The motivation behind the september 11th attacks Essays - Crime

The inspiration driving the september eleventh assaults 08528050 December 17, 2016 Sheafer Trenary Viewpoint of Homeland Security1000000 December 17, 2016 Sheafer Trenary Viewpoint of Homeland Security Psychological oppressor assaults on American soil before 9/11 from another nation was the primary World Trade Center assault on February 26, 1993. This assault was not seen as a reminder to that time . The assault in 1993 was huge regarding misfortune it had little effect on the United States of America. Already, Middle Eastern fear based oppressors had arranged assaults against American interests in different pieces of the world. In October 2000, al-Qaeda psychological oppressors assaulted the USS Cole In Aden Harbor, and Yemen. The psychological militants moved toward the boat in a little vessel and detonated a bomb once they were near the boat. The blast brought about 17 mariners being murdered and 39 others harmed. On August 7,1998, al-Qaeda utilized vehicle bombs to a ttack the U.S. government offices in Dares Salaam , Tanzania, and Kenya. Osama container Laden assumed praise for the bombings, expressing that they were a reaction to the American attack of Somali (Wright 2006). The Deadliest fear based oppressor assault on Americans before the assaults on 9/11 happened in 1998 when psychological militants planted explosives on Pan Am Flight 103 leaving London's air terminal bound for New York. The B oeing 747 smashed in Lockerbie, Scotland. All travelers on and group on the flights were slaughtered. The Attacks on 9/11 were arraigned by an outside psychological oppressor bunch that had worldwide standing, backing, financing, and history of assaulting Americans. The 9/11 assaults brought about new speculation at all degrees of the administration. President George W. Shrub Immediately did battle and pronounced a war on psychological warfare. The Bush organization pushed forward the possibility that Sadaam Hussein, the pioneer of Iraq, was gathering weapons of mass annihilation and would give them fear based oppressors to assault the United States. At the point when the assaults on 9/11 happened, America was helpless against assault, however was ill-equipped to forestall it. In the Commission Report by alluding to page147 of the report which says, By his own Account, Khalid Sheik Mohammed's animus toward the US stemmed not from his encounters there as an understudy, yet rather from his rough conflict with U.S. international strategy preferring Israel. In a meeting with Bin Laden in 1997 Bin Laden stated, we proclaimed jihad against the U.S. government, in light of the fact that the U.S government is unreasonable, Criminal and domineering. It has carried out acts that are very uncalled for, repulsive and criminal whether legitimately liable for the individuals who were slaughtered in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq. The framework of the 9/11 plot, Staff articulation no. 16, from the 9/11 commission: Atta was picked as the emir, or pioneer, of the mission. He met with Bin Ladin to examine the objectives: The World Trade Center, which spoke to the U.S. economy; the pentagon, an image of the U.S. military; and the U.S. Legislative center, the apparent wellspring of U.S. strategy on the side of Israel. Country Securtiy , Larry K Gaines and Victor E. Kappeler distributed 2012 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/9/244452/ -

Utopia Persuasive Essay Example For Students

Perfect world Persuasive Essay Detached in the Atlantic Ocean, is a spot called Sashy, a magnificent, immaculate society. It is consistently tranquil and nothing terrible ever occurs on the island. The islands air is in every case new and liberated from any poisons or contamination. Temperature on the South side of Sashy is in every case warm with no moistness present. On the North side of Sashy the climate is consistently ideal for winter exercises, the temperature is sufficiently cold for the snow to fall. The North side of the island is loaded with steep, snow-shrouded mountains. On the South side of the Sashy spotless, sandy sea shores spread the land. The sea water is perfectly clear and warm. Sashy is the ideal spot to live. On the island, each individual is treated as equivalents. Nobody individual thinks or goes about as though they are superior to another. We will compose a custom article on Utopia Persuasive explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now There is no prejudice or sexism present, a wide range of individuals live here and get along together. Living on the island is individuals from every single diverse culture and foundations. Everybody lives in harmony with no battling, savagery, wrongdoing, or war. The individuals of Sashy, called Sashians, don't pass judgment on one another by their appearance or whom they associated with. There are numerous differing religions in this network. Every one doesn't scrutinize the others for their convictions. When a month all the various religions get together at the island network assembling and gather together to examine their perspectives and contemplations on their confidence. On this island there is no destitution, sickness, or appetite. Everybody has a lot of cash, yet need to work for it. Not all things come simple. There is still a lot of rivalry in the economy. Residents of the island don't stress over cash however. The Sashians are engaged with a wide assortment of sports and recreation exercises throughout the entire year. This is conceivable as a result of the outrageous temperature contrasts on the North and South sides of the mountain. The North side is consistently cold so the resident can ski and snowboard at the Sashian Mountain Resort. The retreat would offer a wide range of leveled inclines for the skiers on one portion of the mountain. On the other portion of the mountain there would be a Snowboard Park comprising of an inclines and half funnels carefully for the snowboarders. A snow tubing park would likewise be accessible for any whom has enthusiasm for snow tubing. There would family cylinders and single cylinders accessible for use. Every one of these exercises and more on North Sashy will have insignificant charges to exploit the offices. On the warm and radiant South side, the sea shores are perfect and for nothing out of pocket for all residents. The sea shores have volleyball courts open to anybody. At the wharfs there are docks where individuals can lease Jet Skis, Speed Boats, Yachts, and Party Boats for their recreational delight. Walkways and ways are available for Sashians to in-line skate, skateboard, ride bicycles, and run, run, or walk. Drifting excursions are likewise accessible that take bunches out in the center of the sea to scuba jump and snorkel. All through the entire island are malls, diners, and sports edifices of numerous kinds open to all. Any store conceivable exists. A customers paradise! The measure of spots to eat would be unimaginable. Any sort of food that an individual had a hankering for would be available. The Sashian Society would consistently attempt to make the island pleasant for every individual. Tutoring would be one of the most significant parts of life on the island. It is required for all residents to begin their instruction at primary school level and proceed up to university level. .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .postImageUrl , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .focused content zone { min-tallness: 80px; position: relative; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:hover , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:visited , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:active { border:0!important; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .clearfix:after { content: ; show: table; clear: both; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 { show: square; change: foundation shading 250ms; webkit-progress: foundation shading 250ms; width: 100%; obscurity: 1; progress: darkness 250ms; webkit-change: mistiness 250ms; foundation shading: #95A5A6; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:active , .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:hover { murkiness: 1; change: haziness 250ms; webkit-change: mistiness 250ms; foundation shading: #2C3E50; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .focused content territory { width: 100%; position: relativ e; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .ctaText { fringe base: 0 strong #fff; shading: #2980B9; text dimension: 16px; textual style weight: striking; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; content improvement: underline; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .postTitle { shading: #FFFFFF; text dimension: 16px; textual style weight: 600; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; width: 100%; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .ctaButton { foundation shading: #7F8C8D!important; shading: #2980B9; outskirt: none; outskirt sweep: 3px; box-shadow: none; text dimension: 14px; text style weight: intense; line-stature: 26px; moz-fringe range: 3px; content adjust: focus; content beautification: none; content shadow: none; width: 80px; min-tallness: 80px; foundation: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/modules/intelly-related-posts/resources/pictures/basic arrow.png)no-rehash; position: supreme; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:hover .ctaButton { foundation shading: #34495E!important; } .uf276e19c1 abfd2512dd232df8262bde2 .focused content { show: table; tallness: 80px; cushioning left: 18px; top: 0; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2-content { show: table-cell; edge: 0; cushioning: 0; cushioning right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-adjust: center; width: 100%; } .uf276e19c1abfd2512dd232df8262bde2:after { content: ; show: square; clear: both; } READ: Alternatives to Bureaucracy to Motivat Workers Essay It isn't required, yet in the event that the guardians needed to begin sending their kids to nursery or preschool the offices would be open for utilize for nothing out of pocket. All tutoring on the island is for nothing out of pocket since instruction is vital to the individuals of Sashy. The schools manage the most ideal training. There is a huge assortment schools accessible for understudies to look over. Understudies will be required to go to class for nine months out of the year. Inside and out, understudies are required to go to seventeen years of tutoring. So as to guarantee that the understudies are getting astounding instruction the educators would need to take a Teaching Exam at regular intervals. In the event that the instructors neglect to finish the necessities and the composed area of the test they won't be allowed to educate for one year. Educators are additionally required to return to school every year and take two courses to widen their insight. All measures would be taken that would be important to keep up the best nature of instruction for Sashians. The residents of Sashy make up their own laws and rules. Every year chose individuals the network plunk down and reconsider the laws from the prior years if vital. Every people group on Sashy have agents that go around and take thoughts and contemplations on how the island could be changed and rushed to improve it spot to live. Laws never are passed if an enormous number of individuals on the island couldn't help contradicting them. The administrations fundamental concern is the satisfaction of the lives of the Sashians.Miscellaneous

Child Care Essay Writing Sample - Things to Explain

Child Care Essay Writing Sample - Things to ExplainAs a teacher, you are always looking for tips on how to teach children that child care is not acceptable. Often, this can be difficult to explain to your child. However, it is possible to demonstrate the right ways of behaving around children.Learning and reading things about these types of subjects will give you an insight into how they behave around other people. You can make your child believe that child care is not right. They can be well aware of other's actions and feelings. Teaching them to be polite when they are being spoken to is an easy way to demonstrate this in your child.When your child is young, they can be taught many ways of dealing with people around them that are involved in child care. You will find that there are different ways to express anger when teaching children this skill. These will be useful for teaching about taking responsibility for their actions and feelings.Be clear about rules and expecting complian ce to them is one of the most common children's behaviour problems. Teaching your child not to throw things at the walls or even smother the other children is one way of being polite. One of the most common problems of children around other children is the smothering habit. This can be easily handled by showing them how to control their breathing, by stepping away and telling them what they should be doing.It is important to be aware of your child's level of tolerance when it comes to child care. Once they have been well trained, they can handle this and tolerate it at the same time. If you have difficulties, it is worth asking around the family to find out what types of people your child likes to surround themselves with and how they act around them.If they can handle child care properly, you should always try to get them to do things with an open mind. The good news is that they will learn to use their minds and logic to solve situations in a logical manner. If you are too quick t o accuse their behaviour, this will undermine the training and there is little you can do to enforce it.A mother who throws things from the window and talks to no one may not be the best role model for your child. However, if they cannot cope, they may not be able to deal with problems in the classroom either. It may be possible to control them and this will help you in educating them.In general, child care is accepted and what is often required is for the parents to be patient. This could be so easy, as parents are very helpful and responsive and your child will take a lot of pleasure in looking after themselves. Try not to give up if things are not working properly.

Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris Are the Toolbox Killers

In late October 1979, California authorities were busy hunting down and capturing The Hillside Strangler, Angelo Buono. In the meantime, two more barbaric killers had teamed up to fulfill a prison time fantasy - to kidnap, rape, torture and kill a girl for each teenage year. For two months, the duo hunted roads and beaches, looking for victims who  matched their demented fantasy. They almost met their goal, killing five young girls, ages ranging between 13 to 18. This is their story. Bittaker and Norris Meet In 1978, Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker, age 38, and Roy L. Norris, age 30, met while in the California State Prison at San Luis Obispo. Norris was labeled as a mentally disordered sex offender and previously spent four years at a state mental institution. Once released, he raped again and returned to prison. Bittaker spent most of his adult life behind bars for various offenses. As their friendship grew, so did their fantasies of raping and murdering teenage girls. The Murder Mack After their release from prison, they paired up, transformed Bittakers 1977 GMC van into what they nicknamed, Murder Mack, and began their kidnap, torture and killing spree of young girls. As is characteristic of psychopaths, the pain inflicted on their victims grew more vicious with each new captive. Cindy Schaeffer On June 24, 1979, in Redondo Beach, Cindy Schaeffer, age 16, was walking to her grandmother’s house after attending a church program. Bittaker and Norris pulled up next to her in the Murder Mack and tried to entice her to go for a ride. Her attempts to ignore the two failed. She was forced into the van and taken to a pre-selected spot in the mountains. There she was tortured and denied her requests to pray before the two beat and strangled her to death with wire coat hangers. Andrea Hall On July 8, 1979, the duo went hunting for their second victim and found 18-year-old Andrea Hall hitchhiking on the Pacific Coast Highway. With Bittaker hiding in the back, Norris stopped and offered Hall a ride. Within minutes after she entered the van, Bittaker attacked, raped and took pictures of her bound and in fear. As if playing a game, Bittaker then asked why she should be allowed to live. Not liking her answer, he stabbed her in the ear with an ice pick and choked her to death. Jackie Gilliam and Jacqueline Lamp On Sept.  3, 1979, the murderous pair picked up their youngest victims from a bus stop at Hermosa Beach. Jackie Gilliam, 15, and Jacqueline Lamp, 13, were kidnapped and taken to the mountain location where they were raped and tortured for two days. As with Hall, both girls were stabbed in each ear with an ice pick, their small bodies viciously attacked with vice grips, then strangled to death with coat hangers tightened with pliers. Lynette Ledford The killers last known victim was killed on Oct. 31, 1979. Sixteen-year-old Lynette Ledford was kidnapped and her body mutilated. The young girl was stabbed numerous times, and with pliers, Bittaker ripped at her body. During her torture, her screams and pleas were tape-recorded as Bittaker repeatedly beat the young girls elbows with a sledgehammer, all the time demanding that she not stop screaming. In the end, the pair strangled her with a coat hanger. For fun the pair decided to leave Ledfords brutalized corpse on the lawn of a suburban home in Hermosa Beach, just to see the reaction of the media. The Hillside Strangler, Angelo Buono, had been caught just a few days before the discovery of Lynette Ledfords body, although authorities were not swayed into identifying her killer as Buono. Captured Norris was the murderous pairs downfall. He bragged to an old prison friend about his crime spree. The friend tipped off police, and the story sounded much like that of the victim, Shirley Sanders. On September 30, Shirley Sanders managed to escape from two men who used chemical mace on her, then raped her inside a van. Police interviewed her again, this time armed with pictures, and Sanders was able to identify the van and Norris and Bittaker as her attackers. Norris Points the Finger at Bittaker The two were arrested for unrelated crimes and held without bail for violating their probations. During an interrogation, Norris began admitting details about the pairs murderous activities, and he pointed the finger at Bittaker for being the one who killed their victims. 500 Photos - 19 Missing Girls Norris worked out a deal with authorities in exchange for his testimony against Bittaker, as well as showing police where they hid the bodies of their victims. Overall, police found over 500 photos of teenaged girls, 19 of which were listed as missing. But Norris clammed up and would only tell investigators what happened to five of the 19 missing girls. The Sentencing During Bittakers and Norris trial, the disturbing pictures of their crimes and the tape-recording of Lynette Ledfords final painful hours were shared with the jury. The impact was substantial. Bittaker was sentenced to death, and the judge included an extra 199-year life sentence just in case his death sentence was ever commuted to life. Norris was given 45 years to life for his cooperation in the investigation. In 2009, Norris was denied parole for an additional 10 years. Sources Couples Who Kill by Carol Anne Davis

Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson Compare and Contrast...

Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson, Compare and Contrast Emily Elizabeth Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe are two of the biggest poets in American Literature from the 1800s. They had many things in common from their writings about death and sadness, because of their unfortunate losses in life, to the fact that they were both born in Massachusetts. They were also different in many ways. They were different in the way they looked at life and wrote about their experiences from it. While it is obvious they had many differences, they also had many things in common from their lives to their styles of writing making them amazing writers. Both Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson had many similarities and differences in their lives itself.†¦show more content†¦Emily lost her cousin whom she was very close to and considered her a very close friend. Edgar lost his mother and his dad also left at a very young age which affected him tremendously also. Since they both lost loved ones it influenced the things they wrote about, which is why they both wrote about death as much as they did. Because Poe and Dickinson lost loved ones in the beginning of their lives it made them the writers they became. Edgar Poe and Emily Dickinson both isolated themselves from the world because of the loved ones they lost and because they were afraid of death. Emily isolated herself by hiding out in her house. Poe isolated himself not by hiding out but by keeping his feelings in. The topic of death was obviously of great interest to both of them, which was an uncommon trait in literature at the time. Poe wrote about not understanding d eath and about what happens afterwards. Dickinson just wrote about death itself, and the many ways you can die. They both were incredibly criticized when publishing their work. They also had difficulties getting out the original copies due to alterations before publishing to fit the â€Å"rules of literature† at the time. Another interest of these great American poets was how they both felt the need and the passionate want to feel loved. Poe was considered a big part of the American RomanticShow MoreRelatedDeath in American Literature2425 Words   |  10 PagesEssay 2 05/07/2012 Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe (writing a  few decades prior to Dickinson) ask us to explore a consciousness that doubts and questions its own reflections. They employ death as the focal point of self-consciousness, the unknowable center around which our thoughts inevitably swirl (whether we are aware of it or not).   Compare Dickinson’s poem #315 and Poe’s â€Å"Ligeia† on the topic. Philosophy of the death The theme of death has always been a presence in American writings – from earlyRead MoreThe Raven By Edgar Allan Poe945 Words   |  4 Pageshad to experience hardly any grief in my life. Everyone is different which results in everyone having their own way that they deal with grief. The way that Edgar Allan Poe describes grief and the way that Emily Dickinson describes grief is both different and similar. Poe’s famous poem titled â€Å"The Raven† is a great example of how Edgar Allan Poe writes about grief. The poem is about the grief of the narrator during the loss of the love of his life, Lenore. The narrator’s opening statement in theRead MoreNathaniel Hawthorne s The Mind1900 Words   |  8 Pagesideas that diverged from Freud s views.† (Carl Jung Biography) Another famous author known for dark romanticism is Edgar Allan Poe he was born January 19, 1809 and died October 7, 1849 he was a very talented American writer, editor, and literary critic. Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe both explore in their writings the mystical and the melancholy aspects of America s Puritan thought. In theirRead MorePoetry Essay Prompt2545 Words   |  11 Pagesthe dead groundhog. Develop your essay with specific references to the text of the poem. 1983 Poem: â€Å"Clocks and Lovers† (W. H. Auden) Prompt: Write a well-organized essay in which you contrast the attitude of the clocks with that of the lover. Through careful analysis of the language and imagery, show how this contrast is important to the meaning of the poem. 1984 NO POEM 1985 Poems: â€Å"There Was A Boy† (William Wordsworth) and â€Å"The Most of It† (Robert Frost) Prompt: These two poems present encountersRead MoreAmerican Revolution and Study Guide Essay example5377 Words   |  22 PagesIndians. What specific developments illustrate that the English living in the plantation colonies tried to apply these lessons? (25 pts) 2. Compare and contrast the ways in which tobacco and sugar affected the social and economic development of colonial America (10pts) Chapter 3 Study Guide â€Å"Settling the Northern Colonies† 1. Compare and contrast the motives of the their founders, religious and social orientation, economic pursuits, and political developments of TWO of the early colonialRead MoreANALIZ TEXT INTERPRETATION AND ANALYSIS28843 Words   |  116 Pageselsewhere, most frequently to character or idea. Understanding a plot on a schematic level becomes even more difficult when dealing with works, usually novels, that have more than one plot. Many novels contain one or more subplots that reinforce by contrast or parallel the main plot. Some novels even contain a double plot, as in Thackeray’s â€Å"Vanity Fair†, where we are asked to follow the careers of both the selfish adventuress Becky Sharp and the innocent, good-hearted Amelia Sedley. As Amelia’s fortunes

Al Jazeer A New Imperative Of Competition - 1452 Words

In the last decade of the 20th century, Al-Jazeera is constructing a new imperative of competition in the news industry (Radsch, 2007: 1). Ever since Al-Jazeera assists system changes in situation where political movement are dynamic and political transformation process begun to unfold, there is increment of audiences who turn to Al Jazeera as their first news choice (Jamal, 2009 Radsch, 2007). In 2008, Boyd-Barrett and Xie claimed that Al-Jazeera has an estimation of 50 million audiences worldwide from its various channels such as the original international service, a news channel broadcasting 24-hours in Arab language; Al-Jazeera Sports 1 and 2; a children’s channel; a documentary channel, and Al-Jazeera Mobasher, a live political and public interest channel similar to C-SPAN or BBC that broadcasts conferences in real-time without editing or commentary. Moreover, Al-Jazeera has soon open up a vast array of medium for news such as online press, social media, and citizen jour nalism on Internet which emerged as an alternative to mainstream press (Radsch, 2007; Hafez, 2008: 333; NÃ ¶tzold, 2009: 4). Not to forget its first privately own satellite TV. Thus, this has eventually intensified the competition among news producers whereby the journalists aim to tailor a better coverage especially on satellite stations to attract audiences who have short attention span (Radsch, 2007: 7). For instance, the Egyptian government launched Nile News after seeing the appearance of

History of Photojournalism Essay Example For Students

History of Photojournalism Essay Photography has been around since 1800s and stories have been around forever, so putting them together Photojournalism becomes possible. Putting stories and pictures together have shaped magazines, newspapers even lives. Action is captured by camera lens and told by writers that share stories needing to be heard. With the increasing technology process Photography has become known to all and becoming more common. The digital world is taking over Photography and will keep getting better as the future and technology progress. The word Photography is derived from the Greek language, photo   meaning light   and Graphein   that means, to draw  (Bellis 1). Photography is a method of recording images by the action of light or related radiation on a sensitive material  (Bellis 1). The photograph was the ultimate response to a social and cultural appetite for a more accurate and real looking representation of reality, a need that had its origins in the renaissance   (Langton 11,1). The first goal of photography was reportage, which were the most potential. Context is important to photographers; photographers have to show images in a larger social event, whose significance goes beyond the individual act (Westbrook 3). In 1000 A. D a man named Alhazen created a Pin Hole camera, which explained why images were upside down   (Bellis 2). In the summer of 1827 Joseph Nicephore Niepice took the first image with the Pin Hole camera. Prior to Josephs image he was using the camera for heliographs or sun prints. In 1829 Joseph partnered up with Louis Daguerre. Louis invented the first practical process of photography  (Bellis 5). In their partnership they improved Niepices original process. When Niepice died in 1839, Louis developed a more convenient and effective method of photography  (Bellis 4). In this process Louis would have a fixed image on a sheet of silver plated copper polished with silver coated with iodine creating a surface sensitive to light   (Bellis 5). Then putting that plate in the camera and exposing it for a few minutes, the image is painted by light   (Bellis 5). Lastly bathed in silver chloride, this creating a lasting image the wouldnt change when exposed to light  (Bellis 5). Later in 1839 Louis and Josephs son sold the rights to the Daguerreotype   to the French government and published a book about the process (Bellis 5). Henry Fox Talbot a botanist, mathematician and contemporary of Daguerre invented the first negative process. By putting sensitized paper to light with silver salt solution until the background became black and the subject was rendered in gradations of gray   (Bellis 6). This was later known as the negative image  (Bellis 6). Then from the negative image Talbot made contact prints reversing light and shadows to create a detailed picture  (Bellis 6). In 1841 Talbot perfected the paper negative process and called it a Calotype   which in Greek means beautiful picture  ( Bellis 6). Next came Hamilton Smith who invented the Tinitype   in 1856, another medium that herald the birth of photography  ( Bellis 7). TiniType was a thin sheet of iron used to provide a base for light sensitive material, yielding a positive image   (Bellis 7). In 1851 Fredrick Scoff Archer an English sculptor created the wet plate negative. (Bellis 8). The wet plate process included using a viscous solution of collation, Archer coated glass with light sensitive silver salts. Because it was glass and not paper, this wet plate created a more stable, detailed negative   ( Bellis 8). The downside of the wet plate process is that Photographers had to carry around a portable darkroom. Later in 1879 the dry plate was invented with a glass negative plate with a dried gelatin emulsion   (Bellis 9). This process made it easier for Photographers because it was not necessary to carry around a portable darkroom. Now hand held cameras are possible with the invention of the dry negative process  (Bellis 9). A Brief History Of The Blues EssayPhotojournalism is not a glam job   it is a hard job, news never stops meaning photos are always being taken and stories always being written (Hancock 11). Between the years of 1990 to the year 2012 technology has changed profusely, and so has photojournalism. Over the years, the assignments that a photojournalist shoots remains pretty constant, but the technology has changed and a photo that took five hours on wired service now takes a mere five seconds  (Lent 3). The photos quality have gotten remarkably better as the years go on as well  (Lent 3). Within this modern society digital and wireless have become key words in photojournalists words now. Having the ability to take a million photos on one camera and send then thousands of miles away in a click of a button. Digital photography has opened up new doors for photojournalists. It increases the market and an accelerated pace for the transmission of news through photographic images.  (Westbrook 7) Also with digital photographers are not limited to film, the can have a thousand plus images on one camera. Now with wireless internet photojournalists can send images from the field to the editor within seconds of their capture.  (Westbrook 7) With all this new technology meant more money being spent, with new equipment such as DSLRs and computers that can keep up in software and with being in the field you are looking at 6,000 bucks (Lent 6). But what that 6,000 bucks can get you is images that are magnificent and having the ability to sent it to the editor in a blink of an eye. The future of Photojournalism looks bright; with technology always processing it will become even more advanced as time goes on. The past is what has shaped our present and photography has evolved into so much more than just pictures; its stories and these photos represent so much more now with Photojournalism. All those men that created the little things that have brought this career and past time so famous and enjoyable. It is amazing how far it has come since this all started in 1000 A. D and now in 2012 photos are everywhere and have captured moments no one will ever want to remember, and sometime moments are captured that we just want to forget. Bibliography: Bellis, Mary. History OfÃÆ'‚ Photography. About.com Inventors. About.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.  . Collins, Ross. History of Photography and Photojournalism. A Brief History of Photography and Photojournalism. NDSU. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.  . Hancock, Mark. PhotoJournalism. : What Is a Photojournalist? Web. 30 Apr. 2012.  . Langton, Loup. Brief History of Photojournalism in the United States. Photojournalism and Todays News: Creating Visual Reality. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. 13-45. Print. Lent, Mark. How Digital Technology Has Changed Photojournalism. From Adorama Learning Center. Adorama Learning Center, 9 Mar. 2010. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.  . Westbrook, Dillon. ÃÆ'‚ Photography Schools. A Brief History of Photojournalism. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.

Ebay in China Case Study Essay Example

Ebay in China Case Study Paper 21/11/2011 E-Bay Strategy In China Alliance or Acquisition? Case Study Strategic Management Gabriela Salamonova Barbora Jandova Pierrick Boissel Julien Meunier Alexandre Godet SUMMARY I. The Input Stage ? ? ? ? ? CAGE VRIO Analysis CPM matrix EFE matrix IFE matrix II. The Matching Stage ? ? ? BCG matrix SPACE matrix GSM matrix III. The Decision Stage ? ? Matrix Analysis QSPM matrix IV. Questions ? ? ? ? Assessment of eBay? choice of market entry strategy for China, listing both the advantages and disadvantages of its acquisition strategy Assessment of the potential benefits and risks of eBay? s joint venture with Tom Online Assessment of both companies: eBay and Tom Online, decisions on their respective percentage of stake Strategic recommendation on International Commercial Strategy for eBay I- The input stage ? C. A. G. E. nalysis Cultural with †¦ Different attitudes in life Different sales practise To prefer local companies Different language, ethnicities, religions, social n orms Best deal is the lowest price Administrative and political Differences in political system Corruption Market Access restrictions Time zone is different Differences in costs and quality of resources Currency problem Imbalanced economic development Differences with payment system Geographic Big distance between China and USA Economic Differences in consumer incomes Distance most affects industries or product †¦ Distance between two countries increases Auction-selling format is not usual for them, because there the prices went up and they used to deal the lowest price Customer confidence have only local and wellknown companies In China, people want to pay by cash a face to face In China are different government restrictions Different ways of functioning market It can leads to For which communication demand varies misunderstanding by income People in China don’t have Credit Cards, so prefer to pay by cash The company have to adjust to local currency This C. A. G. E. nalysis provides us information about differences that can create distance between two countries seeking to do business together. Expanding to China can cause some issues with the different culture and political system. In China are different government restrictions like USA and they can significantly affect the economics. In China can be complicated persuade people to trust international companies, and overcome government regulations and currency problem. For the eBay can be useful adjust more for the local environment, and provide good customer services to attract new customers. We will write a custom essay sample on Ebay in China Case Study specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Ebay in China Case Study specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Ebay in China Case Study specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer But on the other side here can be problems with the system of auction, because Chinese people like face to face purchases and they are used to see the prices decreasing instead of increasing. ? VRIO model After analyzing the external analysis of eBay, the next step is to focus internally at eBays core competencies in order to determine whether those strengths provide them with competitive advantages. In order to define these core competencies as competitive advantages or disadvantages, a VRIO analysis must be used. This technique measures each capability against whether it creates value for the company, it is rare in the industry, it is costly to imitate and if it is exploited by the organization. Which competenci es are likely to contribute to added value in terms of customer needs ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Resources / Capabilities Which competenci es are likely to contribute to cost reduction ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Valuabl e Rar e Costl y to Imitat e Exploited by organizatio ns Competitive implications Brand image Customer service Location Product diversificati on Information system Distribution Purchase protection Marketing ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Temporary advantage Parity Disadvanta ge Temporary advantage Parity Parity Temporary advantage Parity According to our VRIO analysis the disadvantage for eBay is its location in China because of imbalanced economic and technological development in different regions of China, differences in political system, government regulatio ns and other factors like corruption and currency problems. Information system is analyzed as the parity. The reason is lack of a customer service hotline on eBay? s websites. But on the other side they try to meet needs their customer, e. g. facilitate payment system. eBay? s executives do not adopt the management style to Chinese conditions. For the majority of population was the only option to pay by cash, because of non-users of credit cards. Also there are problems with the system of auction, because Chinese people like face to face purchases and they are used to deal the lowest price and in auction- selling format usually the prices went up. These issues caused the evaluation of marketing and customer service as the parity. E-Bay had adopted various expansion strategies, both locally in the US and globally in new international markets. It builds a brand image in the US as an industry leader and tries to expand to other foreign countries. Additional temporary advantage related to the purchase protection because respondents extremely agreed that eBay did the best job in monitoring and protecting its users from purchasing counterfeit items from its site. ? Competitive Profile Matrix In CPM is important to identify eBay ? s major competitors, their strengths weaknesses in relation to a sample company ? s strategic position. Proposed CPM shows the clear insight to the eBay about its strong and weak points relative to its major competitor – TaoBao. The CPM score is measured on basis of critical success factors, each factor is measured in same scale mean the weight remain same for TaoBao only rating varies. TaoBao was established in May 2003, soon gained the hearts of Chinese consumers and beat eBay EachNet in China? s C2C online auction market. Its service offerings were later extended to include B2C e-commerce. By 2006, the company had become the leading C2C and B2C marketplace in China with a gross merchandise volume of US$2. billion, amounting to a 110% increase from 2005. Unlike eBay EachNet (in 2006) had seen its market share declining each year, until it had only a staggering 29%, compared to TaoBao? s 60%. On the other hand, TaoBao, albeit founded much later than eBay, was a subsidiary of Alibaba which had a more established presence in China. However, given a choice between a new foreign co mpany and a domestic one, Chinese people would opt for the latter. Trust was particularly important in China, due to the lack of an adequate legal system or other formal means of dispute resolution. Critical Success Factors ? ? Market Share – by year 2006 eBay? s market share declined to 29%, in comparison to TaoBao? s 60%, Price – eBay provides services fees – Insertion fee, Optional Features fee, Final Value fee, but to buyers were offered free, in comparison to TaoBao where it was free when they just listed an item, Competitiveness – TaoBao disposes with the people? s trust and history because of subsidiary of Alibaba. Also, Chinese people prefer domestic company more than foreign one. Customer Service – e. g. TaoBao made an important component of its AliPay system – an escrow. It helped ease consumers? concern by introducing thirdparty monitoring throughout the transaction process, eBay introduced it later. Other example can be technical support hotline, Customer Loyalty – eBay had not made much effort in building trust both towards the company itself and between buyers and sellers further exacerbated the problem (linked with previous AliPay). Company need to provide security every step of the way during a sales transaction to ensure that consumers feel comfortable making their purchases. This point discouraged buyers and it resulted into switching to competitors, Management – eBay? s executives hold on US management style, there is a lack of effort in adaptation to Chinese market, also eBay entered China with the assumption that its brand image in the US as an industry leader would transfer to the Chinese market without any modification, Global Expansion – eBay is more extended because of its global presence, TaoBao focus on Chinese market what is in this case competitive advantage because of people? s trust to domestic companies, Website Design – eBay provides opic-specific guidelines and links, both of which are meant for self help, this is considered bad thing by consumers in China where do-it-yourself is not as popular as in Western countries. In comparison to TaoBao, its website design suits more because of loaded with ? ? ? ? ? ? information, links, graphics, banners and multimedia. Chinese people also appreciate a customer service and tech nical support hotline. In conclusion, we would like to emphasize the last one line in CPM – total weighted score. It is the sum of all weighted score in both cases. E-Bay? s total weighted score is equal to 2. 6. Since it is below the average (2,5) the company is consider as weak. On the other hand TaoBao? s total weighted score is equal to 3. 41. Since it is higher than 2. 5 the company is consider as strong in position, the winner among its competitor eBay. ? IFE matrix ? EFE matrix ? IE matrix To comment this matrix, we can say that Ebay is situated in the Grow and Build part of the matrix. So strategies which could be implemented are market penetration, market development, product development, backward integration, forward integration, horizontal integration. II. The Matching Stage ? BCG matrix: High E-tailing: eBay should develop and invest on this SBU Market growth rate Low Online Auc ons: Leader on this SBU / Great future prospects (Asia /BRICS) eBay should con nue to exploit this SBU and stay the leader on it. 2 1,5 1 Rela ve market show 0,5 0,1 ? Space matrix: FS Conserva ve +6 +5 Aggressive 4. 4 +4 +3 +2 CA -6 -5 -4 -3 +1 -2 -1 -1 -2 -3 -4 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 IS 4. 6 -2,6 -3 Defensive -5 Compe -6 ve ES We can deduce from the matrix that: Bay has an Aggressive strategy, defended by a strong financial capacity, which allows them to tackle competitors not only when they penetrate the market but also when they are established (by kicking them out). The firm evolves in a really competitive environment (with only a few barriers to entry), in which they will still have to improve their situation, particularly in emerging markets, such as e-tailing. ? GSM matrix Ebay is in Quadrant II because its competitive position is weak and there is a h igh market growth. Consequently, different strategies are available for Ebay in China as the horizontal or vertical integration, the market penetration, the divestiture †¦ III. The decision stage ? Matrix Analysis To conclude, we can say that Ebay can establish four main strategies in China: Market penetration, market development, product development and horizontal integration. ? QSPM matrix To conclude, we can see that it could be better for E-bay to organize an alliance with Tom Online because of the opportunities engendered. IV. Questions Introduction E-Bay Inc. a US company providing e-commerce, e-payments and internet communication services globally – in 35 global markets across North and Latin America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. By the end of 2006, e-Bay was boasting 14% market share in the e-commerce market. 1. Critically assess eBay? s choice of market entry strategy for China, listing both the advantages and disadvantages of its acquisition strategy E-Bay first entered the Chinese m arket in 2002 by acquiring a 33% stake in its local counterpart, EachNet, followed by a full acquisition a year later in 2003. By its businesses in online sectors reduces its business risks tremendously because of absence of any tangible assets and gives the opportunity to provide infinite number of transactions. ? Entering the BRICs market In terms of long-term action in global market it was valuable to entry the other market of countries famous as BRICs, which are deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development. Chinese market was for e-Bay the second Asian destination after Japan, currently third because of expansion to India. First impressions of acquisition The acquisition proved to be a success. By 2003, EachNet had already commanded 85% market share. Its value had grown almost two and a half times, from US$90 million in 2002 to US$225 million in 2003, and its revenues were recorded at US$1. 8 million equivalent to a ten-fold annual growth rate. ? Researches of e-commerce perspective Market entry strategy focused on bringing something new, specific terminology is ? be-first-or-no thing? strategy. Bay aimed to obtain markets with great potential for e-commerce proved by researches giving perspective results in China, undoubtedly the researches are most important when the company entering a new foreign market. ? Creation alliances Trust We can positively evaluate the creation of alliances with the top three Chinese internet portals Sina, Sohu and NetEase for better visibility in the market. Despite this, eBay had to struggle with distrust coming from Chinese people because it had not made much effort in building trust. Chinese people at first did not trust to new foreign US provider of e-commerce services. They used to be in direct interaction with sellers until they received the purchase, because they felt uncertain about paying. ? Localising websites and modification E-Bay entered China with the assumption that its brand image in the US as an industry leader would transfer to the Chinese market without any modification. eBay had done a good job in localising its websites. Creating market-specific websites in local languages and 4 currencies and providing location-specific information, among other things. It also attempted to protect its brand image worldwide. Design of websites E-Bay used a similarly simple interface, emphasised automation throughout the auction and transaction processes. Also has allocated the section for frequent answered questions and provided topic-specific guidelines, both of which were meant for self help. Unfortunately Chinese people did not appreciate it, because the ? do-ityourself? system was not so popular customers considered it as s bad service. The adva ntages and disadvantages of its acquisition strategy Advantages China has immense market potential because all around the world are 1,23 billion Chinese language speakers. In China growing prosperity, technological advances. There is more liberal attitude by the Chinese authorities, what means the internet is becoming an easier and more popular place to do business. In China increase popularity of e-commerce. As more and more Chinese consumers had access to the internet and began to buy online. By February 2000, just six months after its start, EachNet had over 220,000 registered users simultaneously holding more than 20,000 auctions each day Acquisition of EachNet. It was Chinas first online auction website with rich business knowledge, strong domestic and international experience, and well-thought business strategies. EachNet was able to win financial backing from several large venture capital companies in the US In China retailers offer products seldom online and people could shop everything in the comfort of their own home. EBay EachNet was also the largest online advertiser in China. Its performance was remarkable, and by the end of 2003, the number of registered users on EachNet had reached 4. 3 million, amounting to nearly a 95% increase from its 2000 level. Disadvantages In China could be problems with slow internet speeds, high internet access costs, imbalanced economic and technological development in different regions of China, the absence of a reliable credit system for online payment, government regulations and other factors like corruption, currency problems. Auction-selling format might have discouraged some consumers from shopping on EachNet. In China, retailers and customer would haggle over almost anything in order to get the best deal, and the best usually meant the lowest price they could have. Thus, an auction-selling format where prices only went up might have seemed bizarre to most Chinese consumers. Emerging competitors TaoBao (Alibaba subsidiary). EBay EachNet faced the obstacle of increasing competition from local market rivals. By the end of 2006 eBay EachNet had its market share only a staggering 29%, compared to TaoBaos 60%. Big disadvantage was short history of eBay. The eBay was as a foreign company founded in 1995 with less than ten years of history when it first set foot in the Chinese market in 2002. So it was as fairly new to Chinese consumers. TaoBao was founded much later than eBay, but n the other hand it was a subsidiary of Alibaba which had a more established presence in China. The eBay used online payment system PayPal and it did not incorporate an escrow into this system. But on the other hand competitor TaoBao, made it an important component of its AliPay system. An escrow helped ease consumers concern by introducing third-party monitoring throughout the transaction process. And in this way eBay lost some customer. 2. Assess the potential benefits and risks of eBay? joint venture with Tom Online The joint venture formed by E-Bay EachNet and Tom Online presents some benefits as well as some risks. Benefits ? Knowledge of the Chinese market Tom Online has a strong knowledge of the Chinese market which is that E-Bay is looking for in order to gain market share and notoriety on the Chinese market. And as we said earlier, in order to tackle the Chinese market companies need a partner in order to have the political acces s, and Tom Online political connection could be very helpful for E-Bay success in China. Tom Online = a famous brand in China The first benefit we can find is that TOM Online is a Chinese domestic brand, which is much better for consumers of China. In fact Chinese consumers mostly like well know Chinese brands even in the Internet. Tom Online is a well know company in China, leader in sphere of mobile value-added services, and its internet portal, www. tom. com, is one of the biggest and most popular in China. This brand is recognized throughout China and the internet. ? Knowledge of telecommunication services One of the problems of E-bay EachNet was the communication and telecommunication services. Tom Online has a good experience in cooperation with Skype and the result was pretty good. Tom Online succeed with Skype and it has the knowledge to present new product in the market and how to increase its market share. Moreover, this joint venture allowed E-bay to enter the mobile commerce market, their users could participate in online auctions using their mobile phone, PDA, etc, a sector in which Tom Online had been a market leader Risks ? Devaluation of E-bay image Risks on this joint venture exist for E-Bay. In fact there is a risk of devaluation of the E-Bay Brand in the Chinese market because customers will be focus on the Tom Online and/or EachNet brand, product and services. ? Financial risk Also there is a financial risk. E-Bay can lose some money because Tom Online has 2% bigger ownership, but in amount of money, E-Bay invests two times more than Tom Online, and the success will depends more of Tom Online company than E-Bay work. ? Difference of targeted customers Also a last risk could be the target of E-Bay and Tom Online. Tom Online is focused on mobile value-added services and their target audience is generally young consumers, but E-Bay target audience is a little older. ? Culture difference E-Bay is an American company, different than the Chinese in the way of thinking and doing things. This might causes E-bay a hard time adjusting to the Chinese market needs, and trust issue (even though they tried to resolve it by owning only 49% of the company). 3. eBay will have a 49% stake in the new joint venture while Tom Online will have 51% ownership. Critically assess both companies, decisions on their respective percentage of take. In December 2006, eBay Inc. , announced its plan to form a joint venture with Chinabased online portal and wireless operator, TOM Online, that would give each company 49% and 51% ownership respectively. This was eBay’s third strategic move in China, following its acquisition of a 33% stake in domestic counterpart EachNet in 2002 that marked its entry into the market, and a full acquisition in 2003. Despite the initial good results, eBay had been losing market share to local rival and Alibaba’s fully-owned subsidiary—TaoBao. By 2006, eBay had seen its market share drop from a high of 85% to a staggering 29%, while TaoBao’s continued to increase, reaching 60%. The joint venture was therefore an attempt by eBay to save its failing Chinese operations. The move also reflected the increasing difficulties foreign internet companies were facing in China because of fierce competition and a changing market environment. eBay believed that it would benefit from TOM Online’s local knowledge and political connections. The first thing we can say about E-Bay EachNet and Tom Online’s joint venture is that is a success. Although E-Bay is a big company and success in US and around the world, China is a particular market where the better can lose. E-Bay had some difficulties to launch its business due to the cultural differences and moral values. Chinese people are more ? nationalist? and still trust their own companies more and respect them. The good thing for E-Bay is that Tom Online is a successful company with a good reputation on the Chinese market. Their activity area is also not far from E-Bay’s mainly internet and other IT services, and mobile entertainment. Tom Online known also a business expansion and cooperation with Skype, and today they also know a decrease in revenues so joint venture also was an opportunity for them. But we can ask us about the percentage of the participation. Why the participation is 49% for E-Bay and 51% for Tom Online? And also why E-Bay invests more than Tom Online? And why does the E-Bay brand disappear on the Joint Venture (Tom EachNet)? We can try to explain this situation thanks to several factors. About the brand we know that Chinese trust more in a local brand. That why E-Bay not appears on the joint venture name. E-Bay prefers having two well known local brands (Tom and EachNet). Also in this joint venture, Tom Online invest US $ 20 million and brings the knowledge of the local market, the technology and the brand value, which could be more important than money in order to tackle a market. Moreover TOM Online has very important persons among their shareholders. This joint venture would open a whole new market segment for both – E-Bay and also TOM Online, allowing them to fulfil and widen significantly together. Why not launching E-Bay in the mobile world? As we said before, China is a difficult market to tackle and launch a sustainable company on this market is a hard work. But this market gives the opportunity of customers which could increase the revenues (approximately US $ 1. 5 billion). The stacks are so important for E-Bay and Tom Online that the Tom EachNet joint venture was a good answer for their difficulties in China. 4. Strategic recommendation on International Commercial Strategy for eBay One of the first recommendations for eBay’s growth would be to maintain global growth initiative (China and India). The number of internet user is increasing in those countries. The difficulties for eBay are to success the integration of the Chinese market. Indeed, the eBay’s image brand in China is critical by Chinese people. They explain that eBay is not trustee website, the direct competitor TaoBao has free services. Moreover others problems are the difficulties to integrate the Chinese market due to the different laws, rules, or the control of internet by the Chinese government. The second recommendations would concern the electronic innovation. For example, the interface of the website could adapt to the difference of culture of the market targeted, the website should be more secured to keep or have a trustee image†¦ The third thing would be to set up new services or new application. For example, the e-tailing could be a good service. E-tailing is synonymous with business-to-consumer (B2C) transaction, and it is the selling of retail goods on the Internet. The last recommendation would be the reinforcing the marketing and the fact to keep a step ahead towards the competitors. The different recommendations on International Commercial Strategy for E-bay could be: ? Maintain global growth initiative: ? Alliances ? New markets (develop India and China) ? New products ? Keep different cultures in mind ? Technological development: ? Rapid application development (software for new and existing market areas, e-tailing) ? Security: ? Back-up systems ? Online verifications of electronics goods ? Enhance trustee service ? Online banking protocols ? Enhance back-end ? Reinforcing marketing: ? Improve and maintain their image brand ? Global branding to make eBay generic brand with online auctions and etailing ? Step ahead: ? Identify and analyze global trends ? Innovative products and interface

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What I learnt from the experienced Andrew and Gregory were one of the lucky Tutsi survivors who were enrolled in refugee programs with our country through an NGO. They stayed with this non-governmental organization until my cousins learnt about their story and volunteered to adopt them. I learnt many things from my experience with Andrew and Gregory. First of all, I learnt to appreciate the peace and freedom, that exists within our country because it gave hope to people who had lost it completely. These two young men had a chance to start their lives all over again because a country like ours was open to their experience. (Hamilton, 2000) However, I was deeply disturbed by the role that the rest of the world could have played in their country. Many people have suggested that had the world intervened in the Rwandan genocide much earlier, then the hundreds of thousands of lives lost would have been spared. This was a modern – day Holocaust and every government in the world; including ours turned a deaf year to their plight. The Rwandese killed themselves for four months without outside intervention even from the UN. This issue got me thinking about our government’s role in peace keeping missions around the world; especially those ones that have the danger of spiraling out of control. The citizens of this country may be living in relative peace but as international citizens, it is the duty of our government to protect the lives of innocent citizens such as Andrew and Gregory. I would never have thought of this issue, if my family had not taken that trip to visit our cousins. Through their kind actions, I began asking myself whether the government itself can demonstrate such good neighborliness today especially with regard to troubled countries. (DuBois, 2005) Political and social significance of the event This event was a revelation to me as I hope it will be to the rest of the class because I saw our government through different eyes. Andrew explained that if there had been outside help, then they would not have to deal with some of the problems that they were undergoing at the time. The world has become increasingly global; through information technology, we can now hear, watch and even analyze political and social issues in other countries. In contrast to the mid nineties, news of any nature can reach individuals in different parts of the world at the touch of a button. Consequently, our country and its citizens are firmly aware of the issues prevailing in almost all parts of the world. The government therefore has a platform for looking into the prevailing problems of the world. While our government has tried giving assistance, to certain countries, it would be nobler if the government extended their role in humanitarian crises of the world by participating in preventative initiatives. (Kissinger, 2001) One such illustration occurred earlier this year when an East African nation; Kenya began engaging in post election violence. The clashes and killings were as a result of ethnic and political tension prevailing in that country. The world did not watch as these people continued killing one another because the US government sent its secretary of state who strongly suggested a government of national unity; their interventions saved that nation. Other countries also intervened and the violence was immediately halted. Our government should adopt such a strategy its foreign policy. It is not responsible to simply turn a blind eye to other countries when there is something that our government can do. Arnold, 2001) Another example of a country at war is Sudan; this country has been undergoing a lot of turmoil especially in the Darfur region. Many western or foreign countries have taken a hands-off approach to the plight of the Sudanese because they have assumed that these problems have nothing to do with them. However, as citizens of the world and also as responsible citizens, it is the duty of the government to ta ke part in such initiatives a little more. We cannot operate in isolation because we all need one another. Had governments in the world been more vigilant about helping one another, the situation in Rwanda would not have catapulted into such magnanimous levels. Consequently, similar events in other countries can also be prevented if the government was keener with taking part in peacekeeping missions. Indeed our country’s foreign policy should be viewed a social work because we are our neighbor’s keepers. (Mandelbaum, 2002) Change starts from within and it then spreads to other parts of the world. If our government was to take up its international responsibility today, then the lives of many innocent people could be changed forever. Conclusion The event that changed my life occurred four years ago when I took a trip to my cousins’ place at a nearby district. During my stay there, I met some adopted nephews of Rwandese descent. They told me about their story and how they lost their lives. This meeting with them changed the way I perceived our government’s role in international affairs because I realized that it is not doing enough. Our government needs to exercise more corporate citizenry in order to prevent horrendous occurrences like Andrew’s and Gregory. If our government had been more participatory, then these Rwandese boys would still have relatives today. (Turner, 2001)

Biography of Alain Locke :: essays research papers

During the 1920's, many African Americans migrated to Harlem, New York City in search of a better life a life which would later be better than what they had in the South. This movement became known as the Harlem Renaissance. It was originally called the New Negro Movement. Black literature during this era began to prosper in Harlem. The major writers of the Harlem Renaissance were many, such as, Sterling A. Brown, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston and others. The main person, however, was a scholar named Alain Locke. Locke would later be known by many authors and artists as the â€Å"father of the Harlem renaissance.† Alain Leroy Locke was born to S. Pliny and Mary Hawkins Locke on October 13, 1886 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were both teachers. Alain Locke’s father died when he was six years old, and his mother raised him alone. â€Å"She was determined that he receive the best education† (Hardy 34). He did receive what his mother wanted. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University and in 1907, graduated magna cum laude in philosophy. That same year he became the first African American to win a Rhodes scholarship, which allowed him to continue studying in Oxford, England. He studied at Oxford from 1907 to 1910 and then went to University of Berlin from 1910-1911. Locke received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1918. Philosophy was the subject that attracted Locke the most at Oxford. This was the study of why people and cultures act the way they do. While studying in college, he became acquainted with a number of other well educated African Americans. Through them he gained a new view on America’s racial problems and learned a great deal about Africa and its history. Locke and his African American college friends then founded the â€Å"African Union Society†. The goal of this group was to develop a sense of brotherhood between each other and learn about its members so they could be the future â€Å"leaders of the African Race† (Hardy 34). The members usually discussed about how people believe that blacks and Asians were inferior to whites. Locke started his career teaching English at Howard University. Later on however, he became head of the Department of Philosophy. While he was working, he had developed some other interests in other fields as well. He liked music, art, literature, political theory, and anthropology to name a few. Biography of Alain Locke :: essays research papers During the 1920's, many African Americans migrated to Harlem, New York City in search of a better life a life which would later be better than what they had in the South. This movement became known as the Harlem Renaissance. It was originally called the New Negro Movement. Black literature during this era began to prosper in Harlem. The major writers of the Harlem Renaissance were many, such as, Sterling A. Brown, James Weldon Johnson, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston and others. The main person, however, was a scholar named Alain Locke. Locke would later be known by many authors and artists as the â€Å"father of the Harlem renaissance.† Alain Leroy Locke was born to S. Pliny and Mary Hawkins Locke on October 13, 1886 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were both teachers. Alain Locke’s father died when he was six years old, and his mother raised him alone. â€Å"She was determined that he receive the best education† (Hardy 34). He did receive what his mother wanted. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University and in 1907, graduated magna cum laude in philosophy. That same year he became the first African American to win a Rhodes scholarship, which allowed him to continue studying in Oxford, England. He studied at Oxford from 1907 to 1910 and then went to University of Berlin from 1910-1911. Locke received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Harvard University in 1918. Philosophy was the subject that attracted Locke the most at Oxford. This was the study of why people and cultures act the way they do. While studying in college, he became acquainted with a number of other well educated African Americans. Through them he gained a new view on America’s racial problems and learned a great deal about Africa and its history. Locke and his African American college friends then founded the â€Å"African Union Society†. The goal of this group was to develop a sense of brotherhood between each other and learn about its members so they could be the future â€Å"leaders of the African Race† (Hardy 34). The members usually discussed about how people believe that blacks and Asians were inferior to whites. Locke started his career teaching English at Howard University. Later on however, he became head of the Department of Philosophy. While he was working, he had developed some other interests in other fields as well. He liked music, art, literature, political theory, and anthropology to name a few.

Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 34

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR Necrophiliacs Anonymous, Gooville Chapter Amy was carrying two stoppered porcelain bottles of beer when she entered the Colonel's chambers. The ruler of Gooville came sliding out of the pink wall as if it had given birth to him. He extended his arms to hug her, but instead of returning his embrace, Amy held up a beer. â€Å"I brought you a beer.† â€Å"Amy, you know I don't really eat anymore.† â€Å"I thought you might like a beer, for old times' sake.† â€Å"Why are you here?† â€Å"I hadn't seen you since I got back from Maui. I thought you'd want to debrief me or something.† â€Å"I've talked to Nathan Quinn.† â€Å"You have?† â€Å"Don't be cute, Amy. I know what's going on between you two.† â€Å"I really don't have any choice, Colonel, I am cute. It's the burden I have to bear.† â€Å"He doesn't know what you are, does he?† â€Å"Drink your beer, it's getting warm. Why do you keep it so steamy in here anyway?† The Colonel accepted the beer from her and took a long pull. When he came up for air, he stared at the beer bottle with a look of surprise, as if it had just spoken to him. â€Å"My, that's good. That's really good. I'd forgotten.† Amy toasted him with her own bottle and took a drink. â€Å"Colonel, we've known each other a long time. You've been like a father to me, but you are out of touch. I'm worried about you. I think you need to come out of here occasionally, like you used to. Walk around. Have some interaction with the people in town.† â€Å"Don't try to get in the way of what I'm doing, Amy.† â€Å"What are you talking about? I'm just worried about you.† The Colonel looked at the beer bottle in his hand again, as if it had just been teleported there, then he looked back to Amy with a little panic in his eyes. â€Å"Nate didn't tell you, then?† â€Å"Tell me what? Nate doesn't have anything to do with this. You have lost touch.† The Colonel nodded, then leaned back into the wall of Goo behind him. It cradled him and formed a chaise longue, which he sat down on as he rubbed his temples. â€Å"Amy, did you ever do anything for a purpose greater than your own ambition? Did you ever feel a duty to something beyond yourself?† â€Å"You mean, like persuading people that I'm something that I'm not to gain their trust so they could be kidnapped or killed in order to preserve my community? Yes, I have some concept of the idea of serving the greater good.† â€Å"I guess you do. I guess you do. Forgive me. Perhaps I do spend too much time alone.† â€Å"You think?† â€Å"Could you leave me now? I do have to think.† â€Å"So you want to be alone now? That's what you're saying? This is how you're going to address the problem of spending too much time alone?† â€Å"Go, Amy, and please don't interfere with Nate.† â€Å"Not yet.† â€Å"What do you mean, ‘not yet'?† â€Å"There's a deposit on that bottle. I'm not leaving without it.† â€Å"Then, Nate, he's not a problem? You're sure?† Here the Colonel forced a smile that looked much more like something menacing than an actual smile. â€Å"Because I will tell him about you if I must.† â€Å"The greater good,† Amy said, returning the forced smile with a real one. â€Å"Good,† said the Colonel, draining the last of his beer. â€Å"Come back. And bring me another of these.† â€Å"You got it,† Amy said. Then she took the bottle from him and left the chamber. Thin line between genius and full-blown batshit, she thought. Very thin line. For two weeks the Colonel didn't send for Nate. Cielle Nuà ±ez had stopped by the third morning that Amy was at Nate's apartment. â€Å"Well, you don't need me anymore,† Cielle had said. â€Å"I'd just as soon get back to my ship anyway, although it doesn't look like we're going anywhere soon.† Nate was disappointed that she hadn't been jealous. â€Å"He's afraid of the cupboards, the fridge, and the garbage disposal,† Cielle told Amy, as if she were talking to the dog sitter. â€Å"And you'll need to take him to get his clothes cleaned. You know he's going to be terrified of the washing machines.† â€Å"I'm right here,† Nate said. â€Å"And I'm not afraid of the appliances. I'm just cautious.† â€Å"Your mother will be thrilled for you two, Amy. Her ship should be back at base soon.† â€Å"No, she's not due in for another six weeks,† Amy said. â€Å"Not anymore. The Colonel's called all the ships back to base.† â€Å"All of them? Why?† Cielle shrugged. â€Å"He's the Colonel. Ours is not to question why. Well, Nate, it's been a pleasure, really. I'll probably see you around. You're in good hands.† She hugged Nate quickly and started out the door. â€Å"Cielle, wait. I want to ask you something. If you don't mind.† She turned. â€Å"Ask away.† â€Å"When did your husband's yacht sink?† Cielle raised an inquisitive eyebrow at Amy. â€Å"It's okay,† Amy said. â€Å"He knows.† â€Å"Nineteen twenty-seven, Nate. In retrospect it was a blessing of sorts. He died doing what he liked doing, and two years later he would have been wiped out when the stock market crashed. I'm not sure he would have survived that.† â€Å"Thanks. I'm sorry.† â€Å"Don't be. Cal and I have a really good life.† â€Å"Cal? Cal from the ship? You didn't tell me that – ; â€Å"He's my husband? The Colonel thought you might be more comfortable with a single woman to orient you. Women down here have never taken their husband's surname, Nate.† â€Å"Females run the show in a whale society,† Amy explained. â€Å"You know, as it should be.† Cielle Nu;ez looked from Amy to Nate and smiled. â€Å"Oh, Nate, what have you gotten yourself into?† And then she snickered like a whaley boy and left. â€Å"She wanted you,† Amy said. â€Å"She hides it really well, but I could tell.† From then on they went out together every morning. Nate insisted that Amy take him far into the catacombs during the day. There they found Gooville's underground farms: tunnels where grains of wheat grew right on the walls – no stalks – others where you could pick tomatoes from two-inch stems that seemed to grow directly out of rock. â€Å"How does any of this ripen without photosynthesis?† Nate asked, handling an apricot that was growing not on a tree but on a broad stem like a mushroom. â€Å"Don't know,† Amy shrugged. â€Å"Geothermal heat. The Colonel says the Goo extends deep under the continent, where it draws heat from the earth. I'll show you the kitchens where they prepare most of the food – it's all geothermal. The old-timers say that at first there was only seafood to eat, but over the years the Goo has provided more and different foods.† â€Å"What are these? Chicken nuggets?† He plucked one from the ceiling. A whaley boy working nearby whistled and clicked harshly. â€Å"He says not to pick them, they're not ripe.† Nate tossed the nugget to the floor of the cave, where a softball-size multilegged thing scurried out of a hatch, retrieved it, and scurried back into its trapdoor. â€Å"I've seen enough here,† Nate said. In the afternoon they did errands and shopping, but still no one asked Nate for any form of payment, and he'd stopped offering. In the evening they usually had dinner in his apartment. After they had shared two meals out at Gooville cafs, Amy had insisted that they eat in. â€Å"You're studying them,† she said, meaning the whaley boys. â€Å"No I'm not. I'm just looking at them.† â€Å"Who are you kidding? You have that look, that researcher look, that lost-in-your-theories look. You think I don't know that look? I worked with you, remember?† Nate shrugged. â€Å"It's what I do. I study whales.† He'd been trying to learn the whaley boys' whistle-and-click language. Emily 7 had come by his apartment a couple of afternoons when Amy was away, and while he thought she might have come for amorous reasons, he managed to channel her energies into lessons on whaleyspeak. They'd become friends of sorts. He hadn't mentioned the lessons to Amy, afraid that she might tease him about Emily the way the whale-ship crew had. â€Å"I observe. I collect data and try to find meaning in it.† Amy nodded, thinking about it, then said, â€Å"So if rescuing manatees and dolphins got you into the field, why didn't you do something more active to help the animals? Veterinary medicine or something.† â€Å"I always wonder. I've thought about the people at Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd, putting themselves in harm's way, ramming whaling ships, running Zodiacs in front of harpoon guns to try to protect the animals. I've wondered if that was the way to go.† â€Å"And you thought you could do more as a scientist, studying them?† â€Å"No, I thought that being a scientist was something that I could do. There's a path to becoming a biologist – an educational process. There isn't for being a pirate.† â€Å"No, you're wrong, there is a school for that. I saw it on a matchbook when I was in Maui. I'm sure it said you could learn to be a pirate if you passed a simple test.† â€Å"That's learn to draw a pirate.† â€Å"Whatever. So you compromised?† â€Å"Did I? I think what we – what I do has value.† â€Å"So do I. I'm not saying that. I'm just wondering, you know, now that you're dead, do you feel your life was wasted?† â€Å"I'm not dead, Amy. Jeez, that's an awful thing to say.† â€Å"You know, effectively dead, I mean. Your life being over. Jeepers, does that make me a necrophiliac? When we get out of here, maybe I'll have to go to a meeting or something. Do they have those?† â€Å"Amy, I'm wondering if maybe I don't want to get out of here.† He'd been thinking about it a lot. Life here really wasn't bad, and since he'd been looking for a way out on their daily excursions (only to be reminded that he'd have to go through the miles of pressure locks only to emerge six hundred feet below the sea), maybe he and Amy could make a future together. The whole Gooville ecosystem would certainly keep him interested. â€Å"Hi, my name's Amy, and I hump the dead.† â€Å"Maybe, if I can talk the Colonel out of his plan, I can stay here with you. You know, adapt.† â€Å"I can't imagine that they'd get up at a meeting and say, ‘Hi, my name's so-and-so, and I like to bone the dead. It's sort of crude. Although strangely appropriate.† â€Å"You're not listening to me, Amy.† â€Å"Yes I am. We're not staying here. I'll find a way out, but we can't stay. You have to convince the Colonel not to try to hurt the Goo, but then we're leaving. As soon as possible.† Nate was a little shocked at how adamant she was. She seemed to be staring at nothing, concentrating, thinking about something she didn't want to share, and she didn't seem happy about. But then she brightened. â€Å"Hey, you're going to get to meet my mother.† A week later it happened. â€Å"Well, you always said that the jazz of what you do was knowing something that no one else in the world knows,† Amy said. â€Å"You jazzed?† She took his arm and draped it around her neck as they walked. They had just left the Gooville apartment of Amelia Earhart. â€Å"She looks good, doesn't she?† Amy asked. Amelia was a beautiful, gracious woman, and after sixty-seven years in Gooville, the aviatrix didn't look a day over fifty. She'd been just under forty when she disappeared in 1937. In her presence Nate had felt as if he were fifteen again, out on his first date, stuttering and stumbling and blushing – blushing, for Christ's sake – when Amy mentioned that she'd been spending nights at his place. Amelia made Nate sit next to her on the couch and took his hand as she spoke to him. â€Å"Nathan, I hope what I'm about to say to you doesn't sound racist, because it's not, but I want to put your mind at ease. I have had a very long time to get used to the idea of my daughter's being a sexually active adult, and, frankly, if after all these years you are the one that she has chosen to fall in love with, which appears to be the case, I can only tell you how relieved I am that you are of the human species. So please relax.† Nate had shot a look to Amy. She shrugged. â€Å"Every girl has her adventurous period.† â€Å"Thank you,† Nate said to Amelia Earhart. Now, out on the street, to Amy he said, â€Å"I shouldn't have asked how the flight was.† â€Å"She's still a little sensitive about that. Even after all these years. My dad was her navigator. He didn't survive the crash.† â€Å"But you said you were born in 1940. How could that be if your father died in 1937?† â€Å"Robust sperms?† â€Å"Three years? That's really robust.† She punched his arm. â€Å"I was rounding up. Give me a break, Nate, I'm old. You never grilled the Old Broad for accuracy like this.† â€Å"I wasn't sleeping with the Old Broad.† â€Å"But you wanted to, didn't you? Admit it? You were hot to get into her muumuu.† â€Å"Stop.† Nate glanced at some whaley-boy males who were hanging out in front of the bakery (they always seemed to be there) doing a synchronized display wave with their willies, and he was about to defend himself with a comment about Amy's past, but then he decided that there was just no need to watch that little brain movie, let alone use it as some kind of weapon against what was essentially just Amy-style teasing – one of the things he found he adored about her as soon as he'd allowed himself to admit that he could adore someone again. The whaley boys snickered at him as they passed. â€Å"You guys are all just big, squeaky bath toys,† Nate said under his breath, knowing they could hear him anyway. Nate had been insulting them every time he and Amy went by for a week or so, just to irritate them. Maybe Amy was rubbing off on him. The whaley boys blew a collective sputtering raspberry. â€Å"Sentient? You guys can't even spell sentient,† Nate whispered. And then the reward. He loved watching creatures with four digits try to flip him the middle finger. â€Å"Yeah, I'm the immature one,† Amy said. Life is good, Nate thought. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was happy. Kinda. In the morning a brace of whaley boys came to take him to the Colonel. Amy wasn't even there to kiss him good-bye. Fluke, or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings Chapter 3~4 CHAPTER THREE A Little Razor Wire Around Heaven The gate to the Papa Lani compound was hanging open when Nate drove up. Not good. Clay was adamant about their always replacing the big Masterlock on the gate when they left the compound. Papa Lani was a group of wood-frame buildings on two acres northeast of Lahaina in the middle of a half dozen sugarcane fields that had been donated to Maui Whale by a wealthy woman Clay and Nate affectionately referred to as the â€Å"Old Broad.† The property consisted of six small bungalows that had once been used to board plantation workers but had long since been converted to housing, laboratory, and office space for Clay, Nate, and any assistants, researchers, or film crews who might be working with them for the season. Getting the compound had been a godsend for Maui Whale, given the cost of housing and storage in Lahaina. Clay had named the compound Papa Lani (Hawaiian for â€Å"heaven†) in honor of their good fortune, but someone had left the gate to heaven open, and from what Nate could tell as he drove in, the angel shit had hit the fan. Before he even got out of the truck, Nate saw a beat-up green BMW parked in the compound and a trail of papers leading out of the building they used for an office. He snatched a few of them up as he ran across the sand driveway and up the steps into the little bungalow. Inside was chaos: drawers torn out of filing cabinets, toppled racks of cassette tape – the tapes strewn across the room in great streamers – computers overturned, the sides of their cases open, trailing wires. Nate stood among the mess, not really knowing what to do or even what to look at, feeling violated and on the verge of throwing up. Even if nothing was missing, a lifetime of research had been typhooned around the room. â€Å"Oh, Jah's sweet mercy,† came a voice from behind him. â€Å"This a bit of fuckery most heinous for sure, mon.† Nate spun and dropped into a martial-arts stance, notwithstanding the fact that he didn't know any martial arts and that he had loosed a little-girl shriek in the process. The serpent-haired figure of a gorgon was silhouetted in the doorway, and Nate would have screamed again if the figure hadn't stepped into the light, revealing a lean, bare-chested teenager in surfer shorts and flip-flops, sporting a giant tangle of blond dreadlocks and about six hundred nose rings. â€Å"Cool head main ting, brah, cool head,† the kid almost sang. There was pot and steel drums in his voice, bemusement and youth and two joints' worth of separation from the rest of reality. Nate went from fear to confusion in an instant. â€Å"What the fuck are you talking about?† â€Å"Relax, brah, no make li'dat. Kona and I come help out.† Nate thought he might feel better if he strangled this kid – just a little frustration strangle to vent some of the shock of the wrecked lab, not a full choke – but instead he said, â€Å"Who are you, and what are you doing here?† â€Å"Kona,† the kid said. â€Å"Dat boss name Clay hire me for the boats dat day before.† â€Å"You're the kid Clay hired to work with us on the boats?† â€Å"Shoots, mon, I just said that? What, you a ninja, brah?† The kid nodded, his dreads sweeping around his shoulders, and Nate was about to scream at him again when he realized that he was still crouched into his pseudo combat stance and probably looked like a total loon. He stood up, shrugged, then pretended to stretch his neck and roll his head in a cocky way he'd seen boxers do, as if he had just disarmed a very dangerous enemy or something. â€Å"You were supposed to meet Clay down at the dock an hour ago.† â€Å"Some rippin' sets North Shore, they be callin' to me this morning.† The kid shrugged. What could he do? Rippin' sets had called to him. Nate squinted at the surfer, realizing that the kid was speaking some mix of Rasta talk, pidgin, surfspeak and†¦ well, bullshit. â€Å"Stop talking that way, or you're fired right now.† â€Å"So you ichiban big whale kahuna, like Clay say, hey?† â€Å"Yeah,† Nate said. â€Å"I'm the number-one whale kahuna. You're fired.† â€Å"Bummah, mon,† The kid said. He shrugged again, turned, and started out the door. â€Å"Jah's love to ye, brah. Cool runnings,† he sang over his shoulder. â€Å"Wait,† Nate said. The kid spun around, his dreads enveloping his face like a furry octopus attacking a crab. He sputtered a dreadlock out of his mouth and was about to speak. Quinn held up a finger to signal silence. â€Å"Not a word of pidgin, Hawaiian, or Rasta talk, or you're done.† â€Å"Okay.† The kid waited. Quinn composed himself and looked around at the mess, then at the kid. â€Å"There are papers strewn around all over outside, hanging in the fences, in the bushes. I need you to gather them up and stack them as neatly as you can. Bring them here. Can you do that?† The kid nodded. â€Å"Excellent. I'm Nathan Quinn.† Nate extended his hand to shake. The kid moved across the room and caught Nate's hand in a powerful grip. The scientist almost winced but instead returned the pressure and tried to smile. â€Å"Pelekekona,† said the kid. â€Å"Call me Kona.† â€Å"Welcome aboard, Kona.† The kid looked around now, looking as if by giving his name he had relinquished some of his power and was suddenly weak, despite the muscles that rippled across his chest and abdomen. â€Å"Who did this?† â€Å"No idea.† Nate picked up a cassette tape that had been pulled out of the spools and wadded into a bird's nest of brown plastic. â€Å"You go get those papers. I'm going to call the police. That a problem?† Kona shook his head. â€Å"Why would it be?† â€Å"No reason. Grab those papers now. Nothing is trash until I look at it, eh?† â€Å"Overstood, brah,† Kona said, grinning back at Nate as he headed out into sun. Once outside, he turned and called, â€Å"Hey, Kahuna Quinn.† â€Å"What?† â€Å"How come them humpies sing like dat?† â€Å"What do you think?† Nate asked, and in the asking there was hope. Despite the fact that the kid was young and irritating and probably stoned, the biologist truly hoped that Kona – unburdened by too much knowledge – would give him the answer. He didn't care where it came from or how it came (and it would still have to be proved); he just wanted to know, which is what set him apart from the hacks, the wannabes, the backstabbers, and the ego jockeys in the field. Nate just wanted to know. â€Å"I think they trying to shout down Babylon, maybe.† â€Å"You'll have to explain to me what that means.† â€Å"We fix this fuckery, then we fire up a spliff and think over it, brah.† Five hours later Clay came through the door talking. â€Å"We got some amazing stuff today, Nate. Some of the best cow/calf stuff I've ever shot.† Clay was still so excited he almost skipped into the room. â€Å"Okay,† Nate said with a zombielike lack of enthusiasm. He sat in front of his patched-together computer at one of the desks. The office was mostly put back in order, but the open computer case sitting on the desk with wires spread out to a diaspora of refugee drive units told a tale of data gone wild. â€Å"Someone broke in. Tore apart the office.† Clay didn't want to be concerned. He had great videotape to edit. Suddenly, looking at the fans and wires, it occurred to him that someone might have broken his editing setup. He whirled around to see his forty-two-inch flat-panel monitor leaning against the wall, a long diagonal crack bisected the glass. â€Å"Oh,† he said. â€Å"Oh, jeez.† Amy walked in smiling, â€Å"Nate you won't believe the – † She pulled up, saw Clay staring at his broken monitor, the computer scattered over Nate's desk, files stacked here and there where they shouldn't be. â€Å"Oh,† she said. â€Å"Someone broke in,† Clay said forlornly. She put her hand on Clay's shoulder. â€Å"Today? In broad daylight?† Nate swiveled around in his chair. â€Å"They went through our living quarters, too. The police have already been here.† He saw Clay staring at his monitor. â€Å"Oh, and that. Sorry, Clay.† â€Å"You guys have insurance, right?† Amy said. Clay didn't look away from his broken monitor. â€Å"Dr. Quinn, did you pay the insurance?† Clay called Nate  «doctor » only when he wanted to remind him of just how official and absolutely professional they really ought to be. â€Å"Last week. Went out with the boat insurance.† â€Å"Well, then, we're okay,† Amy said, jostling Clay, squeezing his shoulder, punching his arm, pinching his butt. â€Å"We can order a new monitor tonight, ya big palooka.† she chirped, looking like a goth version of the bluebird of happiness. â€Å"Hey!† Clay grinned, â€Å"Yeah, we're okay.† He turned to Nate, smiling. â€Å"Anything else broken? Anything missing?† Nate pointed to the wastebasket where a virtual haystack of audiotape was spilling over in tangles. â€Å"That was spread all over the compound along with all the files. We lost most of the tape, going back two years.† Amy stopped being cheerful and looked appropriately concerned. â€Å"What about the digitals?† She elbowed Clay, who was still grinning, and he joined her in gravity. They frowned. (Nate recorded all the audio on analog tape, then transferred it to the computer for analysis. Theoretically, there should be digital copies of everything.) â€Å"These hard drives have been erased. I can't pull up anything from them.† Nate took a deep breath, sighed, then spun back around in his chair and let his forehead fall against the desk with a thud that shook the whole bungalow. Amy and Clay winced. There were a lot of screws on that desk. Clay said, â€Å"Well, it couldn't have been that bad, Nate. You got it all cleaned up pretty quickly.† â€Å"The guy you hired showed up late and helped me.† Nate was speaking into the desk, his face right where it had landed. â€Å"Kona? Where is he?† â€Å"I sent him to the lab. I had some film I want to see right away.† â€Å"I knew he wouldn't stand us up on his first day.† â€Å"Clay, I need to talk to you. Amy, could you excuse us a minute, please?† â€Å"Sure,† Amy said. â€Å"I'll go see if anything's missing from my cabin.† She left. Clay said, â€Å"You going to look up? Or should I get down on the floor so I can see your face?† â€Å"Could you grab the first-aid kit while we talk?† â€Å"Screws embedded in your forehead?† â€Å"Feels like four, maybe five.† â€Å"They're small, though, those little drive-mount screws.† â€Å"Clay, you're always trying to cheer me up.† â€Å"It's who I am,† Clay said. CHAPTER FOUR Whale Men of Maui Who Clay was, was a guy who liked things – liked people, liked animals, liked cars, liked boats – who had an almost supernatural ability to spot the likability in almost anyone or anything. When he walked down the streets of Lahaina, he would nod and say hello to sunburned tourist couples in matching aloha wear (people generally considered to be a waste of humanity by most locals), but by the same token he would trade a backhanded hang-loose shaka (thumb and fingers extended, three middle fingers tucked, always backhand if you're a local) with a crash of native bruddahs in the parking lot of the ABC Store and get no scowls or pidgin curses, as would most haoles. People could sense that Clay liked them, as could animals, which was probably why Clay was still alive. Twenty-five years in the water with hunters and giants, and the worst he'd come out of it was to get a close tail-wash from a southern right whale that tumbled him like a cartoon into the idling prop of a Zodiac. (Oh, there were the two times he was drowned and the hypothermia, but that stuff wasn't caused by the animals; that was the sea, and she'll kill you whether you liked her or not, which Clay did.) Doing what he wanted to do and his boundless affinity for everything made Clay Demodocus a happy guy, but he was also shrewd enough not to be too open about his happiness. Animals might put up with that smiley shit, but people will eventually kill you for it. â€Å"How's the new kid?† Clay said, trying to distract from the iodine he was applying to Nate's forehead while simultaneously calculating the time to ship his new monitor over to Maui from the discount house in Seattle. Clay liked gadgets. â€Å"He's a criminal,† Nate said. â€Å"He'll come around. He's a water guy.† For Clay this said it all. You were a water guy or you weren't. If you weren't†¦ well, you were pretty much useless, weren't you? â€Å"He was an hour late, and he showed up in the wrong place.† â€Å"He's a native. He'll help us deal with the whale cops.† â€Å"He's not a native, he's blond, Clay. He's more of a haole than you are, for Christ's sake.† â€Å"He'll come around. I was right about Amy, wasn't I?† Clay said. He liked the new kid, Kona, despite the employment interview, which had gone like this: Clay sat with the forty-two-inch monitor at his back, his world-famous photographs of whales and pinnipeds playing in a slide show behind him. Since he was conducting a job interview, he had put on his very best $5.99 ABC Store flip-flops. Kona stood in the middle of the office wearing sunglasses, his baggies, and, since he was applying for a job, a red-dirt-dyed shirt. â€Å"Your application says that your name is Pelke – ah, Pelekekona Ke – † Clay threw his hands up in surrender. â€Å"I be called Pelekekona Keohokalole – da warrior kine – Lion of Zion, brah.† â€Å"Can I call you Pele?† â€Å"Kona,† Kona said. â€Å"It says on your driver's license that your name is Preston Applebaum and you're from New Jersey.† â€Å"I be one hundred percent Hawaiian. Kona the best boat hand in the Island, yeah. I figga I be number-one good man for to keep track haole science boss's isms and skisms while he out oppressing the native bruddahs and stealing our land and the best wahines. Sovereignty now, but after a bruddah make his rent, don't you know?† Clay grinned at the blond kid. â€Å"You're just a mess, aren't you?† Kona lost his Rastafarian, laid-backness. â€Å"Look, I was born here when my parents were on vacation. I really am Hawaiian, kinda, and I really need this job. I'm going to lose my place to live if I don't make some money this week. I can't live on the beach in Paia again. All my shit got stolen last time.† â€Å"It says here that you last worked as a forensic calligrapher. What's that, handwriting analysis?† â€Å"Uh, no, actually, it was a business I started where I would write people's suicide notes for them.† Not a hint of pidgin in his speech, not a skankin' smidgen of reggae. â€Å"It didn't do that well. No one wants to kill himself in Hawaii. I think if I'd started it back in New Jersey, or maybe Portland, it would have gone over really well. You know business: location, location, location.† â€Å"I thought that was real estate.† Clay actually felt a twinge of missed opportunity, here, for although he had spent his life having adventures, doing exactly what he wanted to do, and although he often felt like the dumbest guy in the room (because he'd surrounded himself with scientists), now, talking to Kona, he realized that he had never realized his full potential as a self-deluded blockhead. Ahhh†¦ wistful regrets. Clay liked this kid. â€Å"Look, I'm a water guy,† Kona said. â€Å"I know boats, I know tides, I know waves, I love the ocean.† â€Å"You afraid of it?† Clay asked. â€Å"Terrified.† â€Å"Good. Meet me at the dock tomorrow morning at eight-thirty.† Now Nate rubbed at the crisscrrossed band-aids on his forehead as Clay went through the Pelican cases of camera equipment under the table across the room. The break-in and subsequent shit storm of activity had sidetracked him from what he'd seen this morning. It started to settle on him again like a black cloud of self-doubt, and he wondered whether he should even mention what he saw to Clay. In the world of behavioral biology, nothing existed until it was published. It didn't matter how much you knew – it wasn't real if it didn't appear in a scientific journal. But when it came to day-to-day life, publication was secondary. If he told Clay what he'd seen, it would suddenly become real. As with his attraction for Amy and the realization that years' worth of research was gone, he wasn't sure he wanted it to be real. â€Å"So why did you need to send Amy out?† Clay asked. â€Å"Clay, I don't see things I don't see, right? I mean, in all the time we've worked together, I haven't called something before the data backed it up, right?† Clay looked up from his inventory to see the expression of consternation on his friend's face. â€Å"Look, Nate, if the kid bothers you that much, we can find someone else –  » â€Å"It's not the kid.† Nate seemed to be weighing what he was going to say, not sure if he should say it, then blurted out, â€Å"Clay, I think I saw writing on the tail flukes of that singer this morning.† â€Å"What, like a pattern of scars that look like letters? I've seen that. I have a dolphin shot that shows tooth rakings on the animal's side that appear to spell out the word ‘zap.  » â€Å"No it was different. Not scars. It said, ‘Bite me. â€Å" â€Å"Uh-huh,† Clay said, trying not to make it sound as if he thought his friend was nuts. â€Å"Well, this break-in, Nate, it's shaken us all up.† â€Å"This was before that. Oh, I don't know. Look, I think it's on the film I shot. That's why I came in to take the film to the lab. Then I found this mess, so I sent the kid to the lab with my truck, even though I'm pretty sure he's a criminal. Let's table it until he gets back with the film, okay?† Nate turned and stared at the deskful of wires and parts, as if he'd quickly floated off into his own thoughts. Clay nodded. He'd spent whole days in the same twenty-three-foot boat with the lanky scientist, and nothing more had passed between the two than the exchange of â€Å"Sandwich?† â€Å"Thanks.† When Nate was ready to tell him more, he would. In the meantime he would not press. You don't hurry a thinker, and you don't talk to him when he's thinking. It's just inconsiderate. â€Å"What are you thinking?† Clay asked. Okay, he could be inconsiderate sometimes. His giant monitor was broken, and he was traumatized. â€Å"I'm thinking that we're going to have to start over on a lot of these studies. Every piece of magnetic media in this place has been scrambled, but as far as I can tell, nothing is missing. Why would someone do that, Clay?† â€Å"Kids,† Clay said, inspecting a Nikon lens for damage. â€Å"None of my stuff is missing, and except for the monitor it seems okay.† â€Å"Right, your stuff.† â€Å"Yeah, my stuff.† â€Å"Your stuff is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, Clay. Why wouldn't kids take your stuff? No one doesn't know that Nikon equipment is expensive, and no one on the island doesn't know that underwater housings are expensive, so who would just destroy the tapes and disks and leave everything?† Clay put down the lens and stood up. â€Å"Wrong question.† â€Å"How is that the wrong question?† â€Å"The question is, who could possibly care about our research other than us, the Old Broad, and a dozen or so biologists and whale huggers in the entire world? Face it, Nate, no one gives a damn about singing whales. There's no motive. The question is, who cares?† Nate slumped in his chair. Clay was right. No one did care. People, the world, cared about the numbers of whales, so the survey guys, the whale counters, they actually collected data that people cared about. Why? Because if you knew how many whales you had, you knew how many you could or could not kill. People loved and understood and thought they could prove points and make money with the numbers. Behavior†¦ well, behavior was squishy stuff used to entertain fourth-graders on Cable in the Classroom. â€Å"We were really close, Clay,† Nate said. â€Å"There's something in the song that we're missing. But without the tapes†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Clay shrugged. â€Å"You heard one song, you heard 'em all.† Which was also true. All the males sang the same song each season. The song might change from season to season, or even evolve through the season somewhat, but in any given population of humpbacks, they were all singing the same tune. No one had figured out exactly why. â€Å"We'll get new samples.† â€Å"I'd already cleaned up the spectrographs, filtered them, analyzed them. It was all on the hard disks. That work was for specific samples.† â€Å"We'll do it again, Nate. We have time. No one is waiting. No one cares.† â€Å"You don't have to keep saying that.† â€Å"Well, it's starting to bother me, too, now,† Clay said. â€Å"Who in the hell cares whether you figure out what's going on with humpback song?† A kicked-off flip-flop flew into the room followed by the singsong Rastafarian-bruddah pomp of Kona returning, â€Å"Irie, Clay, me dready. I be bringing films and herb for the evening to welcome to Jah's mercy, mon. Peace.† Kona stood there, an envelope of negatives and contact sheet in one hand, a film can held high above his head in the other. He was looking up to it as if it held the elixir of life. â€Å"You have any idea what he said?† Nate asked. He quickly crossed the room and snatched the negatives away from Kona. â€Å"I think it's from the ‘Jabberwocky, † Clay replied. â€Å"You gave him cash to get the film processed? You can't give him cash.† â€Å"And this lonely stash can to fill with the sacred herb,† Kona said. â€Å"I'll find me papers, and we can take the ship home to Zion, mon.† â€Å"You can't give him money and an empty film can, Nate. He sees it as a religious duty to fill it up.† Nate had pulled the contact sheet out of the envelope and was examining it with a loupe. He checked it twice, counting each frame, checking the registry numbers along the edge. Frame twenty-six wasn't there. He held the plastic page of negatives up to the light, looked through the images twice and the registry numbers on the edges three times before he threw them down, checked the earlier frames that Amy had shot of the whale tail, then crossed the room and grabbed Kona by the shoulders. â€Å"Where's frame twenty-six, goddamn it? What did you do with it?† â€Å"This just like I get it, mon. I didn't do nothing.† â€Å"He's a criminal, Clay,† Nate said. Then he grabbed the phone and called the lab. All they could tell him was that the film had been processed normally and picked up from the bin in front. A machine cut the negatives before they went into the sleeves – perhaps it had snipped off the frame. They'd be happy to give Nate a fresh roll of film for his trouble. Two hours later Nate sat at the desk, holding a pen and looking at a sheet of paper. Just looking at it. The room was dark except for the desk lamp, which reached out just far enough to leave darkness in all the corners where the unknown could hide. There was a nightstand, the desk, the chair, and a single bed with a trunk set at its end, a blanket on top as a cushion. Nathan Quinn was a tall man, and his feet hung off the end of the bed. He found that if he removed the supporting trunk, he dreamed of foundering in blue-water ocean and woke up gasping. The trunk was full of books, journals, and blankets, none of which had ever been removed since he'd shipped them to the island nine years ago. A centipede the size of a Pontiac had once lived in the bottom-right corner of the trunk but had long since moved on once he realized that no one was ever going to bother him, so he could stand up on his hind hundred feet, hiss like a pissed cat, and deliver a deadly bite to a naked foot. There was a small television, a clock radio, a small kitchenette with two burners and a microwave, two full bookshelves under the window that looked out onto the compound, and a yellowed print of two of Gauguin's Tahitian girls between the windows over the bed. At one time, before the plantations had been automated, ten people probably slept in this room. In grad school at UC Santa Cruz, Nathan Quinn had lived in quarters about this same size. Progress. The paper on Nate's desk was empty, the bottle of Myers's Dark Rum beside it half empty. The door and windows were open, and Nate could hear the warm trades rattling the fronds of two tall coconut palms out front. There was a tap on the door, and Nate looked up to see Amy silhouetted in the doorway. She stepped into the light. â€Å"Nathan, can I come in?† She was wearing a T-shirt dress that hit her about midthigh. Nate put his hand over the paper, embarrassed that there was nothing written on it. â€Å"I was just trying to put a plan together for – † He looked past the paper to the bottle, then back at Amy. â€Å"Do you want a drink?† He picked up the bottle, looked around for a glass, then just held the bottle out to her. Amy shook her head. â€Å"Are you all right?† â€Å"I started this work when I was your age. I don't know if I have the energy to start it all over again.† â€Å"It's a lot of work. I'm really sorry this happened.† â€Å"Why? You didn't do it. I was close, Amy. There's something that I've been missing, but I was close.† â€Å"It will still be there. You know, we have the field notes from the last couple of years. I'll help you put as much of it back together as I can.† â€Å"I know you will, but Clay's right. Nobody cares. I should have gone into biochemistry or become an ecowarrior or something.† â€Å"I care.† Nate looked at her feet to avoid looking her in the eye. â€Å"I know you do. But without the recordings†¦ well – then†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He shrugged and took a sip from the rum bottle. â€Å"You can't drink, you know,† he said, now the professor, now the Ph.D., now the head researcher. â€Å"You can't do anything or have anything in your life that gets in the way of researching whales.† â€Å"Okay,† Amy said. â€Å"I just wanted to see if you were okay.† â€Å"Yeah, I'm okay.† â€Å"We'll get started putting it back together tomorrow. Good night, Nate.† She backed out the door. â€Å"Night, Amy.† Nate noticed that she wasn't wearing anything under the T-shirt dress and felt sleazy for it. He turned his attention back to his blank piece of paper, and before he could figure out why, he wrote BITE ME in big block letters and underlined it so hard that he ripped the page.