Tuesday, August 6, 2019
Treatment for Juveniles Essay Example for Free
Treatment for Juveniles Essay Introduction.            Juvenile offenders compose a considerable chunk of criminal offenders confined in various institutions all over the United States (Juvenile offenders, 2003). In fact, reports show that the number of juvenile offenders has risen over the past decade (Juvenile offenders, 2003). Two Corrections Compendium surveys conducted ten years apart show that the number of juvenile offenders increased by an average of 11.5 percent over the said period (Juvenile offenders, 2003).            The determination of the determining age for persons to be classified as an adult or juvenile offender vary from state to state (Juvenile offenders, 2003). An accused could execute a waiver to adult court, and the age limit for such a waiver similarly varies in different states (Juvenile offenders, 2003). For example, in Kansas, the age limit could go for as low as ten years of age, while Illinois has set the bar at seventeen tears (Juvenile offenders, 2003).            Considering the rising number of juvenile offenders each year, there is likewise an observed increase in the number of secure juvenile facilities in the country (Juvenile offenders, 2003). From 95 secure juvenile facilities in 1993, there are now 169 such facilities based on 22 U.S. reporting systems (Juvenile offenders, 2003). Characteristics of Good Juvenile Facilities.            Good juvenile facilities offer various programs for juvenile offenders, including academic courses, mental health counseling, life skills training, vocational training, anger management classes, substance abuse education, and religious programs (Juvenile offenders, 2003). There are also newly integrated programs designed to help juvenile offenders reintegrate themselves in society, in order to allow them smoother transition from detention to the outside world (Baltodano, Platt, Roberts, 2005). These programs include sexual health education, expressive art therapy, and restorative justice practices (Juvenile offenders, 2003). Issues in Juvenile Treatment.            One vital issue in juvenile treatment concerns aftercare programs. Such programs are vital for they serve as the means by which the treated juvenile offender can slowly reintegrate themselves into the community. The primary goal of aftercare programs is to, â€Å"Reduce the likelihood of recidivism and to foster success in the community.†(Baltodano et al, 2005) In Baltodano et al (2005), a study to determine the juveniles’ perception of aftercare programs. Particular focus was given on the effectiveness of the transition process as perceived by the youth themselves. Research Design and Data Analysis            The Baltodano et al (2005) study utilized the survey as the primary data collection method. The survey involved 120 youth in a chosen urban county detention facility. The participants were asked what their opinions were on issues such as, â€Å"The effectiveness of transition services, and characteristics of programs that they felt were beneficial.†(Baltodano et al, 2005)            The findings of the study revealed that there were no significant relationships that existed between the number of times of previous detention, the youth’s gender, special education status, or the difficulty that the youth encountered with returning to school. Nevertheless, there was a significant finding in that the youths who anticipated being released and going home to family or relatives had a lower mean number of times of being detained again than those who find themselves in other situations upon release. Conclusion            A review of the Baltodano et al (2005) study reveals the value of aftercare programs of juvenile detention centers. Based on the findings of the said study, it is deemed vital that carefully planned aftercare programs be implemented in juvenile detention centers. This will ensure that the youths will still be properly monitored. Also, this will allow the youth to receive guidance as to how they can successfully reintegrate themselves into the community. Finally, aftercare programs will help decrease the chances of the youth being detained again. References Baltodano, H. M., Platt, D. Roberts, C. W. (2005). Transition from Secure Care to the Community: Significant Issues for Youth in Detention. Journal of Correctional Education 56(4), p. 372-388. Juvenile offenders. (2003). Corrections Compendium 28(5), p. 9-15. Wilder, B. A., Riley III, F. E., Sorensen, L. H. (2004). Quality Improvement in Juvenile Corrections: An Opportunity That Benefits Staff and Clients. Corrections Today            66(7), p. 122-127.
Monday, August 5, 2019
Importance Of Urban Tourism
Importance Of Urban Tourism Man has been travelling around the length and breadth of the earth with various motives. The reason could be anything business, leisure or education it all falls under a broad categorisation of tourism. The technological developments and transformation of the world into a global community has resulted in extensive growth of tourism around the world in recent years. Tourism has been the prime reason for the enhanced levels of intercultural contact. A look into touristic countries shows that their sociocultural structures have had great influence as a result of tourism. The changes be it positive or negative, differs from country to country. Changes result in reactions which could range from resistance to a complete adoption. This piece of work would look into the social and cultural impacts of tourism with a case study on Bournemouth. Chapter 2: Urban Tourism Tourism plays a very strong part in the citys local economy. Tourism not only supports the economy of a city but also is responsible for socio-culture impact on the people. Where tourism tries to build some employment opportunities, it also affects the social and cultural relations between people from different parts of the world. Travelling to different parts of the world has always been an interest for everybody. This not only gives them an opportunity to explore new place but also a break from the usual day to day life. For some, travelling is for a business issue but for some it is for leisure. This evolved a new concept of tourism as an industry in the market. Though till 1980s tourism was not considered to be a healthy part of the economy. But, in the last few decades, it gained importance. The people realize the potential of this market. Thus, the larger or the smaller cities were looked with a new perspective of promoting tourism. The redevelopment in the cities took place slowly and gradually and they became a part of the wide tourism industry. As Edwards et al.,2008 D. Edwards, T. Griffin and B. Hayllar, Urban tourism research: developing an agenda, Annals of Tourism Research 35 (4) (2008), pp. 1032-1052. Article | PDF (143 K) | View Record in Scopus | Cited By in Scopus (0)Edwards et al. (2008: 1038) state, tourism is one among many social and economic forces in the urban environment. It encompasses an industry that manages and markets a variety of products and experiences to people who have a wide range of motivations, preferences and cultural perspectives and are involved in a dialectic engagement with the host community. The outcome of this engagement is a set of consequences for the tourist, the host community and the industry. (Ashworth Page, 2010) McIntyre et al (2000) argue that humans perceive and react differently to natural versus urban settings. Scenes of natural environments have a more positive influence on human emotional states and stress levels than do urban scenes. Consequently they theorize that perceptions are integral to peoples motivations and actions; therefore using a perceptually based definition of urban can provide a link between the cultural, political, physical, perceptual and economic aspects that must be integrated into urban tourism. (Edwards, Griffin, Hayllar, 2008) Importance of Urban Tourism Urban tourism is cosmopolitan in nature. But still it has received very small attention for its definition and a proper demarcation in the economy. . (Ashworth Page, 2010, p. 40) Because of tourists, various cities get acknowledged for their immense potential of absorbing the people from other parts of the world. . (Ashworth Page, 2010, p. 40) A tourist wants to explore the urban utilities of other places. But, the tourist visiting places have a very small portion of the urban facilities to entertain them with. (Ashworth Page, 2010, p. 40) Urban tourism bears an entirely different geographical pattern from the city in order to attract the tourist and this change in geography is one of the attention seeking factors. (Page Hall, 2003) The primary and secondary elements that are further discussed below support employment and provide jobs. Urbanisation and Globalisation Globally, 46% of the worlds population constitute urban people and it is estimated that by 2030 this percentage will increase to 61. Thus, it is very important for the urban people to understand that their place will be shared by the tourist. The world is getting small with globalization and thus the space needs to share with other people. Though, globalization emphasizes on two main factors: Globalization gives employment opportunities Globalization supports import and export that further increases the income opportunities. Because of globalization, it is now evident that urban tourism and tourists from different part of the world enjoys the leisure experience that is specially built for them. (Page Hall, 2003, pp. 29-30) Urban Tourism as a business Strategy By the 1970s the cities were losing a lot of economy and they were wondering as how to recover the loss and regenerate income from this sector and create some jobs. This was the main reason for inculcating new activities that could increase the regeneration process. Where the cities were witnessing this economic shift, tourism was one sector that was flourishing. This gave them a new approach of income generation. On the grounds of travel and leisure it was concluded that tourism industry was to grow and be a part of the economy. Tourism as an industry was taken optimistically by the urban crowd and was considered as a solution for a big financial crunch. The tourism industry demands investment to attract visitors. Furthermore, marketing and selling of a picture of a city that would love to see and buy. To market the city, it is important to make some changes in the city. The refurbishment of the districts would bring the local residents more compact in the city. The larger cities like London, New York etc. have always been a centre of attraction. People always desire to go for a tourist destination like this. But it is very hard to understand the psychology behind this. Generally, these elements can be broadly classified into two ways: Primary elements like theatres, monuments, historical buildings, sports, games, casinos, and the social and cultural life. Secondary elements like markets, shopping etc. These two elements were discovered by Jansen-Verbeke in 1988 These two elements strike the mind of the visitor. At times, the visitor is only visiting the same place because of one interesting element or a mix of two or more. (Law, 1993, pp. 27-30) Cultural Impact of Urban Tourism Bournemouth witnesses millions of tourist every year from different parts of the world. Because of this high volume of tourist response from different cultures, the culture has a major impact on the local residents. It has both advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage of culture tourism is the exchange of culture with different cultures of the world. It becomes a matter of pride for the local residents to exchange their culture with other people. They feel more strongly bounded to their originality. The locals take cultural tourism in two positive ways: Giving the host the opportunity to come in contact with other different cultures which further results in understanding others and rise in tolerance levels. When the localities present their culture and tell about their culture in their own point of view, they feel more strongly bounded to their ethnic origin and their grounds from where they originally belong to. Culture tourism affects the locals positively as well as in a negative way. Too much of anything is very bad. The same goes for the culture tourism. Just to attract tourist and to expose them to the hosts culture, they try to over develop the city, over construct the primary elements. Also, with this reconstruction, the originality of the culture becomes diluted. (Besculides, Lee, McCormick, 2002) Social impact of urban tourism The rail network started in Bournemouth in the late 19th century. This was the main reason for increasing the population of the city and to increase the visitors at a phenomenal rate. With the travelling network in Bournemouth, the tourism industry started flourishing. Bournemouth was already famous for its primary elements and the history related to the same. Each and every element had a historical moment attached to it. The economy was coming in and was tangible enough to understand that Bournemouth has the potential to attract tourists. But, there was also a hidden side of the same point i.e. the social impacts. Where over development of the city has led to more of construction, heavy duty, increase taxes, etc on the one hand, it has also given them an opportunity to mingle up with other cultures. Where the travelling to the core of the city has become convenient for the countryside residents, it has also given them an employment opportunity in the same. (Haley, Snaith, Miller, 2 005) Socio-Cultural Impact of urban Tourism According to Fox(1977), cited in Mathieson and Wall(1982:133), The social and cultural impacts of tourism are the ways in which tourism is contributing to changes in value systems, individual behaviour, family relationships, collective lifestyles, safety levels, moral conduct, creative expressions, traditional ceremonies and community organisations, which they identify as people impacts, due to tourists on host communities and the interaction between these two groups. (Page Hall, 2003, p. 213) So, from the above definition it is clear that the social cultural impacts of tourism depends on three main factors, namely Tourist that demands for the services from the host city Host that adjusts with the demands of the tourist and tries to leave an impression of their culture on the tourist and A mutual understanding between the two so that both of them are comfortable with each other (Page Hall, 2003, p. 213) Economical impact of Urban tourism For understanding the economical impact of urban tourism, it is very important to consider the following points The flow of tourist in a particular city The local economic development of the city The type of economy that city persists like public, private or mix economy The income spent on tourist leisure activities and not import of goods It is said that tourist flow is seasonal. So, the impact of this and still trying to maintain the constant flow of tourist all year round. The secondary elements that a city dwells to attract the other people from the world. The above mentioned factors play a very important role in understanding the economical impact of urban tourism. To start with, the positive side it includes: Income generation for the city economy New jobs and employment opportunities Fair balance between the economic activities and the city Increasing business options But, it also carries a negative side. It includes, If the tourist attracts to one form of element only, the economy starts paying attention to that element and dependency on that element drastically increases. Inflation To make a tourist comfortable and make their stay pleasurable, they start importing goods from others parts and their dependence and importance of their locally produced goods decreases. Tourism is seasonal (Page Hall, 2003, pp. 197-198) Employment Opportunities due to tourism As the reconstruction always take place in a city, it is very obvious that the jobs are created. However, at a deeper level and in a more detailed way it is often difficult to assess the impact of tourism on a city. Firstly, it is often difficult to measure the flow of tourists, even when a definition has been agreed. Comprehensive surveys are expensive and short cut methods are often unreliable and may, if repeated, come up with conflicting evidence. Secondly, the flow of income through the economy is difficult to trace, and it is difficult to calculate the number of jobs created. Tourisms impact is very diffuse and so not very visible, which is a problem for those campaigning for further support. Thirdly, the objectives of tourism development are also diffused and often interlinked with other objectives, so that it is difficult to isolate the impact. (Law, 1993, p. 169) Chapter 3: Bournemouth a Tourist Destination Bournemouth is one of the classical examples of urban tourism. It exhibits both the primary and the secondary elements that attracts the tourists and compels them to come over and over again. From theatres to shopping to site seeing, Bournemouth is a place to visit. About Bournemouth Area Size 17.83 sq miles (46.15 sq km) 21 Conservation Area designations 7 miles of curved sandy beaches with three European Blue Flags and six Seaside Awards Average of 7.7 hours a day of summer sunshine 842 hectares (2,080 acres) of parks and gardens with nine gardens holding the Green Flag Award (recognising environmental protection, community use and safety cleanliness) Population from Census 2001 is 163,444, the 2008 mid-year estimate is 163,900 and the population is projected to reach almost 168,000 by 2026 68,800 employees in Bournemouth work in the service sector (ABI, NOMIS, 2007) Median gross weekly earnings for 2009 for the Bournemouth residents was  £371.60 representing 93% of the England and Wales figure (ASHE, ONS) Over 14,600 students attended Bournemouth University in 2007/08 (65.4% over 21 years of age) Just over 1,000 overseas students attending Bournemouth University in 2007/08 A total of 38 schools with 20,187 pupils (Schools Census, October 2009) 1,344 (gross) and 1,218 (net) new dwellings constructed 2008/09 Bournemouth Airport: almost 1 million passengers (in 2007/08) to more than 50 destinations including USA, Europe and Channel Islands and over 11,000 tonnes of freight Just over 2.27 million rail passenger journeys in 2003/2004 Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough Average house price for February 2010 was  £170,179 (Land Registry) Just over 57 kilometres of Principal Type roads within the Borough 95 minutes rail journey to London Waterloo Fast Ferry from Poole to France (Cherbourg) or Channel Islands Civic Trust Awards (2001): Bournemouth was awarded two awards, for the conversion of The Square from a roundabout to a Civic space and for transforming Knyveton Gardens to a sensory garden for those with disabilities. (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010) Prominent Bournemouth attractions Bournemouth Beach Bournemouths beach has won awards consistently the quality, safety and cleanliness of its seven miles long beach. The beach offers a range water sports and also provides the visitors the option of hiring beach. It is one of the safest beaches with the availability of RNLI lifeguards all along the seven mile stretch of beach. Russell-Cotes Art Gallery Museum Termed as one of the most fascinating and unique museums in the world. It comprises of the famous paintings and gems collected by the Russell-cotes family and housed in one of the last Victorian Villas in Bournemouth, East Cliff Hall. (russell-cotes.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2008) Bournemouth Aviation Museumà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ½ The Bournemouth Aviation Museum a perfect day out for the family has exhibits covering 50 years of aviation with a display of Piston aircraft, military jets, a Biz-Jet, military trainer, helicopter and a nose section of the famous Vulcan bomber. (www.aviation-museum.co.uk, 2009) The Red House Museum Gardens Built as a Georgian workhouse in 1764, the building now houses a number of objects reflecting the social and natural history of the area, its geology and archaeology. (www.information-britain.co.uk, 2005) Bournemouth Pier The original pier consisting of a short wooden jetty was opened in the year 1856. But the present day pier has come a long way and is much longer than that. It has its own historical importance and has been refurbished over time due to corrosion and even destruction due to invasions. Since 1871 it has been associated with pleasure steamers. Local boats operate from the pier offering many day trips and excursions. (www.theheritagetrail.co.uk, 2008) Bournemouths parks and countryside Bournemouth has a varied variety of ornamental gardens and countryside many of which have various protective designations. The councils parks and countryside staff manage 10 local natural reserves around the borough. In 2009 Bournemouth achieved nine Green Flags national award for its parks, these parks also offer guided walks giving information some fascinating trees to be found there. (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009) Bournemouth Oceanarium The Oceanarium is a fully interactive experience with touch screen games, feeding demonstrations and talks, plasma screen documentaries, with a walk-through underwater tunnel and exhibits. (bournemouth attractions, 2009) Availability of accommodation in Bournemouth Development of a city as a tourists destination means there will be an influx of visitors and tourists coming to the city, these visitors require a temporary place to stay during their visit. This results in the development of different types of accommodations focussing on different category of tourists. The creation of these accommodations also helps evolve new markets for products like souvenirs and memorabilia. Since it lands up increasing the demand for food and such facilities, working on the demand and supply principle it attracts establishment of more businesses. The positive impact of these developments results in creation of jobs. Bournemouth tourism promotes the establishments of these accommodations either under Bournemouth Quality Standards Scheme or the quality assed either by AA or Quality in tourism. The following table gives an insight into the available accommodations in Bournemouth as in 2004 Type Bedspaces (unless marked otherwise) Hotels 12,836 Guesthouses 4,493 BB 747 Self Catering 402 Units Touring Caravans/Tents 33 PITCHES Second Homes 1,586 (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010) Tourists expenditure associated with their trip Tourists visits in a city means tourists spending in the city. Tourists usually take the opportunity of being away on a break to spend generously on themselves. The tourists spending is generally categorised as On accommodation On shopping On food and drink Attractions and entertainment Travel. The local businesses over a period of time get an understanding of the spending pattern of the visiting tourists and hence try to base their inventories around it. The tourists visiting bournmouth can be categorised into the following 3 categories: UK tourists Overseas tourists Day toursist The following table gives and insight into the breakdown of the tourists expenditure associated with trips to Bournemouth. Accommodation ( £) Shopping ( £) Food Drink ( £) Attractions/ Entertainment ( £) Travel ( £) UK Tourists 47,884,000 14,977,000 28,797,000 12,509,000 23,252,000 Overseas Tourists 20,095,000 20,634,000 11,789,000 11,297,000 5,091,000 Day Visitors 0 51,292,000 59,080,000 14,296,000 19,988,000 Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge model www.swtourism.org.uk (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010) The above figures clearly show that tourist inflow enhances the citys coffers and makes available the finances that the city would need for growth and development. Brand Bournemouth is being developed by the council keeping in view of its ability to attract more tourists. The different sectors that have been identified as constituent parts of the Bournemouth brand are as follows: Accommodation Conference/business International Education Leisure and attractions Night Time Economy Town Centre Transport This is the most visual positive socio-cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth. The gift of the Tourism industry in the form of jobs Tourism brings in business is a known fact, these businesses are run by individuals and hence jobs are created. Jobs mean growth of the society as a whole. The transformation of a city into a tourists destination attracts not only tourists but also businesses of all kinds. Jobs that are created can be segregated into the following three general categories: Direct jobs Indirect jobs Induced jobs The creation of these jobs becomes a source of livelihood for the locals. It also attracts workforce from neighbouring towns and cities. This increases the revenues of the connecting transport systems. The depth of integrated revenues is immense and hidden in a very complex matrix. The following table gives the estimated actual number of jobs created related to tourism spending in 2007. Staying Tourists Day Visitors Total Direct Jobs 4,423 2,796 7,219 Indirect Jobs 1,075 489 1,563 Induced Jobs 456 64 520 Total 5,953 3,349 9,302 Source: South West Tourism using the Cambridge Model www.swtourism.org.uk (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2010) Holiday types, reasons for visit and activities involvement. Tourists have various reasons to visit Bournemouth. There was a time when tourists were all categorised as travellers, but now times have changed and they can be categorised using various concepts and ideas. One of the ways to categorise them is based them the type of holiday they take. They can be categorised as follows. Main holiday Additional holiday Short break The above categorise are the parameters that decide their length of stay. The following tables give an insight into the tourists that come to Bournemouth based on the above categorisation. It also gives an idea of the reasons why they come and the activities they engage themselves in when they are holidaying in Bournemouth. Statistics for Bournemouth, 2005 Holiday Type Total (%) Main Holiday 33 Additional Holiday 43 Short Break 20 Length of Stay 7.88 nights Average expenditure per person per day  £44.22 Reasons for Visiting Total (%) Shopping 56 Seaside, beaches, coast 86 Peace and quiet 36 Easy to get to 57 Activities Total (%) Coastal Walk 77 Gardens 63 Shopping 72 Wildlife 47 Source: Dorset New Forest Tourism Data Project, The Market Research Group, 2005/06 (www.bournemouth.gov.uk, 2009) The above statistics tell us that the reasons why the tourists come is varied and they also overlap each other, in economic terms that leaves scope for business. Even the activities that they get involved in are varied and hence these statistics can be used to decide the spending of the local governing bodies in developing the tourism according to tourists preferences. Negative socio- cultural impact of tourism in Bournemouth It is evident that urban tourism has a lot of visible benefits for the economy and the locals. Where it promotes exchange of culture, it also supports the local economy of the city. But, there is a negative aspect of urban tourism as well. For example, during the peak season when the tourists influx is at its maximum, the prices of fresh foods and vegetables start rising. It even destroys the peace of the locality. The tourists bring their vices to the city in the form of gambling, late night clubs, prostitution and drinking. Though tourism has a lot of positive impact on the local economy, culture and over all development of the society, the negative impact cannot be ignored. If the negative impact is kept on a regular vigilant check it can be overshadowed by the positives. The development of the urban city of Bournemouth into a tourists destination faces a lot of challenges from such negative impacts. No doubt tourism brings a lot to the city in terms of jobs and development. It has also resulted in the increase of taxes be it residential or business. Some of the negative socio-cultural impact of tourism can be summarised as follows. Prostitution- the development of Bournemouth as a tourists destination has resulted in vices such as prostitution. According to Dorset Police the alarming rate of rise of brothels in Bournemouth has been a real matter of concern for the city. The intelligence works reported the presence of 60 brothels in the city. (www.telegraph.co.uk, 2005) Drug trafficking- the vice of prostitution is known to drag with it the drug culture. Over the years Bournemouth has attracted party goes due to its numerous pubs and clubs along the beach, this has resulted in increase in the number of drug consumers in Bournemouth. These vices are passed on the growing population of Bournemouth, having serious affects on the way of life of their friends and families. Increased levels of noise pollution- the growing number of clubs and pubs result in enhancing the night life experience of the tourists, but also increase the levels of noise pollution, which can be detrimental to the health of the old and senior residents of Bournemouth. Rising house prices- increasing jobs and growing businesses attracts attention from neighbouring cities, resulting in growth in population. This results increasing the demand of residential housing, which could be out of reach for the local population. Rising taxes- Increased businesses results in more government spending in infrastructural development and also towards the tourists interests. This results in the increased levels of taxes by the government, to finance these projects. Traffic jams- increased levels of traffic jams are one of the main cause of the grievance of the locals of Bournemouth, which even the local governments are struggling to solve. Road casualties- due to increase in levels of population and car users the increasing number of road casualties have been worrying the Bournemouth authorities and locals. Loss of individuality due to over marketing of destinations key selling point- The development of Bournemouth as a tourists friendly city has resulted in extensive development. Be it businesses or attractions for the tourists, the concern is that it is losing its ethnic originality and identity. It is losing the unique selling point and is transforming into another beach city, this is a matter of concern that has been voiced by the local authorities. Chapter 4: Conclusion Socio- cultural impact of tourisms cannot be ignored. Tourism is at times used as a reason for the growth and development of the society, the focus of growth is always positive, but the negative side is also prevalent. Man is full of vices, since tourism revolves around mans needs, requirements, perceptions, assumptions and wants, it is very difficult to curtail the negative influence. Bournemouth tourism should focus on development tailored on its specific needs, heritage, history and means with the socio-cultural impacts in sight. This would enable the urban city to have a balanced growth limiting the vices and attracting the healthy tourists which contribute majorly into the growth of the city into positive spheres of development.
Sunday, August 4, 2019
University Food Service Menu Needs Revision Essay -- Argumentative Per
University Food Service Menu Needs Revision THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT The purpose of this report is to show the need to examine the current meal program services offered by University and to prove a need for a substantial revision of the menus and meals to accommodate the nutritional needs of all the students. The students, in particular, on which this report will focus is those students who are vegetarian (or those who do not eat any animal flesh), or vegan (those who do not eat any products that come from animals, such as milk, eggs, meat, and fat). THE CURRENT MEALS AND MENUES The current food service offers three meals per day, and these include some, but relatively few, vegetarian options for students with special dietary needs. In the average daily menu there is usually a choice that either doesn’t contain red meat or has a vegetable base in the ingredients. On the menus these meal choices are marked by a symbol of a carrot (see menus at http://www.iastate.edu/~residence_info/dining/dining.htm). Meals The morning meal consists of several hot dishes and toast, cereal, canned fruit, sometimes one fresh fruit option, and milk or juice. Students also have the option of having a waffle they make themselves. (Waffles are available for any of the meals). For the noon-time meal, students have the option of having a cold sandwich, or one of usually three hot meal items. There is always a salad bar and two choices of cereal. The evening meal is much like the noon-time meal. It also includes a salad bar and usually three hot main-courses and side dishes, but does not include the cold sandwich option. Menus Copies of food service menus have been included in the Appendix of this paper and give random examp... ...inning halls. I feel my nutritional needs are met by the food provided by the food service. I feel I am given an adequate number of meal choices when I eat in the dinning halls. I believe that there need to be no changes made to the dinning hall food service. I see room for improvement in the dinning hall food service. I am happy with the meal services provided by ISU. Please rate the your overall satisfaction with the dinning hall food service on a scale of one to ten (1-10), ten being very satisfied, and one being very dissatisfied, in the space below. Information and data gathered from: ISU department of residence dining services The ISU vegetarian club (Interviews of some members) Dorothy Franke (a member of the ISU vegetarian club) Survey created by Mariah Kimball, Oct. 29th 1999 (information gathered form 50 ISU students only)
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Essay --
†¢ Breastfeeding: A natural way of using birth control, and is free, and requires no prescription. Breastfeeding is safe, simple, and convenient. Does not need any medical supervision. Breastfeeding can be effective for six months after delivery only if a woman does not substitute other foods for breast milk, feeds her baby at least every four hours during the day and every six hours at night, and has not had her period since the delivery of her baby. (Planned Parenthood 2014) The woman should also have her partner wear a condom, or use a female condom to reduce the risk of infection. †¢ Male Condom: A type of birth control where the man puts on a latex or non latex plastic on his penis before having sex with a woman. The male condom can reduce the risk of pregnancy and STDs. Using a condom is safe, effective, and very affordable to get. Condoms are about $1 each, but are sometimes available for free, at medical clinics. (Planned Parenthood 2014) As a nurse, we would need to keep in mind to tell the male to make sure that they handle condoms properly. Keep in mind that certain types of lubricants can damage a latex condom. (Planned Parenthood 2014)Use only water-based lubricants, such as K-Y jelly. Instruct the male to read and understand the instructions and check the expiration date before using a condom. Teach the male patient to apply the condom onto the penis and should first be hard. When applying a condom on, instruct the male to pull back the foreskin, unless circumcised, before rolling on the condom. Place the rolled condom over the tip of the hard penis and leave a half-inch space at the tip to collect semen and then pinch the air out of the tip with one hand while placing it on the penis.(Planned Parenthood 2014) †¢ Spe... ...re provider who will let them know what to do and what not to do after their abortion. Inform the patient that they may have a wide range of feelings after an abortion. (Planned Parenthood 2014)Most women ultimately feel relief. Some women feel anger, regret, guilt, or sadness for a little while. Sudden shifts in hormones may make these feelings stronger. Serious, long-term emotional problems after abortion are about as uncommon as they are after giving birth. (Planned Parenthood 2014)The woman may be more likely to have emotional problems after abortion for certain reasons which are, having a history of emotional problems before your abortion, having important people in your life who aren't supportive of your decision to have an abortion, or having to terminate a wanted pregnancy because your health or the health of your fetus is in danger.(Planned Parenthood 2014)
Friday, August 2, 2019
Illegal Downloading is Stealing :: essays research papers
Illegal Downloading â€Å"is†Stealing      With the popularity of the Internet, sales for CDs, DVDs, Movies, and many other products have increased. Along with the increase of sales has brought forth an ever increasing problem of illegal media being downloaded. Programs such as Bittorent, Kazaa, and other direct-connect networking programs have allowed the transferring of such illegal media. Downloading song files from the Internet over a free peer to peer network is the moral equivalent of shoplifting music CDs from the local mall.      When you download any illegal media you are getting something for free that everyone else is required to pay a fee for. DVDs and CDs that cost others anywhere from 15 dollars to 60 dollars or more are being distributed for free as long as you have a download client. If you have programs such as Bittorent or Kazaa, you only have to find someone that already has the media on their computer, in which they either paid for the copies or they too downloaded the media illegally from someone else. On most of the â€Å"real†media (the cases), it states that you are not to distribute or copy the material because it is an illegal act, and you will be punished if caught.      Not only is downloading this media illegal, it is also morally wrong. It is our responsibility to know the difference between right and wrong - downloading this media is something that shouldn’t be done. The artists that create the CDs pay a lot of money to make the CDs for our pleasure, and in return they expect everyone to pay for their CDs (its how they make their money). In this respect, downloading illegal music through peer to peer networks is the equivalent to stealing a CD from an actual store.      By downloading any type of media for free that is normally paid for through a store, unless so stated, you are breaking the law. There have been many laws written that forbid the downloading of any copyrighted materials such as music CDs, Movies, and computer programs. If you are caught downloading any of these types of media, or found to have any on your computer, you can and will be fined or even jailed. The same consequences would be applied if you were caught stealing from a store. As suggests, there is no difference if you steal from a store, or steal it through your computer.
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove Chapter 16~18
Sixteen Mavis The phone behind the bar rang and Mavis yanked it out of its cradle. â€Å"Mount Olympus, Goddess of Sex speaking,†she said, and there was a mechanical ratcheting noise as she cocked a hip while she listened. â€Å"No, I haven't seen him – like I would even tell you if he was here. Hell, woman, I have a sacred trust here – I can't rat out every husband who comes in for a snort after work. How would I know? Honey, you want to keep this kind of thing from happening? Two words: long, nasty blowjobs. Yeah, well, if you were doing them instead of counting words, then maybe you wouldn't lose your husband. Oh, all right, hold on.†Mavis held her receiver to breast and shouted, â€Å"Hey! Anyone seen Les from the hardware store?†A few heads shook and a fusillade of â€Å"nopes†fired through the bar. â€Å"Nope, he's not here. Yeah, if I see him, I'll be sure and tell him that there was a screeching harpy looking for him. Oh yeah, well, I've been done doggie-style by the Better Business Bureau and they liked it, so say hi for me.†Mavis slammed down the phone. She felt like the Tin Man left out in the rain. Her metal parts felt rusty and she was sure that her plastic parts were going to mush. Ten o'clock on a Saturday, live entertainment on the stage, and she still hadn't sold enough liquor to cover the cost of her Blues singer. Oh, the bar was full, but people were nursing their drinks, making them last, making goo-goo eyes at each other and slipping out, couple by couple, without dropping a sawbuck. What in the hell had come over this town? The Blues singer was supposed to drive them to drink, but the entire pop-ulation seemed to be absolutely giddy with love. They were talking instead of drinking. Wimps. Mavis spit into the bar sink in disgust and there was a pinging sound from a tiny spring that had dislodged somewhere inside of her. Wusses. Mavis threw back a shot of Bushmills and glared at the couples sitting at the bar, then glared at Catfish, who was finishing up a set on the stage, his National steel guitar whining as he sang about losing his soul at the crossroads. Catfish told the story of the great Robert Johnson, the haunting Bluesman who had met the devil at the crossroads and bargained his soul for super-natural ability, but was pursued throughout his life by a hellhound that had caught his scent at the gates of hell and finally took him home when a jealous husband slipped poison into Johnson's liquor. â€Å"Truth be,†Catfish said into the microphone, â€Å"I done stood at midnight at every crossroad in the Delta lookin' to sell my soul, but wasn't nobody buyin'. Now that there is the Blues. But I gots me my own brand of hellhound, surely I do.†â€Å"That's sweet, fish boy,†Mavis shouted from behind the bar. â€Å"Come over here, I gotta talk to you.†â€Å"‘Scuse me, folks, they's a call from hell right now,†Catfish said to the crowd with a grin. But no one was listening. He put his guitar in the stand and ambled over to Mavis. â€Å"You're not loud enough,†Mavis said. â€Å"Turn up your hearing aid, woman. I ain't got no pickup in that National. They's only so high you can go into a mike or she feed back.†â€Å"People are talking, not drinking. Play louder. And no love songs.†â€Å"I gots me a Fender Stratocaster and a Marshall amp in the car, but I don't like playin ‘lectric.†â€Å"Go get them. Plug in. Play loud. I don't need you if you don't sell liquor.†â€Å"This gonna be my last night anyway.†â€Å"Get the guitar,†Mavis said. Molly Molly slammed the truck into the Dumpster behind the Head of the Slug Saloon. Glass from the headlights tinkled to the tarmac and the fan raked across the radiator with a grating shriek. It had been a few years since Molly had done any driving, and Les had left out a few parts from the do-it-yourself brake kit he'd installed. Molly turned off the engine and set the parking brake, then wiped the steering wheel and shift knob with the sleeve of her sweatshirt to remove any fingerprints. She climbed out of the truck and tossed the keys into the mashed Dumpster. There was no music coming from the back door of the Slug, only the smell of stale beer and the low murmur of conversation. She scampered out of the alley and started the four-block walk home. A low fog drifted over Cypress Street and Molly was grateful for the cover. There were only a few lights on in the park's trailers, and she hurried past them to where her own windows flickered with the lonely blue of the unwatched television. She looked past her house to the space where Steve lay healing and noticed a figure out-lined in the fog. As she drew closer, she could see that it was not one person, but two, standing not twenty feet from the dragon trailer. Her heart sank. She expected the beams of police flashlights to swing through the fog any second, but the figures were just standing there. She crept around the edge of her trailer, pressed so close that she could feel the cold coming off the aluminum skin through her sweatshirt. A woman's voice cut the fog, â€Å"Lord, we have heeded your call and come unto you. Forgive us our casual attire, as our dry cleaner did close for the weekend and we are left sorely without outfits with matching accessories.†It was the school prayer ladies, Katie and Marge, although Molly wouldn't be able to tell which was which. They were wearing identical pink jogging suits with matching Nikes. As she watched, the two women moved closer to Steve, and Molly could see a rippling across the dragon trailer. â€Å"As our Lord Jesus did give His life for our sins, so we come unto Thee, O Lord, to giveth of ourselves.†The end of the dragon trailer lost its angles to curves, and Molly could see Steve's broad head extending, changing, the door going from a vertical rectangle to a wide horizontal maw. The women seemed unaffected by the change and continued to move slowly forward, silhouetted now by Steve's jaws, which were opening like a toothed cavern. Molly ran around her trailer and up the steps, reached in and grabbed her broadsword which was leaned against the wall just inside the door, and dashed back around the trailer and toward the Sea Beast. Marge and Katie were almost inside of Steve's open mouth. Molly could see his enormous tongue snaking out the side of his mouth, reaching behind the church ladies to drag them in. â€Å"No!†Molly leapt from a full run, slamming between Marge and Katie like a fullback leaping through blockers to the goal line, and smacked Steve on the nose with the flat of her sword. She landed in his mouth and rolled clear to the ground just as his jaws snapped shut behind her. She came up on one knee, holding the sword pointed at Steve's nose. â€Å"No!†she said. â€Å"Bad dragon.†Steve turned his head quizzically, as if wondering what she was so upset about. â€Å"Change back,†Molly said, raising the sword as if to whack his nose again. Steve's head and neck pulled back into the shape of a double-wide trailer. Molly looked back at the church ladies, who seemed very concerned with having been knocked into the mud in their pink jogging suits, but oblivious to the fact that they had almost been eaten. â€Å"Are you two okay?†â€Å"We felt the call,†one of them said, either Marge or Katie, while the other one nodded in agreement. â€Å"We had to come to give ourselves unto the Lord.†Their eyes were glazed over and they stared right past her to the trailer as they spoke. â€Å"You guys have to go home now. Aren't your husbands worried about you or something?†â€Å"We heard the call.†Molly helped them to their feet and pointed them away from Steve, who made a faint whining noise as she pushed the church ladies away toward the street. Molly stopped them at the edge of the street and spoke to them from behind. â€Å"Go home. Don't come back here. Okay?†â€Å"We wanted to bring the children to feel the spirit too, but it was so late, and we have church tomorrow.†Molly smacked the speaker across the butt with the flat of her sword, a good two-handed stroke that sent her stumbling into the street. â€Å"Go home!†Molly was winding up to smack the other one when she turned and held up her hand as if refusing a refill on coffee. â€Å"No thank you.†â€Å"Then you're going and you're not coming back, right?†The woman didn't seem sure. Molly turned her grip on the sword so the edge was poised to strike. â€Å"Right?†â€Å"Yes,†the woman said. Her friend nodded in agreement as she rubbed her bottom. â€Å"Now go,†Molly said. As the women walked away, she called after them, â€Å"And stop dressing alike. That's fucking weird.†She watched them until they disappeared into the fog, then went back to where Steve was waiting in trailer form. â€Å"Well?†She threw out her hip, frowned, and tapped her foot as if waiting for his explanation. His windows narrowed, ashamed. â€Å"They'll be back, you know. Then what?†He whimpered, the sound coming from deep inside, where the kitchen would be if he were really a trailer. â€Å"If you're still hungry, you have to let me know. I can help. We can find you something. Although there is only one hardware store in town. You're going to have to diversify your diet.†Suddenly an electric guitar screamed out of the fog, wailing like a tortured ghost of Chicago Blues. The dragon trailer became the dragon again, his white skin went black, then flashed brilliant streaks of red anger. The bandages Molly had spent all day applying shredded with the abrupt shape change. His gill trees hung with tatters of fiberglass fabric as if toilet-papered by mischievous boys. The Sea Beast threw back his head and roared, rattling the windows through the trailer park. Molly fell in the mud as she backed up, then rolled and came up on her feet with the broadsword poised to thrust into the Sea Beast's throat. â€Å"Steve, I think you need to take a timeout, young man.†Theo Such a short period of time to have so many new experiences. In just the last few days, he had coordinated his first major missing person search, including talking to worried parents and the milk carton company, whose people wanted to know if Theo could get a picture of Mikey Plotznik where he wasn't making a contorted, goofy face at the camera. (If they found a better picture, Mikey would end up with great exposure on the two percent or nonfat cartons, but if they had to go with what they had, he was going on the side of the buttermilk and would only be seen by old folks and people making ranch dressing.) Theo had also had to deal with his first major fire, the hallucination of giant animal tracks, and opening a real live murder investigation, all without the benefit of his lifelong chemical crutch. Not that he couldn't nurse at his favorite pipe, he'd just lost the desire to do so. Now he had to decide how to go about investigating Bess Leander's murder. Should he pull someone in for interrogation? Pull them in where? His cabin? He didn't have an office. Somehow he couldn't imagine holding an effective interrogation with the suspect in a beanbag chair under a hot lava lamp. â€Å"Talk, scumbag! Don't make me turn the black light on that Jimi Hendrix poster and light some incense. You don't want that.†And amid all the other activity, he felt a nagging compulsion to go back to the Fly Rod Trailer Court and talk to Molly Michon. Crazy thoughts. Finally he decided to drop by Joseph Leander's house, hoping he might catch the salesman off guard. As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed that weeds had grown up around the garden gnomes and there was a patina of dust on the Dutch hex sign over the front door. The garage door was open and Joseph's minivan was parked inside. Theo paused at the front door before knocking and made sure that his ponytail was tucked into his collar and his collar was straight. For some reason, he felt as if he should be wearing a gun. He had one, a Smith & Wesson .357 revolver, but it was on the top shelf of his closet, next to his bong collection. He rang the bell, then waited. A minute passed before Joseph Leander opened the door. He was wearing paint-spattered corduroys and an old cardigan sweater that looked like it had been pulled out of the trash a dozen times. Obviously not the sort of attire that Bess Leander would have allowed in her home. â€Å"Constable Crowe.†Leander was not smiling. â€Å"What can I do for you?†â€Å"If you have a minute, I'd like to talk to you. May I come in?†â€Å"I suppose,†Leander said. He stepped away from the door and Theo ducked in. â€Å"I just made some coffee. Would you like some?†â€Å"No thanks. I'm on duty.†Cops are supposed to say that, Theo thought. â€Å"It's coffee.†â€Å"Oh, right, sure. Milk and sugar please.†The living room had bare pine plank floors and rag rugs. An antique pew bench took the place of a sofa, two Shaker chairs and a galvanized milk can with a padded cushion on the top provided the other seating. Three antique butter churns stood in the corners of the room. But for a new thirty-six-inch Sony by the fireplace, it could have been the living room of a seventeenth-century family (a family with very high cholesterol from all that butter). Joseph Leander returned to the living room and handed Theo a hand-thrown stoneware mug. The coffee was the color of butterscotch and tasted of cinnamon. â€Å"Thanks,†Theo said. â€Å"New TV?†He nodded to the Sony. Leander sat across from Theo on the milk can. â€Å"Yes, I got it for the girls. PBS and so forth. Bess never approved of television.†â€Å"And so you killed her!†Leander sprayed a mouthful of coffee on the rug. â€Å"What?†Theo took a sip of his coffee while Leander stared at him, wide-eyed. Maybe he'd been a bit too abrupt. Fall back, regroup. â€Å"So did you get cable? Reception is horrible in Pine Cove without cable. It's the hills, I think.†Leander blinked furiously and did a triple-take on Theo. â€Å"What are you talking about?†â€Å"I saw the coroner's report on your wife, Joseph. She didn't die from hanging.†â€Å"You're insane. You were there.†Leander stood and took the mug out of Theo's hands. â€Å"I won't listen to this. You can go now, Constable.†Leander stepped back and waited. Theo stood. He wasn't very good at confrontation, he was a peace officer. This was too hard. He pushed himself. â€Å"Was it the affair with Betsy? Did Bess catch you?†Veins were beginning to show on Leander's bald pate. â€Å"I just started seeing Betsy. I loved my wife and I resent you doing this to her memory. You're not supposed to do this. You're not even a real cop. Now get out of my house.†â€Å"Your wife was a good woman. A little weird, but good.†Leander set the coffee mugs down on a butter churn, went to the front door, and pulled it open. â€Å"Go.†He waved Theo toward the door. â€Å"I'm going, Joseph. But I'll be back.†Theo stepped outside. Leander's face had gone completely red. â€Å"No, you won't.†â€Å"Oh, I think I will,†Theo said, feeling very much like a second grader in a playground argument. â€Å"Don't fuck with me, Crowe,†Leander spat. â€Å"You have no idea what you're doing.†He slammed the door in Theo's face. â€Å"Do too,†Theo said. Seventeen Molly Molly had always wondered about American women's fascination with bad boys. There seemed to be some sort of logic-defying attraction to the guy who rode a motorcycle and had a tattoo, a gun in the glove compart-ment, or a snifter of cocaine on the coffee table. In her acting days, she'd even been involved with a couple of them herself, but this was the first one who actually, well, ate people. Women always felt that they could reform a guy. How else could you explain the numerous proposals of marriage received by captured serial killers? That one was a bit too much even for Molly, and she took comfort in the fact that no matter how crazy she had gotten, she'd never been tempted to marry a guy who made a habit of strangling his dates. American mothers programmed their daughters to believe that they could make everything better. Why else was she leading a hundred-foot monster down a creek bed in broad daylight? Fortunately, the creek bed was lined in most places by a heavy growth of willow trees, and as Steve moved over the rocks, his great body changed color and texture to match his surroundings until he looked like nothing more than a trick of the light, like heat rising off blacktop. Molly made him stay under cover as they approached the Cypress Street bridge, then waited until there was no traffic and signaled him to go. Steve slithered under the bridge like a snake down its hole, his back knocking off great hunks of concrete, and he passed through. In less than an hour they were out of town, into the ranchland that ran along the coast to the north, and Molly led Steve up through the trees to the edge of a pasture. â€Å"There you go, big guy,†Molly said, pointing to a herd of Holsteins that were grazing a hundred yards away. â€Å"Breakfast.†Steve crouched at the edge of the forest like a cat ready to pounce. His tail twitched, splintering a cypress sapling in the process. Molly sat down beside him and cleaned mud from her sneakers with a stick as the cows slowly made their way toward them. â€Å"This is it?†she asked. â€Å"You just sit here and they come over to be eaten? A girl could lose respect for you as a hunter watching this, you know that?†Theo Theo found himself trying to figure out why, exactly, he was driving to Molly Michon's place, when his cell phone rang. Before he answered, he reminded himself not to sound stoned, when it occurred to him that he actually wasn't stoned, and that was even more frightening. â€Å"Crowe here,†he said. â€Å"Crowe, this is Nailsworth, down at County. Are you nuts?†Theo stalled while he tried to remember who Nailsworth was. â€Å"Is this a survey?†â€Å"What did you do with that data I gave you?†Nailsworth said. Theo suddenly remembered that Nailsworth was the Spider's real name. A second call was beeping on Theo's line. â€Å"Nothing. I mean, I conducted an interview. Can you hold? I've got another call.†â€Å"No, I can't hold. I know you've got another call. You didn't hear anything from me, do you hear? I gave you nothing, understand?†â€Å"‘Kay,†Theo said. The Spider hung up and Theo connected to the other call. â€Å"Crowe, are you fucking nuts!†â€Å"Is this a survey?†Theo said, pretty sure that it wasn't a survey, but also pretty sure that Sheriff Burton wouldn't be happy with a truthful answer to the question, which was: â€Å"Yes, I probably am nuts.†â€Å"I thought I told you to stay away from Leander. That case is closed and filed.†Theo thought for a second. It hadn't been five minutes since he'd left Joseph Leander's house. How could Burton know already? No one got through to the sheriff that quickly. â€Å"Some suspicious evidence popped up,†Theo said, trying to figure out how he was going to cover for the Spider if Burton pressed. â€Å"I just stopped by to see if there was anything to it.†â€Å"You fucking pothead. If I tell you to let something lie, you let it lie, do you understand me? I'm not talking about your job now, Crowe, I'm talking about life as you know it. I hear another word out of North County and you are going to be getting your dance card punched by every AIDs-ridden convict in Soledad. Leave Leander alone.†â€Å"But†¦Ã¢â‚¬ â€Å"Say ‘Yes, sir,' you bag of shit.†â€Å"Yes, sir, you bag of shit,†Theo said. â€Å"You are finished, Crowe, you – â€Å" â€Å"Sorry, Sheriff. Battery's going.†Theo disconnected and headed back to his cabin, shaking as he drove. Molly In Flesh Eaters of the Outland, Kendra was forced to watch while a new breed of mutants sprayed hapless villagers with a flesh-dissolving enzyme, then lapped up puddles of human protein with disgusting dubbed sucking sounds that the foley artists had obtained at Sea World, recording baby walruses being fed handfuls of shellfish. The special effects guys simulated the carnage with large quantities of rubber cement, paraffin body parts that conveniently melted under the Mexican desert sun, and transmission fluid instead of the usual Karo syrup fake blood. (The sugary stage blood tended to attract blowflies and the director didn't want to get notice from the ASPCA for abuse.) Overall, the effect was so real that Molly insisted that all of Kendra's reaction shots be done after the cleanup to avoid her gagging and going green on camera. Between the carrion scene and some salmonella tacos served up by the Nogales-based caterer, as well as repeated propositions by an Arab coproducer with ha litosis that made her eyes water, Molly was sick for three days. But none of it, even the fetid falafel breath, produced the nausea she was experiencing upon watching Steve yack up four fully masticated, partially digested Holsteins. Molly added the contents of her own stomach (three Pop Tarts and a Diet Coke) to the four pulverized piles of beefy goo that Steve had expelled onto the pasture. â€Å"Lactose intolerant?†She wiped her mouth on her sleeve and glared at the Sea Beast. â€Å"You have no problem gulping down a paperboy and the closet perv from the hardware store, but you can't eat dairy cows?†Steve rolled onto his back and tried to look apologetic – streaks of purple played across his flanks, purple being his embarrassment color. Viscous tears the size of softballs welled up in the corner of his giant cat's eyes. â€Å"So I suppose you're still hungry?†Steve rolled back onto his feet and the earth rumbled beneath him. â€Å"Maybe we can find you a horse or something,†Molly said. â€Å"Stay close to the tree line.†Using her broadsword as a walking stick, she led him over the hill. As they moved, his colors changed to match the surroundings, making it appear that Molly was being followed by a mirage. Theo For some reason, the words of Karl Marx kept running through Theo's mind as he dug the machete out of the tool shed behind his cabin. â€Å"Religion is the opiate of the masses.†It follows, then, that â€Å"opium is the religion of the addict,†Theo thought. Which is why he was feeling the gut-wrenching remorse of the excommunicated as he took the machete to the first of the thick, fibrous stems in his marijuana patch. The bushy green weeds fell like martyred saints with each swing of the machete, and his hands picked up a film of sticky resin as he threw each plant onto a pile in the corner of the yard. In five minutes his shirt was soaked with sweat and the pot patch looked like a miniature version of a clear-cut forest. Devastation. Stumps. He emptied a can of kerosene over the waste-high pile of cannabis, then pulled out his lighter and se the flame to a piece of paper. â€Å"Throw off the chains of your oppressors,†Marx had said. These plants, the habit that went with them, were Theo's chains: the boot that Sheriff John Burton had kept pressed to his neck these last eight years, the threat that kept him from acting freely, from doing the right thing, He threw the burning paper, and the flames of revolution whooshed over the pile. There was no elation, no rush of freedom as he backed away from the pyre. Instead of the triumph of revolution, he felt a sense of sickening loss, loneliness, and guilt: Judas at the base of the Cross. No wonder communism had failed. He went into the cabin, retrieved the box from the shelf in the closet, and was beating his bong collection into shrapnel with a ballpeen hammer when he heard automatic weapons fire coming from the ranch. Ignacio and Miguel Ignacio was lying in the shade just outside the metal shed, smoking a cigarette, while Miguel labored away inside, cooking the chemicals down into methamphetamine crystals. Beakers the size of basketballs boiled over electric burners, the fumes routed through glass tubes to a vent in the wall. Miguel was short and wiry, just thirty years old, but the lines in his face and the grim expression he always wore made him look fifty. Ignacio was only twenty, fat and full of machismo, taken with his own success and toughness, and convinced that he was on his way to being the new godfath-er of the Mexican Mafia. They had crossed the border together six months ago, smuggled in by a coyote to do exactly what they were doing. And what a sweet deal it had turned out to be. Because the lab was protected by the big sheriff, they were never raided, they never had to move on a moment's notice like the other labs in California, or bolt across the border until things cooled off. Only six months, and Miguel had sent home enough money for his wife to buy a ranch in Michoacn, and Ignacio was driving a flashy Dodge four-wheel drive and wearing five-hundred-dollar alligator-skin Tony Lama boots. All of this for only eight hours of work a day, for they were only one of three crews that kept the la b running twenty-four hours a day. And there was no danger of being stopped on the road while transporting drugs, because the big sheriff had a gringo in a little van come every few days to drop off supplies and take the drugs away. â€Å"Put out that cigarette, cabrone!†Miguel shouted. â€Å"Do you want to blow us up?†Ignacio scoffed and flicked his cigarette into the pasture. â€Å"You worry too much, Miguel.†Ignacio was tired of Miguel's whining. He missed his family, he worried about getting caught, he didn't know if the mix was right. When the older man wasn't working, he was brooding, and no amount of money or consoling seemed to satisfy him. Miguel appeared at the doorway and stood over Ignacio. â€Å"Do you feel that?†â€Å"What?†Ignacio reached for the AK-47 that was leaning against the shed. â€Å"What?†Miguel was staring across the pasture, but seemed to be seeing nothing. â€Å"I don't know.†â€Å"It is nothing. You worry too much.†Miguel started walking across the pasture toward the tree line. â€Å"I have to go over there. Watch my stove.†Ignacio stood up and hitched his silver-studded belt up under his belly. â€Å"I don't how to watch the stove. I'm the guard. You stay and watch the stove.†Miguel strode over the hill without looking back. Ignacio sat back down and pulled another cigarette from the pocket of his leather vest. â€Å"Loco,†he mumbled under his breath as he lit up. He smoked for several minutes, dreaming and scheming about a time when he would run the whole oper-ation, but by the time he finished the cigarette he was starting to worry about his partner. He stood to get a better look, but couldn't see anything beyond the top of the hill over which Miguel had disappeared. â€Å"Miguel?†he called. But there was no answer. He glanced inside the shed to see that everything was in order, and as far as he could tell, it was. Then he picked up his assault rifle and started across the pasture. Before he got three steps, he saw a white woman coming over the hill. She had the face and body of a hot senorita, but the wild gray-blonde hair of an old woman, and he wondered for the thousandth time what in the hell was wrong with American women. Were they all crazy? He lowered the assault rifle, but smiled as he did it, hoping to warn the woman off without making her suspicious. â€Å"You stop,†he said in English. â€Å"No trespass.†He heard the cell phone ringing back in the shed and glanced back for a second. The woman kept coming. â€Å"We met your friend,†Molly said. â€Å"Who is we?†Ignacio asked. His answer came over the hill behind the woman, first looking like two burned scrub oak trees, then the giant cat's eyes. â€Å"Holy Mary, Mother of God,†Ignacio said as he wrestled with the bolt on the assault rifle. Theo Eight years of living at the edge of the ranch and never once had Theo so much as taken a walk down the dirt road. He had been under orders not to. But now what? He'd seen the trucks going in and out over the years, occasionally heard men shouting, but somehow he'd managed to ignore it all, and there had never been gunfire. Going onto the ranch to investigate automatic weapons fire seemed an especially stupid way to exercise his newfound freedom, but not investigating, well, that said something about him he wasn't willing to face. Was he, in fact, a coward? The sound of a man screaming in the distance made the decision for him. It wasn't the sound of someone blowing off steam, it was a throat-stripping scream of pure terror. Theo kicked the shards of his bong collection off the front steps and went back to the closet to get his pistol. The Smith & Wesson was wrapped in an oily cloth on the top shelf of his closet next to a box of shells. He unwrapped it, snapped open the cylin-der, and dropped in six cartridges, fighting the shake that was moving from his hands to his entire body. He dumped another six shells into his shirt pocket and headed out to the Volvo. He started the Volvo, then grabbed the radio mike to call for some backup. A lot of good that would do. Response time from the Sheriff's Department could run as long as thirty minutes in Pine Cove, which was one of the reasons there was a town constable in the first place. And what would he say? He was still under orders not to go onto the ranch. He dropped the mike on the seat next to his gun, put the Volvo in gear, and was starting to back out when a Dodge minivan pulled in beside him. Joseph Leander waved and smiled at him from the driver's seat. Theo put the Volvo in park. Leander climbed out of his van and leaned into the passenger window and looked at the .357 lying on the seat. â€Å"I need to talk to you,†he said. â€Å"You weren't much for talking an hour ago.†â€Å"I am now.†â€Å"Later. I'm just going to check something out on the ranch.†â€Å"That's perfect,†Leander said, shoving a small automatic pistol through the window into Theo's face. â€Å"We'll go together.†Eighteen Dr. Val The bust of Hippocrates stared up at Val Riordan from the desk. â€Å"First, do no harm†¦Ã¢â‚¬ â€Å"Yeah, bite me,†said the psychiatrist, throwing her Versace scarf over the Greek's face. Val was having a bad day. The call from Constable Crowe, revealing that her treatment, or lack of it, had not caused Bess Leander's suicide, had thrown Val into a quandary. She'd zombied her way through her morning appointments, answering questions with questions, pretending to take notes, and not catching a word that anyone said to her. Five years ago there had been a flood of stories in the media about the dangers of Prozac and similar antidepressants, but those stories had been set off by sensational lawsuits against the drug companies, and the follow-ups, the fact that not one jury found antidepressants to cause destructive behavior, had been buried in the back pages. One powerful religious group (whose prophet was a hack science fiction writer and whose followers in-cluded masses of deluded movie stars and supermodels) had fielded a media attack against antidepressants, recommending instead that the de-pressed should just cheer up, buck up, and send in some gas money to keep the Mother Ship running. The various professional journals had re ported no studies that proved that antidepressants increased the incidence of suicidal or violent behavior. Val had read the religious propaganda (it had the endorsement of the rich and famous), but she hadn't read the professional journals. Yes, automatically treating her pat ients with antide-pressants had been wrong, but her attempt to atone by taking them all off the drugs was just as wrong. Now she had to deal with the fact that she might be hurting them. Val hit the speed dial button to the pharmacy. Winston Krauss answered, but his voice was muted, as if he had an incredibly bad cold. â€Å"Pine Cobe Drug and Gibt.†â€Å"Winston, you sound horrible.†â€Å"I hab on my mask and snorkle.†â€Å"Oh, Winston.†Val rubbed her eyes, causing her contacts to slide back in her head somewhere. â€Å"Not at the store.†â€Å"I'm in the back room.†His voice became clear on the last word of the sentence. â€Å"There, I took it off. I'm glad you called, I've been wanting to talk to you about killer whales.†â€Å"Pardon?†â€Å"I'm attracted to Orcas. I've been watching a Jacques Cousteau tape about them†¦Ã¢â‚¬ â€Å"Winston, can we cover this in session†¦?†â€Å"I'm worried. I was especially turned on by the male one. Does that make me a homosexual?†Jeez, it didn't worry him that he was a wannabe whale-humper, as long as he wasn't a gay wannabe whale-humper. As a psychiatrist, she'd tried to drop terms like â€Å"full-blown batshit†from her vocabulary, even in thought, yet with Winston, she couldn't keep the term from rising. Lately, Val felt as if she was running the batshit concession on the cave floor. It had to stop. â€Å"Winston, I'm putting everyone back on their SSRIs. Get rid of the placebos. I'm going to put everyone on Paxil to get their levels up as quickly as possible. Make sure to warn the ones who were on Prozac that they absolutely can't miss a day like they used to. I'll move those who need it later.†â€Å"You want me to take everyone off of the placebos? Do you know how much money we are making?†â€Å"Start today. I'm going to call my patients. I want you to give them credit for the unused placebos they still have.†â€Å"I won't do it. I almost have enough saved to spend a month at the Cetacean Research Center on Grand Bahama. You can't take that away from me.†â€Å"Winston, I won't compromise my patients' mental health so you can go on vacation and fuck Flipper.†â€Å"I said I won't do it. You were the one who started this. What about your patients' mental health then?†â€Å"I was wrong. I'm not going to put everyone back on antidepressants either, so you're going to lose some revenue there too. Some of them didn't need the drugs in the first place.†â€Å"No.†Val was shocked at the conviction in Winston's voice. His self-esteem problem no longer seemed an issue. What a crappy time for him to be making progress. â€Å"So you want the town to know about your little problem?†â€Å"You won't do that. You have more to lose than I do, Valerie. If you blow the whistle on me, then I'll tell the whole story to the papers. I'll get immunity and you'll go to jail.†â€Å"You bastard. I'll send my patients down to the Thrifty Mart in San Junipero. Then you won't even have the legitimate sales.†â€Å"No, you won't. Things are going to stay just the way they are, Dr. Val.†Winston hung up. Valerie Riordan stared at the receiver for a second be fore replacing it in its cradle. How? How in the hell had she given control of her life over to someone like Winston Krauss? More important, how was she going to get it back without going to jail? Theo Joseph Leander had the automatic stuck against Theo's ribs. He'd thrown Theo's gun into the backseat. Leander was wearing a tweed jacket and wool dress slacks and a film of sweat was forming on his forehead. The Volvo bounced over a rut in the dirt road and Theo felt the barrel of the automatic dig into his ribs. He was trying to remember what you were supposed to do in such a situation, but all he could remember from the cop shows that he'd watched was never to give up your gun. â€Å"Joseph, could you pull that gun out of my ribs, or put the safety on, or something? This is a pretty bumpy road. I'd hate to lose a lung because I didn't get new shocks.†That sounded sufficiently glib, he thought. Professionally calm. Now if he could just avoid wetting himself. â€Å"You couldn't leave it alone, could you? It would have just passed into history and no one would have noticed, but you had to dig things up.†â€Å"So you did kill her?†â€Å"Let's say I helped her make a decision that she'd been waffling about.†â€Å"She was the mother of your children.†â€Å"Right, and she treated me with about as much respect as a turkey baster.†â€Å"Wow, you lost me there, partner.†â€Å"They use them for artificial insemination, Crowe, you fucking stoner. One squirt and you throw them away.†â€Å"You got tired of being a turkey baster, so you hung your wife?†â€Å"Her herb garden killed her. Foxglove tea. Contains huge amount of digitalis. Stops the heart and it's almost undetectable unless you're looking for it. Ironic, isn't it? I would have never known about any of that crap if she hadn't blathered on about it constantly.†Theo was not at all happy that Leander was telling him this. It meant that he was going to have to make some sort of move to save himself or he was dead. Ram a tree maybe? He checked Leander's seat belt; it was buckled. What kind of criminal kidnaps someone and remembers to buckle his seat belt? Stall for now. â€Å"There were heel marks on the wall.†â€Å"Nice touches, I thought. I don't know, she may have still been alive when I hung her up there.†They were coming out of the forest that surrounded the ranch into an open pasture. Theo could see a metal shed next to a double-wide house trailer a couple of hundred yards ahead. A bright red Dodge truck was parked by the shed. â€Å"Hmmm,†Leander said. â€Å"They got a new trailer for the boys. Pull up to the shed and park.†Theo felt panic rise in his throat like acid and fought it down. Keep them talking and they won't shoot. Hadn't he heard that somewhere? â€Å"So you killed your wife for a big-screen TV and a tumble with Betsy? Divorce never occurred to you?†Leander laughed and Theo felt a chill run through his body. â€Å"You really are dense, aren't you, Crowe? See that shed up there? Well, I hauled twenty-eight million dollars' worth of methamphetamine out of that shed last year. Granted, I only get a piece of that, but it's a nice piece. I move it all. I'm a salesman, a family man, innocuous and unnoticeable. Who'd suspect me? Mr. Milquetoast.†â€Å"Your wife?†â€Å"Bess found out about it. Funny thing is, she was following me because she suspected an affair, but she never found out a thing about Betsy and me. She was going to turn me in. I had no choice.†Theo pulled up next to the shed and turned off the Volvo. â€Å"You have a choice now, Joseph. You don't have to do this.†â€Å"I'm not doing anything but going back to my life until there's enough money in my offshore accounts to take off. Don't get me wrong, Crowe. I didn't enjoy killing Bess. I'm not a killer. Hell, I've never even taken any drugs. This isn't crime, it's just a well-paid delivery route.†â€Å"So you're not going to shoot me?†Theo really, really wanted to believe that. â€Å"Not if you do what I tell you to do. Get out of the car. Leave the keys. Slide over and come out on my side.†Theo did as he was told and Leander kept the pistol trained on him the whole time. Where did Leander learn to do that? He'd hadn't had a television that long. Guy must have taken a mail-order course or something. â€Å"Miguel! Ignacio! Come out here!†Leander gestured with the pistol for Theo to move toward the shack. â€Å"Go inside.†Theo ducked to get through the door and immediately saw rack upon rack of lab glass, glass tubing, and plastic barrels of chemicals. A single metal chair sat in front of half a dozen electric burners that were filling the shed with a brutal heat. â€Å"Sit down,†Leander commanded. As Theo sat, he felt the handcuffs being yanked out of his back pocket. â€Å"Put your hands behind you.†Theo did as he was told and Leander threaded the handcuffs through two metal bars at the back of the chair and snapped them over Theo's wrists. â€Å"I've got to go find these guys,†Leander said. â€Å"Probably taking a siesta. What was Burton thinking when he put a house trailer down here? I'll be back in a second.†â€Å"Then what?†â€Å"Then Ignacio will shoot you, I'm guessing.†Molly This was a first: a guy that actually did what you asked him to do. When she heard a car coming down the ranch road, she asked Steve to make himself look like a trailer and he had done it. Sure, she had to make a little box diagram in the air with her hands, and he missed the first time, trying to make himself look like the tin shed next to him, a miserable failure that resulted in only his head changing and making him look like a dragon wearing an aluminum bag over his head, but after a few seconds he got it. What a guy. Okay, his tail, which had always hung down into the creek bed before, was showing, but maybe no one would notice. â€Å"What a guy,†she said, patting him on his air-conditioning unit. Or at least it was an air-conditioning unit now. No telling what body part it had been before he changed into a trailer. She's patting my unit, Steve thought. A low growl of pleasure rolled out of his front door. Molly ran and hid behind the shed, peeking out to watch the white Volvo pull up and stop. She almost stepped out to say hi to Theo, then saw the other man in the car holding a gun on him. She listened as the bald guy led Theo into the shed and made some threats. She wanted to jump out and say, â€Å"No, Ignacio won't be shooting anyone, Mr. Bald Guy. He's busy being digested right now,†but the guy did have a gun. How the hell did Theo let himself be taken prisoner by someone who looked like an assistant principal? When it was evident that the bald guy was coming out, she ran to the dragon trailer, caught the edge of the air-conditioning unit, and swung herself up onto the roof. The bald guy was going around to the front door. She ran over Steve's back and looked down over the edge. â€Å"Miguel! Ignacio!†the bald guy yelled. â€Å"Get out here!†He seemed uncertain about going into the trailer. â€Å"I saw them go in there,†Molly said. The bald guy stepped back, looking like he was going to go into a fit searching for where the voice had come from. â€Å"You're an assistant principal, aren't you?†Molly said. The bald guy finally spotted her and tried to hide the gun behind his back. â€Å"You're that crazy woman,†he said. â€Å"What are you doing here?†Molly scooched up to the edge of the dragon trailer. â€Å"‘Scuse me? Pardon me? Beg your pardon? I'm the what?†He ignored her question. â€Å"What are you doing here?†â€Å"Excuse me. Excuse me, excuse me,†she almost sang. â€Å"There is an as-yet-unapologized-for aspersion on the floor. You'll have to handle that before we move on.†â€Å"I'm not apologizing for anything. What are you doing here? Where are Ignacio and Miguel?†â€Å"You're not apologizing?†â€Å"No. Get down from there.†He showed her the gun. â€Å"‘Kay,†Molly said, patting Steve on the head/roof. â€Å"Steve, eat this impolite motherfucker.†She'd seen it before, but it was especially exciting to be sitting on Steve's head when he changed shape and his tongue leapt out below her to wrap around the assistant principal. After the initial slurp, the inevitable crunch (which had bothered her before) was sort of satisfying. She couldn't figure out if it was because the assistant principal had pointed a gun at her friend and called her a crazy woman, or if she was just getting used to it. â€Å"That was just swell,†she said. She ran across Steve's back, slid down to the top of the air-conditioning unit, then jumped to the ground. Steve growled and the angles of his trailer form melted into the curves and sinew of his dragon shape. He rolled over on his side and Molly watched as the scales on his belly parted and seven feet of dragon penis emerged as thick and stiff as a telephone pole. Luminescent colors flashed up the length of the organ. â€Å"Wow, that is impressive,†Molly said, taking a few steps backward. Steve sent her a message similar to the one he had sent to the fuel truck. It worked better on Molly. Her knees went wobbly, a warm tingling ran up her thighs, and she could feel the pulse rising in her temples. She looked into Steve's eyes (well, one of them anyway), stepped up to his face and gently touched him on the lips (or what would have been lips, if he'd had them), and let the sweetly acrid smell of his breath (a mix of Old Spice, manly Mexicans, and barfed cow) wash over her. â€Å"You know,†she said, â€Å"I never kissed a guy with assistant principal on his breath.â€
Thursday, August 1, 2019
“Early Bird†or “Second Mouse†Essay
â€Å"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.†Decide which of the strategies (â€Å"early bird†or â€Å"second mouse†) is the most effective in your life as a student and life in general. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese was first recorded in 1605 in William Camden’s book of proverbs and has remained part of the misplaced work ethic ever since. The early bird gets the worm meaning it is best to start the day early and also not procrastinate on things. ‘But the second mouse gets the cheese’ meaning the first mouse got killed in the mousetrap and so you got rewarded for starting late or procrastinating. So let the other eager person screw up and then learn from their failure and then reap the reward. I am neutrally in this option. If the early bird gets the worm, then how can it be that the second mouse gets the cheese? If we need to motivate our staff to get up and get started, then we might want to state that the early bird get the worm, so let’s get up and get going so as to get there early before anyone else. On the other hand, if the competition has come out with something quicker than we have, then in order to get everyone on point we might say, â€Å"The second mouse gets the cheese.†In other words, if we build upon the original idea that may have been invented first, then we can build something bigger and better. â€Å" The early bird may get the worm†meanings that success comes to those who prepare well and put in effort. Preparation is the cost you need to pay in order to be truly rewarded. You can’t just jump in the ring and expect to win the fight without having first learned how to box and prepare your body for the required endurance. From the moment of birth till death, we work very hard to succeed. In childhood, we learn how to walk and communicate with others though persistence and willingness. Throughout our adolescence, we study hard to achieve good marks and to get a proper job. For example as I am a student, it is best to study early and in small increments well before the test. Do not cram the night before the exam is the best advice for me from my secondary school teacher that make me successfully went into university. However, â€Å"second mouse†is another effective strategies in my life as a student and life in general. Sometimes in life it is smart to learn from the risks that others take and the mistakes they make. The dead mouse in the trap saw the cheese and went for it. Did not work. But the second mouse, though still cautious, was in the enviable position of reaping the reward with no risk. We are all human, therefore we all make mistakes, but the one thing that comes out of these mistakes is we usually learn a lesson. Making mistakes is human nature, none of us are exempt. That is even true in writing this paper, I will have to write many drafts without errors, and to meet what I feel is right. It will only be natural for me to make these mistakes. But, just as in making errors on this paper and making the corrections, making mistakes in life and correcting those makes for a better human being. We need to be smart so that we will be the â€Å"second mouse that get the cheese but not the first mouse that in the trap.
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