a windowless cinder-block room. The guard stood by the metal door, his machine gun trained on Pardee's hairy chest. The reporter was trying to affect an attitude of innocence tempered with a little righteous indignation, but, in fact, he was terrified. He could feel his heartbeat climbing into his throat and sweat rolled down his back in icy streams. He'd given up on trying to talk to the guards; they either didn't speak English or were pretending they didn't. He heard the throw of the heavy bolt on the door and expected the other guard to return, but instead a woman wearing surgical garb entered the room. Her eyes were the same color as the surgical blues and even in the oppressive heat she looked chilly. â€Å"At last,† Pardee said. â€Å"There's been some kind of mistake here.† He offered his hand, trying not to show how unsteady he was, and the guard threatened him with the Uzi. â€Å"I'm Jefferson Pardee from the Truk Star.† She nodded to the guard and he left the room. Her voice was friendly, but she wasn't smiling. â€Å"I'm Beth Curtis. My husband runs the mission clinic on this island.† She didn't offer her hand. â€Å"I'm sorry you've been treated this way, Mr. Pardee, but this island is under quarantine. We've tried to limit the contact with the outside until we have a better handle on this epidemic.† â€Å"What epidemic? I haven't heard anything about this?† â€Å"Encephalitis. It's a rare strain, airborne and very contagious. We don't let anyone off island who's been exposed.† Jefferson Pardee exhaled a deep sigh of relief. So this was the big story. Of course he'd promise not to say a word, but Time magazine would kill for this. He'd leave out the part about being taken prisoner in his flying piggy boxers. â€Å"And the guards?† â€Å"World Health Organization. They've also given us an aircraft and lab equipment, as I'm sure you've seen.† He'd seen an awful lot of lab equipment as he was led through the little hospital, but the aircraft was still a rumor. He decided to go for the facts. â€Å"You have a new Learjet, is that correct?† â€Å"Yes.† She seemed genuinely taken aback by his comment. â€Å"How did you know?† â€Å"I have my sources,† Pardee said, wishing he wore glasses so he could take them off in a meaningful way. â€Å"I'm sure you do. Information is like a virus sometimes, and the only way to find a cure is to trace it to the source. Who told you about the jet?† Pardee wasn't giving anything for free. â€Å"How long have you known about the encephalitis?† For the first time Pardee noticed that Beth Curtis had been holding her right hand behind her back the entire time they had been talking. He noticed because when the hand appeared, it was holding a syringe. â€Å"Mr. Pardee, this syringe contains a vaccine that my husband and I have developed with the help of the World Health Organization. Because you took it on yourself to sneak onto Alualu, you have exposed yourself to a deadly virus that at-tacks the nervous system. The vaccine seems to work even after exposure to the disease, but only if administered in the first few hours. I want to give you this vaccine, I really do. But if you insist on drawing out this little game of liar's poker, then I can't guarantee that you won't contract the disease and die a horrible and painful death. So, that said, who told you about the jet?† Pardee felt the sweat rising again. She hadn't raised her voice, there wasn't even a detectable note of anger there, but he felt as if she was holding a knife to his throat. Okay, to hell with the adventurous journalist. He could still get a byline based on what she'd already told him. â€Å"I talked to a pilot who passed through Truk a few months ago.† â€Å"A few months ago? Not more recently?† â€Å"No. He said he was going to fly a jet for some missionaries on Alualu. I came out to check it out.† â€Å"And that was all you heard? Just that we had a jet?† â€Å"Yes, it's pretty unusual for a missionary clinic to have money for a jet, wouldn't you say?† She smiled. â€Å"I guess it is. So how did you plan to get off the island after you got your story?† â€Å"The Micro Spirit was going to pick me up on the other side of the island. That's it. I was just curious. It's an occupational hazard.† â€Å"Who knows you're here, besides the crew of the Spirit?† Pardee considered her question; what would be the best answer. Surely she wouldn't let him die of some dreaded disease, but how stupid would he have been to come out here without telling anyone? â€Å"The people who work for me at the Star and a friend of mine at AP who I called for some background before I left.† â€Å"Oh, that's good,† she said, still smiling. Pardee couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. It had been a long time since he'd gotten any approval – or attention for that matter – from a beautiful woman. She uncapped the syringe. â€Å"Now, before I give you the vaccine, a few medical questions, okay?† â€Å"Sure. Shoot.† â€Å"You smoke and drink to excess, correct?† â€Å"I indulge from time to time. Another occupational hazard.† â€Å"I see,† she said. â€Å"And have you ever had a test for HIV?† â€Å"A month ago. Clean as a whistle.† This was true. He'd been motivated to take the test by a creepy rash on his stomach that turned out to be caused by skin-burrowing mites. The medic with the Navy CAT team had given him an ointment that cleared it up in a few days. â€Å"Have you ever had hepatitis, cancer, or kidney disease?† â€Å"Nope.† â€Å"How about your family? Anyone with a history of kidney disease or cancer?† â€Å"Not last time I heard. I haven't talked with my family in twenty-five years.† She seemed especially pleased at that. â€Å"And you're not married? No children?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"Very good,† she said. She plunged the needle into his shoulder and pushed the plunger. â€Å"Ouch. Hey, you could have warned me. Aren't you supposed to swab that with alcohol first or something?† She stepped to the door and smiled again. â€Å"I don't think infec tion is going to be a problem, Mr. Pardee. Now don't panic, but in a minute or so you are going to go to sleep. I can't believe you bought that bit about the encephalitis. People get stupid living in the tropics, don't you think?† She went out of focus and the lines of the room started to heave as if the entire structure was breathing. â€Å"What was in†¦?† His tongue was too heavy; the words wouldn't come. â€Å"You don't have a staff and you didn't call anyone at AP, Mr. Pardee. That was a stupid lie. We'll have to put ‘self-importance' down under cause of death.† Pardee tried to stand, but his legs wouldn't obey him. He slid off the chair and his legs splayed straight out in front of him. Beth Curtis bent over him, pushed her lips into a pout, and baby-talked. â€Å"Oh, are his wittle wegs all wobbly?† She stood up straight and put her hands on her hips. To Pardee her face floated like the moon through clouds. She said, â€Å"You're probably thinking that I'm being unusually cruel to tease a dying man, but you see, you're not dying right now. Soon, but not right now.† Pardee tried to form a question, but the room seemed to go liquid and crash over him like a black wave. Sebastian Curtis walked down the dock to where the crew of the Micro Spirit was unloading fuel drums from a longboat. He was wearing his white lab coat over Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, a stethoscope hung from his neck like a medallion of power. The Micro Spirit's first mate, who was drinking a Coke while supervising the unloading, jumped up on the dock to meet the doctor. â€Å"Good morning.† â€Å"Good morning,† Curtis said. â€Å"Are you in charge here?† â€Å"I'm the first mate.† Curtis regarded the tattooed Tongan. â€Å"Mr. Pardee will be staying with us for a while. He's asked me to tell you not to wait for him.† â€Å"That don't bother you?† the mate asked. It seemed strange to him after the effort Pardee had made to sneak onto the island. â€Å"No, of course not. In fact, we've offered to fly Mr. Pardee to Hawaii when he finishes his work.† The mate had never heard Pardee's name in the same sentence as the word â€Å"work.† It didn't sound right. Still, he had his job to do and the doctor was paying double freight for these barrels. He said, â€Å"Is he going to pay his fare?† Curtis smiled and pulled a wad of bills out of the pocket of his shorts. â€Å"Of course. He asked me to give you the money. How much is it?† â€Å"From Truk, one way, is three hundred.† The doctor counted out a stack of twenties and held it out to the mate. â€Å"Here's six hundred. Mr. Pardee asked me to pay the round-trip fare, since that's what he originally contracted for.† The mate stared at the stack of bills. He had known Jefferson Pardee for ten years and had never even known the man to buy a beer; now he was just giving him three hundred extra dollars? Three hundred dollars that the company and the captain didn't know about. â€Å"Okay,† he said. He snatched the money out of the doctor's hand and shoved it into his pocket before the crew could see. He would get the whole crew drunk and they would toast the generosity of Jefferson Pardee. 36 Return to the Sky The Lear 45 was a working corporate issue, the seats upholstered in muted blues and grays, facing each other over small worktables. For some reason Tucker had expected something more unusual: bright carnival colors with a monkey in a flight attendant outfit perhaps; a stark metal interior stripped for cargo; maybe stainless steel over enamel with a lot of complicated medical gizmos. Nope, this was the standard, run-of-the-mill station wagon model of your basic four-million-dollar jet. He slid into the pilot's seat and a rage of adrenaline coursed through him, as if his body was reliving the crash of the pink Gulfstream. He fought the urge to bolt, let the adrenaline jag settle to a low-grade nausea, then started his preflight checklist. Everything looked normal; the instruments and controls were in place. He snapped on the power for the gauges and nothing happened: no lights, no LEDs, nothing. He felt the plane move as someone came up the retractable steps and suddenly one of the guards reached around him and inserted a cylindrical key into a socket on the instrument board. The guard turned the key several times and the cockpit whirred to life. â€Å"This thing has a main power cutoff?† Tuck said to the guard. The guard removed the key and walked off the plane without saying a word. â€Å"Nice chatting with you,† Tuck said. He'd never seen a plane with an ignition key and he was sure that this one was not factory-issue. Why? Who would steal a jet airplane? Who could? I could, that's who. The doctor had installed the key to keep him from re peating his performance in Seattle. The missionary bastard didn't trust him. Tuck checked the navigation computer. It was, as Beth Curtis had told him, set for an airfield in southern Japan. He watched as the LEDs on the nav computer came on, indicating that it was acquiring the satellites it needed to locate his position. When three were lit, his longitude and latitude flashed on the screen; when a fourth satellite was acquired, he had his current altitude: eight feet above sea level. He thought of Kimi navigating by the stars and felt a twinge of guilt for not trying harder to find him. He resolved to look for the navigator personally when he got back to Alualu. He ran through the checklist and threw the autostart switches for the engines. As the twin jets spooled up, Tuck felt his anxiety float away like an exorcised ghost. This is where he was supposed to be. This is what he did. For the first time in weeks he felt like his head was clear. He pushed the controls through their full range of motion and checked out the window to make sure that the flaps and ailerons were moving as well. Beth Curtis was coming across the compound toward the plane. At least he thought it was Beth Curtis. She wore a sharp, dark business suit with nylons and high heels. Her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and she wore wire-frame aviator sunglasses. She carried a small plastic cooler in one hand and an aluminum briefcase in the other. She looked like one of Mary Jean's corporate killer attorneys. Her third identity in as many days. She walked into the plane and the guard pushed the hatch shut behind her. She stashed the cooler and briefcase in the overhead, then climbed into the cockpit and strapped herself in the copilot's seat. â€Å"Any problems?† she said. â€Å"You look nice today, Mrs. Curtis.† â€Å"Thank you, Mr. Case. Are we ready?† â€Å"Tuck. You can call me Tuck. I need you to look out the window and tell me if the flaps and ailerons move when I move the controls.† â€Å"They look fine. Shall we go?† Tuck released the ground brakes and taxied out onto the runway. â€Å"I need to pick up some sunglasses while we're in Japan.† â€Å"I'll get you some. You won't be leaving the plane.† â€Å"I won't?† â€Å"We'll only be on the ground for a few minutes, then we'll be coming back.† â€Å"Look, Mrs. Curtis, I know you think that because of the circumstances that brought me here that I'm a total fuckup, but I am really good at what I do. You don't have to treat me like a child.† She looked at him and took off her sunglasses. Tuck wished he had sunglasses so he could whip them off like that. She said, â€Å"Mr. Case, I'm putting my life in your hands right now. How much more confidence would you like?† Tuck didn't really know how to answer. â€Å"I guess you're right. Sorry. You could be a little less mysterious about what's going on here. I know that we're not flying supplies, not with this plane and the kind of money you're paying me.† â€Å"If you really want to know, I can tell you. But if I tell you, I'll have to kill you.† Tuck looked from the instruments to catch her expression. She was grinning, a deep silly grin that crinkled the corners of her eyes. He looked at the instruments. â€Å"I'm going to take off now. Okay?† â€Å"And I haven't even shown you the best way to fight boredom on our little island.† Tuck concentrated on the gauges and the runway. He said, â€Å"What church do you and your husband work for?† â€Å"Methodist.† â€Å"You'll have to tell me about it.† â€Å"What's there to tell? Methodists rock!† she said, then she giggled like a little girl as Tuck pulled the plane into the sky. Malink joined the drinking circle late, hoping that everyone would be drunk enough to forget what had gone on that day. He'd spent most of the after-noon at Favo's house, afraid even to face his wife and daughters, but when the sun was well boiled in the sea, he knew he had to join the other men or face the consequences of tuba-poisoned theories and rumors aspiring to truth. He sneaked into an open spot in the circle and sat on the sand, even though several younger men moved so he could sit on a log with his back to the tree. He threw an open pack of Benson & Hedges into the center of the circle and Favo divided up the smokes among the men. Some lit up, others broke them into sections to chew with betel nut, and a few tucked them behind their ears for later. The distraction was short-lived and one of the Johns, an elder, said, â€Å"So why did Vincent send the Japanese into our houses?† Malink waved him off as he drank from the coconut shell cup and made a great show of enjoying his first drink before handing the cup to Abo, who was pouring. Then he stalled another few seconds by lighting a Benson & Hedges with the Zippo, making sure everyone saw it and remembered, then after a long drag he said, â€Å"I'm fucked if I know.† He said this in English – English being the best language for swearing. â€Å"It is not good,† said John. â€Å"They came to the bachelors' house,† said Abo, who, as usual, was angry. â€Å"They looked at our mispel's thighs.† â€Å"We should kill them,† said one of the younger men who had been named for Vincent. â€Å"And eat them!† someone added – and it was as if the air had been pulled on the circle before it could inflate to well-rounded violent mob. Everyone turned to see Sarapul walking out of the shadows. For once, Malink was glad to see him. The old cannibal seemed to have a spring in his step, seemed younger, stronger. â€Å"I need an ax,† Sarapul said. The men who owned axes all stared into the sand or examined their fingernails. â€Å"What for?† Malink asked. â€Å"I can't tell you. It's a secret.† â€Å"You're not going to start headhunting, are you?† Malink said. â€Å"We've put up with your talk of eating people, but I draw the line at headhunting. No headhunting while I'm chief.† Everybody grunted in agreement and Malink was glad to have been able to assert his authority in a way that no one could dispute. An anthropologist had once come to the island and given him a book about headhunters. Malink felt very cosmopolitan discussing the topic. Sarapul looked confused. He'd never read the headhunting book, had never read any book, but he did have a Classic Comics version of The Count of Monte Cristo, which a sailor had given him in the days before the Shark People were forbidden to meet visiting ships. He'd made Kimi read it to him every night. Sarapul liked the thread of revenge and murder that ran through the story. Sarapul said, â€Å"What is this headhunting? I just want to cut a tree.† â€Å"Cutting trees is taboo,† said one of the younger men. â€Å"I will get special dispensation,† Sarapul said, using a term he had learned from Father Rodriquez. Malink shook his head. â€Å"We don't have that anymore. We only had that when we were Catholics.† â€Å"I need an ax,† Sarapul said, as if he might do better if he started over. â€Å"And I need permission from the great Chief Malink to cut a tree.† Malink scratched a mosquito bite and looked at his feet. It was true that he could give permission to break a taboo, and Sarapul had distracted the circle before they ganged up on him. â€Å"You may cut one tree, on your side of the island, and you must show it to me before you cut it. Now, who has an ax?† Everyone knew who owned axes, but nobody volunteered. Malink chose one of the young Vincents. â€Å"You, go get your ax.† Then to Sarapul he said: â€Å"Why do you need to cut a tree?† Sarapul considered holding out, but decided that a credible lie would be better. â€Å"My house is falling down from the girl-man climbing in the rafters.† It was the wrong answer to give in front of a group of men whose houses had been rifled only hours ago. Malink cradled his head in his hands. The toughest part of the landing for Tuck was restraining himself from leaping out of the seat and demanding high-fives from the woman. It was perfect. He was back. Never mind the ghosts, the talking bats, the three-hour flight with a woman who could have been the model for the new Multiple Personality Barbie. She's elegant, she's fashionable, and she's the reason that Ken has no genitals! Have fun, but remember to hide the sharp stuff! Never mind all that. He was a pilot. They were somewhere in southern Japan, a small jetport, probably private, with no tower and only a few hangars. Tuck had gotten them there by following the nav computer, which, he found in midflight, had only two coordinates programmed into it: Alualu and this airfield. â€Å"What happens if we have a problem and have to divert?† he asked Beth. â€Å"Don't worry about it,† she said. She had spent most of the flight grilling him about the navigational instruments, as if she wanted to know enough to be able to check the course herself. He complied, feeling insulted by the whole conversation. Another Lear was spooling up on the tarmac and Beth Curtis instructed him to taxi to it. As the jet bumped to a stop and he prepared to shut down, she pulled her briefcase and cooler out of the overhead and turned to him. â€Å"Stay here. We'll take off in a few minutes.† â€Å"What about loading supplies?† â€Å"Mr. Case, please just prepare the plane for departure. I won't be long.† Two men in blue coveralls crossed the tarmac from the other jet and lowered the hatch for her. Tuck watched out the window as she met a third Japanese man in a white lab coat. She handed him the cooler and a folder from the briefcase, then traded bows with him and quickstepped back to the Lear. One of the men in blue coveralls followed her into the plane with a cardboard box, which he strapped into one of the passenger seats. â€Å"Domo,† Beth Curtis said. He bowed quickly, left the plane, and sealed the hatch. She stashed the briefcase in the overhead again climbed into the copilot's seat. â€Å"Let's go.† â€Å"That's it?† â€Å"That's it. Let's go.† â€Å"We should top off the fuel tanks while we're here.† â€Å"I understand why you might be a little nervous about that, Mr. Case, but we have plenty of fuel to make it back.† â€Å"One box. That's all we're picking up?† â€Å"One box.† â€Å"What's in it?† â€Å"It's a case of '78 Bordeaux. Sebastian loves it. Let's go.† â€Å"But I have to use the bathroom. I thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Hold it,† Beth Curtis said. â€Å"Bitch.† â€Å"Exactly. Now don't you need to do your checklist thingy?†

Zymunt Bauman essays

Zymunt Bauman essays Zygmunt Bauman was born in Poznan, Poland in 1925. He moved to Britain with his wife Janina in the 1950's, and took up a position as Lecturer at both the University of Warsaw and the University of Tel Aviv. He held several visiting professorships before he became Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds in Yorkshire from 1972 until his retirement in 1990. Bauman is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at both the University of Leeds and University of Warsaw (www.sociologyonline.com). "He has been described by the British sociologist, Anthony Giddens as: 'the theorist of postmodernity...he has developed a position with which everyone has to reckon'" (www.sociologyonline.com). While heading the Department of Sociology at Leeds, Bauman brought great qualities of intellectual leadership. "From the start he saw his task as one of inspiring students, and among his academic colleagues promoting a collegial atmosphere in which new academic projects were welcomed and free and open discussion encouraged in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and understanding" (www.leeds.ac.uk). Since his retirement, Bauman and his reputation has continued to benefit sociology at Leeds. Zygmunt Bauman is a prolific writer known for such works as Legislators and Interpreters (1987), Modernity and the Holocaust (1989), and Postmodern Ethics (1993). He is the author of about 21 books, two more projected for the early 2000s, and of numerous articles and reviews (www.leeds.ac.uk). In 1990, Bauman was awarded the Amalfi European Prize, followed by the Adorno Prize in 1998. "Today he is described variously as one of the twentieth century's great social theorists and the world's foremost sociologist of postmodernity" (www.leeds.ac.uk). Bauman's logic can be traced back to his upbringing in the Polish Humanist tradition, where society was culture. His most immediate teachers, Julian Hochfeld and Stanislaw Ossowski, viewed sociology as primarily a ser...

How to Write an Essay on a Teacher

How to Write an Essay on a Teacher It’s a rather complicated task to write an essay on a teacher because only a few people can really understand how difficult and challenging this profession is. A teacher should not only be an expert in teaching but also to be ready to face various problems and cope with them. A good teacher does everything possible to create a comfortable atmosphere at a class that can stimulate students’ creativity and thinking. How to Start? The most important thing is to find a topic that can provoke discussions. That shouldn’t be just â€Å"yes† or â€Å"no† issues. It must let people agree or disagree with the author. In addition, it should be not only provocative but specified as well. It’s better to avoid too general statements and keep to the problem which one can support with solid and trustworthy evidence, facts, and statistics. For example, the topic may sound like â€Å"What Type of Teacher Do Contemporary Students Need: Authoritative, Liberal or Democratic?† Different parents think differently. Such a topic can make people participate in debates trying to prove their point of view. The Next Step Is a Proper Structure Each academic assignment has a required structure. An essay should include an introduction, body, and conclusion. The introduction presents the problem and explains its nature and/or possible solution. There should be also a thesis statement in the introductory part. For example, â€Å"Today, more and more teachers prefer the democratic way of teaching to the authoritative one. As a result, students become uncontrolled and start losing interest in their study.† A writer should also strike the reader from the very beginning using rhetorical questions, citations, analogies, anecdotes, captivating stories, etc. The body is the largest part of the essay because it includes the whole information on the topic in details. The research is to be thorough and correspond with the chosen topic. The conclusion sums everything up and can give the idea for further research of the problem. This part of the essay should also be impressive. When the first and the last words hit the target auditory, the whole essay will have a chance to get A+. For example, â€Å"It doesn’t matter what type of teaching a teacher chooses. If a person is really good at teaching, students will be inspired with hope, lit with rich fancy, and infused with love to learning.† Other Things to Mention When dealing with academic writing a person should pay attention to each detail. A student must learn all the requirements and follow them. There are different writing styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), and each of them needs some specific spacing, font and its size, the arrangement of the bibliography section, footnotes, title page, and a number of other details. It’s also necessary to sound logical and avoid making grammar mistakes. Each part of the essay must support the main idea of the paper and there must be a logical connection between them. One should also arrange appendix and supporting materials if necessary.

Ethical Dilemmas Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Ethical Dilemmas - Research Paper Example The intention of this study is Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) that are known to provide unique services in health care. They offer their patients with the chance to opt for preferred procedural as well as surgical services carried out beyond the environment of a hospital. ASCs were set up and have been serving people with their services for over three decades. ASCs have been successfully representing an outstanding and incomparable capability of enhancing quality along with their service towards their customers while concurrently bringing down the expenses over the years. ASCs are being considered to be an exception because of the mounting expenses of services in the health care industry. Developments in services and technologies in the health care industry are increasing the costs and in such a time ASCs are considered to be of great relief for the people. Great efforts are being made throughout the nation in order to enhance the system of health care and ASCs have appeared to be triumphant in altering the services related to health care in a positive way. All kinds of surgical procedures were carried out in hospitals in the past. Previously, people needed to wait for months in order to get an appointment and patients had to spend quite a few days in the hospitals in order to recover. The concept of ASCs was developed by physicians. They felt the need and recognized a prospect to set up a superior quality, lucrative choice and a substitute for the surgical services being provided in the hospitals. Physicians were disturbed and annoyed of the postponements, inadequate rooms for carrying out operations and difficulty in acquiring new equipment for surgical procedures. This made them to look out for an alternative and build up centers with better facilities and services (Ambulatory Surgery Centers, 2002). Organizational Structures and Responsibilities The developers that are the physicians carry on offering force for growth of the already existing ASCs along w ith the new ones. Physicians enjoy more freedom while carrying out their operations compared to the hospitals. They are capable of

Business law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business law - Coursework Example Most contracts generally pose no major problems as they address the simple interchange of goods from the seller and cash from the buyer. However, there are contracts that could get complicated and pose serious consequences. The chances of this happening are therefore minimized if the parties contracting understand the concept of what they are agreeing to, the rights, the obligations and the how to foresee potential problems. Under law, a contract is a legally binding promise or set of promises between two parties (Young, 2010), in this case Simon and Lady Gaga. However, there are certain contracts that must, by law be in writing. Examples include insurance contracts or contracts that involve the sale of land. Verbal contracts have one main shortcoming. Whenever there is a dispute over the terms of the contract, it may be very difficult to prove the terms and conditions on which the contract was founded. Parties may deliberately or accidentally forget what they had agreed to. In such a situation, it would be Simon’s word against Lady Gaga’s in the case of a breach. It would therefore be advisable for Simon to enter into a written contract. The foundation of the law of contract is based on a wide body of equity and common law. In order for a contract to be legally binding, there are several requirements that must be met. These were developed under the principles of the common law (Fray & Frey (2001). They are: agreement, consideration, intention, capacity, and legality. These are the requirements on which my advice to Simon is based. Agreement The law considers the distinct aspects of an agreement in a contract. These aspects are two and they must be present for any contract to be considered binding at law. They are offer and acceptance (Richards, 2007). Simon must make an offer that Lady Gaga will clearly and unmistakably accept. The offer would be an indication by Simon that he intends to be bound in a contract with Lady Gaga if she does accept it . In this case Simon is the offeror. a) Invitation to Treat The offer must however be clear and not just an invitation to treat. An invitation to treat would just an indication that he would be wiling to negotiate an offer on the terms of a contract for Lady Gaga to perform in the show. Simon would thus be the one to accept the offer for it to be legally binding. Similar views were held in the case of Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain V. Boots Cash Chemist (Southern) Ltd (1953) 1 QB 401. In this case, the legislation required that there must be a pharmacist present whenever there is a sale of a drug at a self-service store. The question that rose was whether the sale took place when the customer took the drugs from the shelves or at the counter on checkout. It was ruled that the sale actually occurred at the counter when the customer offered to buy the drug at the stated price and the owner accepted the money. This meant that the display was just an invitation to treat and not an offer to sell. b) Counter offer The contract is established when the acceptance has been made. It is therefore important that one is able to identify when the acceptance has actually been made. This is because when Simon makes an offer to Lady Gaga, she may choose to accept it, reject it or try to negotiate for a better deal. For the acceptance to be effective it has to be clearly